In March, Southwest Options for Women Pregnancy Resource Center moved from Hopkins to a new location in Eden Prairie. Kim Bennecke, president and executive director of Southwest Options for Women Pregnancy Resource Center, and Marie Zeismer, bilingual client advocate, recently joined “Practicing Catholic” host Patrick Conley to discuss the move and why it matters.
Zeismer said the center’s main focus is providing services for women experiencing an unplanned pregnancy. “We want to do that in a compassionate, evidence-based medical services environment for women, and help them with education, material support for the mothers, the families, the infants in a very respectful and nonjudgmental environment,” she said.
Marie Zeismer
She said the center’s philosophy with clients is to create a relationship with them, providing the opportunity to trust staff and ultimately understand the value of life.
Zeismer said many clients are English speakers, but others speak Spanish, French, Somali or other languages. “We try as best we can to help everyone who walks through our doors,” she said.
Bennecke said that in 2019 its board of directors decided to be “hyper focused on its mission” and convert from being a resource center to a clinic, meaning it would offer ultrasounds and other services that would “take ourselves to that next level.”
“We were covering 30 cities, but not offering all the services that maybe other centers were,” she said.
Facing an expiring lease, and by happenstance, Bennecke met her son for dinner in Eden Prairie and found herself walking by a Planned Parenthood office.
“How did I not know they were here?” she said. “I immediately felt this overwhelming sense of peace. I look to my right and I saw a big ‘lease’ sign.”
The space for lease had never before served a non-retail organization, but it does now, as Southwest Options for Women Pregnancy Resource Center moved into the space and shares a parking lot with Planned Parenthood.
Kimberly Bennecke
“It’s the most fantastic opportunity that the Lord has presented for us,” she said. The new location is in the heart of Eden Prairie, at a busy intersection on Prairie Center Drive.
“The traffic was nearly five times as much on a daily basis as we currently had in Hopkins,” Bennecke said, and the location is less than 15 miles from about 15 colleges.
Zeismer said the center’s offerings include pregnancy testing; material assistance; parenting, mentorship and education classes and is within weeks of launching ultrasounds full-time. Appointments are preferred but walk-ins are welcome.
“This is our 30-year anniversary,” Bennecke said, “and the prime time for us to take it to that next level.”
To learn more about the organization and find the number to call about volunteer opportunities, visit SouthwestOptionsForWomen.org. To hear the full interview, listen to this episode of the “Practicing Catholic” radio show. It airs at 9 p.m. June 4, 1 p.m. June 5 and 2 p.m. June 6 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM. Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the latest show also includes interviews with Nell O’Leary from Blessed Is She, who describes upcoming weekend “fly revivals” for women, and Erika Kidd, PhD, from the University of St. Thomas, who discusses the role of women in the Church.
Listen to all of the interviews after they have aired at:
soundcloud.com/PracticingCatholic
tinyurl.com/PracticingCatholic?(Spotify)
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