BY JEFF B. FLINN Managing Editor
Kayla Senney was extremely nervous when she first came to the Hill County Pregnancy Care Center. She had taken a pregnancy test that showed a positive, and she wanted to be sure.
During the HCPCC’s Sept. 19 annual gala, Senney, now 25, sat with her 16-month-old son, Maverick, at the head table amid hundreds of care center supporters, volunteers and care recipients.
Senney was featured in a15-minute video that was part of the care center’s “Journey Of The Heart” theme. Her journey – from a reluctant and scared young woman to a doting mother – encapsulates much of the care center’s outreach efforts.
Senney, a Boerne native and Champion High School graduate, said she “fell in with the wrong crowd” when she went off the college.
“I hung out with the wrong people” and “drifted away from what I knew was right,” she said during the video.
When she found out she was pregnant, she said she pinned “false hopes” that the soon-to-be father would help her through the rough time in her life.
“I was nervous. I wasn’t sure if a pregnancy test I had taken was very accurate,” she said. “But when they did indeed tell me I was pregnant, I was scared. I was genuinely scared.”
Melinda Avery, HCPCC’s director of client services, said when she first met Kayla, accompanied by her mother, came in for a pregnancy test.
“One of the things I noticed was that Kayla’s mother seemed nervous at the time,” Avery said. “Part of our ministry is to not always speak with or minister to the client, but also with their loved ones.
“We were able to talk about what her concerns might be, and how we can help her, going forward,” Avery said.
Kayla said knew she had options, and a choice to make -- but knew she could not make that decision on her own.
Kayla said her mother had concerns about her bringing a child into the world alone. Kayla’s parents had divorced, and her mother spent a good portion of her life raising her as a single mother.
“She didn’t want me to have to go through the same struggles that she did,” Kayla said.
Avery said at the end of the visit, she was able to pray with Kayla and her mother “and before she left, we had a plan of what the next steps were, one being, she would come back for a sonogram in a few weeks.”
Things couldn’t have taken more of a turn for Kayla than they did at that moment.
“When she was praying over us, that was the turning point, honestly,” Kayla said. “I never had anybody actually go out of their way for a complete stranger, and actually pray, for me.”
Avery said the most important part of meeting with clients is “to help them see beyond the immediate moment. So my job … is to help them see that there is hope.”
When she returned several weeks later for the sonogram, Avery knew things were about to change in Kayla’s life.
“Kayla walked in, very nervous. But once we started the sonogram and she was able to see (her baby) on the screen, that changed everything,” Avery said. “Not only for her, but for her mother as well.”
“It’s honestly truly amazing,” Kayla said. “Being there and going through the process … “there’s no other feeling in the world that compares.”
Kayla became a single mother when she gave birth to Maverick, who turned 16 months old on Sept. 23.
Donna Klingaman, HCPCC executive director, offered words of encouragement for volunteers and clients, and relayed some facts about the center.
Through August, HCPCC had surpassed 10,000 services to clients this year, which Klingaman said “is far beyond any previous year and we still have a quarter to go.”
That number, she said, represents an investment in relationships.
“They are choosing to walk further with us in their pregnancy and post-delivery, they are receiving important health information, and material support for their families,” she said.
With the service and support currently being delivered, she said she expects HCPCC to be serving “around 800 clients by the end of the year, total, if we keep going on this trajectory.”
The care center has13 staff members, 15 client advocates, and 80-100 volunteers, a good 30-40 that are active on a weekly basis.
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