WINSTON-SALEM — Around 700 people, clergy and supporters from across the Diocese of Charlotte attended Room At The Inn’s annual banquet held Oct. 2.
RATI helps local homeless pregnant women and new mothers by providing them with “God’s hope” through housing, counseling, education, and daycare programs.
The Catholic nonprofit organization has helped 750 mothers over the past 30 years and continues to grow and thrive.
After Bishop Michael T. Martin opened the event at the Benton Convention Center with a blessing, CEO and founder Alfred Hodges took the stage to honor and recognize who drives his ministry – his residents.
Residents included Diamond from Greenville, who found RATI while pregnant with her second child. Committed to an adoption plan, her plans abruptly changed during a routine checkup. The child in her womb would die, as his brain would never fully form. The doctor urged her to have an abortion, but she could not bring herself to go through with it.
RATI welcomed Diamond into the historic Mary Nassbaum Maternity Home, where she gave birth to her son Sincere. He lived one beautiful day cradled in the loving arms of his mother.
Diamond let Hodges hold her baby, and in her eyes, Hodges can still see those moments that motivate him and the entire organization.
“She was determined Sincere would have a life,” Hodges said.
When Sincere died the next day, Father Robert Ferris buried him.
“He was our first little saint,” Hodges said. “...I always tell people, the women in our house, they are not little angels, and they are not little devils, either. They’re heroic, and they are certainly my heroes.”
His “heroes” were present at the banquet – their glowing faces, packed phone photo albums, and parenthood stories a living testament of the gap God fills when people step forward in faith and choose life.
Keynote speaker Luke Kuechly, former linebacker for the Carolina Panthers and a man of great Catholic faith, shared anecdotes about his top plays and some lessons from life and football.
Kuechly applauded RATI’s work to save lives.
“Let’s be honest about what you guys do. You are saving a life,” Kuechly said. “You are providing a safe place for someone to save a life and have an opportunity to make a choice to create life.”
Proceeds from the fundraiser will help with RATI’s current operations and programs.
Future endeavors include a new 20-acre campus in Kernersville called “The Promise Center,” for which they will soon break ground.
The four-building facility will consist of a child development center, educational facility, volunteer center, and additional housing to help the poorest of the poor mothers.
Hodges ended the evening by thanking and sharing the limelight with the One truly responsible for the conversion of hearts and souls: Jesus.
“That’s what binds us together, Jesus, he said. “I hope that everyone that comes here (to RATI), all these women, can see Jesus.”
— Lisa M. Geraci
Learn more
At www.roominn.org: Explore how Room At The Inn helps homeless women in the Triad and learn how you can help support its mission
