ESCANABA — Pregnancy Services of Delta County, a local non-profit organization, is raising funds in support of its existing services and plans for the future through its sixth annual Walk for Life campaign. Envelopes for the campaign are included in today’s issue of the Daily Press.

“This year, we’re dedicating seven days to Walk for Life through our first virtual event,” Pregnancy Services of Delta County Executive Director Audra Buchmiller said.

Participants in the walk will be able to choose a date and time between Sept. 19 and Sept. 26 to Walk for Life in their own neighborhood.

The overall goal of Pregnancy Services of Delta County is to provide assistance to families dealing with unexpected pregnancies.

“In the last five years, we’ve served over 400 families,” Buchmiller said.

The center regularly serves 30-40 families each month.

Services provided by the center include pregnancy tests, pregnancy options peer counseling, the “Earn While You Learn” educational program for parents, material assistance for families, adoption support, referrals to community agencies, post-abortion support and recovery, crisis intervention, pre- and post-natal support, man-to-man mentoring, healthy relationship education and a 24-hour crisis pregnancy helpline.

Buchmiller said the help offered by Pregnancy Services of Delta County has been in particularly high demand this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“With the additional fear and uncertainty that COVID-19 brings, we’ve seen a dramatic increase of women in our area facing unexpected pregnancies when compared to this same time period last year,” she said.

Since late March, the center has made more than 4,000 connections in a variety of ways, including phone calls, emails and text messages.

During the shutdown, Pregnancy Services of Delta County partnered with the United Way of Delta County and the Community Foundation for Delta County to distribute car seats, breast-feeding and bottle-feeding supplies, clothing, diapers and wipes to local families. This was done because the Kids Always Ride Safely program, which offers low-cost car seats to families in need, had been paused during the pandemic.

Along with the services it already offers, Buchmiller said Pregnancy Services of Delta County is aiming to introduce new services and a new facility.

“As we continue to grow, we are taking necessary steps towards the God-sized vision of our future — a new home for our ministry to provide ultrasounds, abortion pill reversal, and additional resources needed to change and save lives,” Buchmiller said.

The new facility would also have classrooms for parenting programs and additional space for pregnancy loss services. Pregnancy Services of Delta County had been aiming to share information about these plans at its spring banquet in April. However, the banquet was canceled due to COVID-19 and the center is now re-evaluating its timetable for the project.

As of this month, Pregnancy Services of Delta County was exploring possible locations for its new building.

“We actually have had an engineer that’s designed a new location for us,” Buchmiller said.

Buchmiller thanked those who have supported Pregnancy Services of Delta County in the past.

“We wouldn’t be able to serve the families that we do without the individuals in our community that are supportive,” she said.

She went on to note those who want to help the center in another way can do so by volunteering.

“We’re always looking for volunteers to help,” Buchmiller said.

For more information on Pregnancy Services of Delta County and the Walk for Life, visit psdcpartners.org.