Archdiocese’s Life Fund helps pregnant women in financial straits

By Rebecca Omastiak The Catholic Spirit

As administrator of the Life Fund of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Sonya Flomo regularly talks with women who want to raise their children with dignity but face financial hardships.

The fund helps support women as they care for their unborn or newborn babies, primarily through one-time emergency funding. The financial support is for necessities, including baby formula, car payments, rent or mortgage payments, utilities and insurance, Flomo said.

Primarily, the women Flomo works with are referred to her by social workers at life care centers or hospitals who help the women fill out the required grant application. Women also call her directly, she said.

Flomo began working with the ministry in 1997, after her supervisor saw her gift for speaking with women in crisis pregnancies. During conversations, she draws from her personal experience as a single mother, recognizing that many mothers “just want to be heard,” Flomo said.

“A lot of the women I work with through the Life Fund, they have no family support,” she said. “I want them to see that they can do it. They don’t have to sit and wait for a system to help them.”

Flomo said her hope is that women can use help given through the Life Fund as a springboard “to really forge ahead and be successful in life.” To this end, Flomo works to show her clients ways they can contribute to their own success.

“I try to say, ‘OK, can you come (up) with $10 toward your rent?’ to give them ownership,” Flomo said. “We want you to take ownership. And not only ownership, but pride in what you’re doing for your child.”

Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 24 decision overturning Roe v. Wade,

Flomo said, the Life Fund has seen more grant applications. “The need is really great out there,” she said.

Flomo said she prays that people will act with compassion when they see others in need.

“There’s a lot of judgment in this world, unfortunately, and I pray that people will stop judging and start loving. I think that we all can learn from somebody. Whether you are a

Available Trips homeless person or the richest person in the world, I think we can always learn something from somebody, and I think that we just need to humble ourselves and just be our brother’s keeper,” Flomo said.

People can make a tax-deductible donation to The Life Fund at tinyurl com/4djzyhhd or by mailing a check to the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Attn: Life Fund, 777

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