Our series on maternal and early childhood issues continues today with a two-part story on Genesis Women’s Clinics, focusing on the work of Wendy Burpee. She is the Executive Director of two of the clinics in southeastern PA. Hers is an amazing story of transformation.
There are those who find their calling in life very early on…there are many others who find the road to that calling takes a bit longer and can be much more difficult. Such was the case for Wendy Burpee. She is now the Executive Director for Genesis Women’s Clinics of Phoenixville and Pottstown, PA. But after her first year in college, that seemed like a very distant possibility.
“Went off and decided to do my own thing and ended up getting in some situations that I regretted and involved with a guy that I didn’t have to get involved with, Wendy said.”
She ended up having three abortions, including one that almost turned fatal.
“Within two days or so I ended up hemorrhaging and was rushed to a hospital where I had emergency surgery and a blood transfusion, which saved by life.”
But she says she could pull herself out of that relationship until she ran into an old friend showed up with a moving van to her apartment and started taking stuff out of the apartment. It helped Wendy turn things around. She got married and had three kids, but her new path was not yet charted.
“We raised our kids for 25 years and then I just felt this pull,” Wendy said. “Like there was something I was supposed to be doing, something that God wants from me and I had no idea.”
But then a friend told her about an opening with Genesis Women’s Clinic, which is dedicated to providing confidential advocacy to women who are facing an unplanned pregnancy. She got the job and started using her talents to help raise funds but soon found a more hands-on role with Genesis in dealing with their clients.
“Finally I started getting in a room with these women and I couldn’t not tell them my story. I had to tell them so they wouldn’t abort their own child. It was a must.”
We’ll have more on what Genesis has to offer coming up tomorrow.
