WARDSVILLE - On Sunday, the annual Walk for Life turned into a "ride for life" as rain forced the event indoors for only the second time in the event's 40-year history.
More than 100 participants drove the 1.5-mile route from St. Stanislaus Catholic Church in Wardsville to the Wardsville Lions Club. The event featured food, speeches and prizes. Seven pro-life groups had booths, and kids who visited each got to go through the "prize corral" and pick out a book or toy.
Cash prizes also went to kids who collected the most money for the event. Any child who collected $100 or more received a $10 coupon to Pizza Haus in Wardsville.
Wayne Bernskoetter and his wife, Donna, believe in the cause so much they've co-chaired the event since 1998.
"This younger generation, with education and our example, can change the whole mindset to pro-life," Donna Bernskoetter said.
Chris Lock, a member of the Pro-Life Committee at St. Stanislaus, said the kids look forward to the event.
They bring the parents to the event as much as the parents bring the kids, she said.
"It's a great cause to work for and to see all these people who are proudly pro-life," she said.
The event typically raises around $8,000 each year, and the money is split between four pro-life groups: Vitae Society, Birthright, Missouri Right to Life and Prolife Across America.
Those groups, plus three others, 40 Days for Life, Life Runners and Pregnancy Help Center, had informational booths at the event, and representatives from their groups gave short speeches.
Patty Skain, executive director of Missouri Right to Life, asked members in attendance to call Sen. Mike Kehoe, R-Jefferson City, and other senators to encourage the Senate to take up and pass two important pro-life bills, HB174 and HB194.
HB 174 would prevent political subdivisions from enacting, adopting or enforcing any ordinance or any other form of regulation that would interfere with, or otherwise adversely affect an alternatives-to-abortion agency or any other religious organization and their agents' operations or speech.
HB194, also known as The Women's Health Care Protection Act, requires annual on-site abortion clinic inspections; accountability of baby body parts from abortion; whistleblower protection; two-parent notification prior to a minor having an abortion; and stated jurisdiction for the attorney general when dealing with abortion cases.