What is the connection between Gabriel Project KC and St Mary’s Home for Mothers?
The Gabriel Project KC Ministry
The Gabriel Project is a ministry of the Pro-Life Office in the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas and the Respect Life Office in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph in Missouri, providing assistance to pregnant women in need. We provide emotional, material and spiritual support, as well as links to community resources, to support her choice to parent or give her baby to those seeking to adopt. A trained volunteer, called an Angel, is assigned to the mother when she calls for help and is responsible for ongoing contact with her. The Gabriel Project also enlists the church community, through which the mother receives additional love, care, and material, emotional and spiritual support.
Description of the Gabriel Project KC 501c3
The primary mission of the Gabriel Project KC 501c3 is to fund respect life initiatives for pregnant mothers in need throughout the greater metropolitan area. It was started by Deacons Doug Hemke of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph and Kevin Cummings of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in KS. They are an independent entity that assists not only the Gabriel Project ministry but other non-affiliated ministries that support pregnant moms in need. They both received the endorsement and blessings of their respective Bishops: Bishop James Johnston in KC,MO and Archbishop Joseph Naumann in KC, KS.
Our Mission
The Gabriel Project KC funds Respect Life initiatives for pregnant mothers in need throughout the greater metropolitan area. We assist not only the nation-wide Gabriel Project ministry in general but other non-affiliated ministries that support pregnant mothers in need. More than linking mothers to community resources, we provide emotional, material and spiritual support for her choice to parent or give her baby to those seeking to adopt.
The Angel Program
The Angel Program currently helps support up to 40 pregnant women in the Kansas City, KS and Kansas City-St. Joseph dioceses. When any pregnant woman in need calls for help, a trained volunteer, called an Angel, is assigned to the mother and is responsible for ongoing contact with her — not just up to the birth of her child but for as long as is necessary. The Respect Life Office for each diocese operates the Angel Program; GPKC provides financial and in-kind support. GPKC also enlists the church community, through which the mother receives additional love, care, and material, emotional and spiritual support.
St. Mary’s Home for Mothers
GPKC led the acquisition of the acreage and existing house that is in the process of becoming the brand new St. Mary’s Home for Mothers. Modeled after — and with the enthusiastic support of — successful maternity homes in other cities, St. Mary’s will serve concurrently up to 15 homeless, pregnant adult women and their children. At present, there is no residence for pregnant, homeless women in the Greater Kansas City Metropolitan Area even though social service agencies encounter about fifty such women each year. St. Mary’s will go a long way fill this critical gap with a safe and dignified place for at least some of these women to each live safely and create a path to a productive, independent life for her family.
