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The organization has received support from private foundations that will cover operating costs in Lone Star State media markets for three years. The group will hire development professionals and build comprehensive fundraising programs in nine communities. The society will then look for major contributors to support the cost of advertising in these markets while building ongoing revenue programs.
According to Executive Director Luke Doyle, the Majella Society has launched efforts in San Antonio and Austin and is building a campaign for Houston in 2007. The organization will also partner with efforts currently underway in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The San Antonio region, which includes the San Antonio and Corpus Christi media markets, has the highest percentage of pregnancies ending in abortions in the state, about 8,378 a year.
The goal for the San Antonio market is to raise $750,000 to support the 2007 media campaigns, explained Naomi Elliott, San Antonio director of development for the Majella Society. Reaching this goal will allow the group to expand coverage in the San Antonio Region for 26 weeks and include 12 months of billboard and Internet advertising. The media campaigns average seven million-plus impressions over a 13-week period. Through polling data, the organization has found that the life point of view increased five points during previous campaigns, and an option line 800 number had a 93 percent increase in calls.
Keynote speaker for the gala was former U.S. Senator Zell Miller from Georgia. A former U.S. Marine sergeant, professor at the University of Georgia and governor of that state, Miller is also a best-selling author who has the distinction of being the only person to be a presenter at both the Republican and Democratic national conventions. After his retirement from the Senate in 2005, Miller has served as a contributor to the Fox News Channel and works for the law firm of McKenna, Long and Aldridge.
Miller began his remarks by saying he was most impressed with the Majella Society. “They are doers of the word and not hearers only,” he said, quoting from James in the Scriptures.
He described how the world has shuddered at the number of those lost in tragic events in recent years, citing 72,000 lives lost in the Pakistan earthquake in 2005. “Yet that many babies will be killed in Texas abortion clinics this year. More than that are killed in three weeks nationally,” Miller said.
He talked of the day after 9-11, when President George W. Bush made a moving speech at the national cathedral, explaining it was a time to return to the discarded values of the past. “The future demands it and time requires it,” Miller quoted the president as saying.
The former senator added, “Alone we are only a voice. Together we can be a force. The Majella Society is doing so much. I don’t know of any organization that fights this good fight better than the Majella Society.”
Miller recounted some of his family history. He was raised in the Appalachian Mountains of north Georgia, and his father died when he was only two weeks old. His son Matt went blind when he was 34 years old and, at the same time, his son’s wife Katie spent 77 days in the hospital because of acute pancreatitis. “That experience drove me to my knees,” Miller said. “My wife and I prayed and prayed and prayed more.”
His son Matt has since regained his sight in one eye following three surgeries, and daughter-in-law Katie is still alive, although in poor health.
“I can see clearer than I have in my whole life,” said the former Marine sergeant. “My faith in Christ will not be shaken. I put God and Jesus Christ ahead of everything in my life.”
Miller continued, “There are too many who believe as we do and are afraid to speak. Some are hesitant to be called the religious right. Well, we are religious and we are right!” he said to sustained applause from the crowd of more than 1,000.
The Fox news commentator said the nation must decide a basic question: What is growing in the womb of a woman, a fetus or a blob of tissue? He answered, “Ultrasound technology allows mothers to see the truth. It can now be seen just how alive it is. The Bible has always been clear and precise on the subject.”
Miller recalled the words of Mother Teresa, who said that the nation that would let a mother kill her unborn child in her womb has lost its soul. “This great land of plenty is producing too few people,” said the former Peach State governor. “Forty-seven million have been killed since Roe v. Wade. Still, we do not raise our voices loud enough.”
In the Declaration of Independence, God is mentioned five times, said the former history professor. “God has been at work in this country since the very beginning,” Miller said. “Sometimes in the life of a nation, men and women of conscience cannot remain silent and inactive. When our judiciary condones what our Bible condemns, something is wrong with our judiciary. While America has been asleep, 47 million babies have been killed. We have been assigned by God the great task of saving lives and transforming lives. Our founding fathers did not shirk from this duty in their day, and we cannot in ours.”
The dedicated Christian and keynoter ended his presentation by concluding, “God bless the work of the Majella Society.”
He was followed at the podium by San Antonio native and Olympic swimming champion Josh Davis, who shared his support of the Majella Society. |