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“See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always
look upon the face of my heavenly Father.” Matthew 18:10
C r o s s R o a d F o u n d a t i o n
1 1 5 2 V i c t o r y B o u l e v a r d , S t a t e n I s l a n d , N Y 1 0 3 0 1 ( 7 1 8 ) 5 5 6 - 3 4 7 4
w w w . c r o s s r o a d f o u n d a t i o n . o r g
Happy Birthday!
Malena - June 8
Prince - June 25
Sofia - July 10
Valerie - July 29
Angie - August 2
Yaritza - August 22
Sofia - August 22
Isaura - August 28
Kathleen - September 1
Melanie - September 15
Volume 4, Issue 4 Fall 2014
A quarterly publication of The Cross Road Foundation
FALL FASHION SHOW - Looking for a reason to get out of the house? Mark your
calendars for Thursday, October 16 at 7:00 p.m. and join us for the Annual Fall Fashion
Show at the Hilton Garden Inn. Enjoy a night of musical entertainment and a fashion walk
down the runway, tickets are $60 per person, with proceeds benefiting Cross Road.
MOTHERS CARE RAFFLE - Only 300 tickets available, so get yours now! Donation:
$50 per ticket, prizes are as follows: 1st Prize - $5,000; 2nd Prize - $1,000; 3rd Prize - $500.
Drawing will be held on December 4, 2014. To purchase your ticket, contact us at 718-556-3474 or visit our webpage
www.crossroadfoundation.org.
UPCOMING EVENTS
William Harder, Executive Director
buddies. But this is our own small window of opportunity so we remind her of the real danger of contracting an STD and of the health risk involved with using Plan B and other oral contraceptives. To some sensitive educators, it may seem cruel to disturb a teen’s romantic feelings with such tangible facts. But this is really another way of being kind, a way that doesn’t kill but empowers. Our goal is to help the young woman see clearly the consequences that follow from her choices. It is a way of helping her accept her adult responsibilities. When she returns to her friends it is usually with a more sober expression and hopefully helps them all to assume a more serious approach to life.
I thank you for your continued support of our work at Cross-Road.
According to the American Heritage Dictionary, “to kill
with kindness” is to “overwhelm or harm someone with mistaken or excessive benevolence.” And while, in general, a civil society is marked by its magnanimity there is a danger in being too nice, just as there is a danger in giving a child too much candy or giving a young woman a limitless supply of hormonal contracep-tives. Extreme kindness weakens the will of the receiver and leads to an even greater dependence on the giver.
Our nation’s fifty year “War on Poverty” assumed that prosperity would follow simply from the elimination of physical need. As well intentioned as it may have been, it has brought instead much devastation to the
families it was designed to help. Likewise, the current “War on Women,” being reprised for this election cycle, promises women pleasure without pain by providing them with free oral contraceptives to prevent pregnancies. Putting aside their cynical regard of women as helpless or of pregnancy as a disease, these proponents would give out Plan B pills like gum drops to high school girls knowing that this would re-sult not only in increased rates of STDs such as herpes or the HPV infection, but also in an increased risk of developing breast cancer.
Occasionally we have a high school student who comes into our center for a pregnancy test, accompanied by her friends. They are all grins and giggles in the wait-ing room while she suddenly becomes serious as she goes in for the test. When she gets a negative result, her smile returns and she is ready to rush back out to her
Did you know?
Before birth, the number of nerve
cells in the fetal brain grows rapidly:
some 250,000 are created per minute!
Source: www.kidsgrowth.com
Page 2 The Guardian Angel
Approach everything in life with LOVE first!
Janna Gaudiuso, Director of Development
protected this special one and in amazement,
has granted us the grace to see the fruits of
our prayers.
Archbishop Sheen believed that by the
spiritual adoption of specific babies, the
advance of the culture of death in America
and throughout the world could be stopped.
Not only are the unborn children in need of
our prayers, but their mothers as well. We’ve
seen the positive effects of prayer in our
work here at Cross Road. We see many
women come into the office who are strug-
gling with uncertainty surrounding their preg-
nancies. We would be grateful if you would
keep these women, as well as all women con-
sidering abortion in your prayers.
If you’d like more information on spiritual
adoption, please visit the Family Life/Respect
Life Office website at www.nyfamilylife.org.
“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, I
love you very much. I beg you
to spare the life of the unborn
child that I have spiritually
adopted who is in danger of abortion.”
These are the words of a prayer that
Archbishop Fulton Sheen wrote in 1973 after
the Supreme Court legalized abortion.
Venerable Fulton Sheen encouraged
individuals and families to pray this daily
prayer for nine months, in spiritual adoption
of an unborn baby in danger of being aborted.
Over the past 30 years, this prayer has been
distributed and recited countless times in
parishes across the world, with the nine month
period beginning in October, which is
celebrated as Respect Life Month. My
husband and I have taken part in spiritual
adoption over the past 6 years, reciting the
prayer every night before bedtime. We’ve taken
special care in naming the babies that we pray
for, sometimes the names that come to us are
special names of family members who have
passed, sometimes we’ve chosen names of
babies that we have thought we might use if we
were ever blessed with a family ourselves.
Every year, no matter the names, we have
received a special blessing from the spiritual
adoption. We’ve even had an instance where a
baby was born and (unknowingly) named with
our spiritual baby’s name. Now, when that
special baby is revealed through the course of
our nine month “spiritual adoption,” we just
smile at each other, knowing that God has
“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, I love you very much.
I beg you to spare the life of the unborn child that
I have spiritually adopted who is in danger of abortion.”
-Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
Members of the St. Simon Stock Lay Carmelites organized a Baby Shower on behalf of Cross Road’s Summer Diaper Drive. The shower was held at the home of Michael & Maria Ugenti, and attendees were treated to shower games and delicious desserts. Members donated baby clothing, diapers, blankets,
& hand crocheted afghans to Cross Road’s Mommy Store.
It’s back to
school time
again for all of
the mothers
enrolled in
Cross Road’s
Earn While
You Learn Parenting Program. Fifty-one new
mothers have enrolled in the fall semester
which will include the following courses:
Parenting (English & Spanish), Pre-Natal
(English & Spanish), English 1, 2, & 3, and
Spiritual Hour. Relationship support is also
available to the mothers on an as needed basis.
Mothers will receive credit in the form of
Mommy Money by attending classes, and will
be able to visit the Mommy Store each time
classes are held. Women enrolled in New
York’s Nurse Family Partnership and Healthy
Families programs are also able to visit the
Mommy Store.
If you’re interested in hosting a Baby Shower for Cross Road’s Mommy
Store with your group or organization, please contact Janna Gaudiuso at
718-556-3474. Baby registry, invitation wording and speakers are available!
Page 3 Volume , Issue
Thank you from the bottoms of our babies! We would like to acknowledge the following contributors for their contribution to our
summer diaper drive:
Janet Burman
Eugene & Carol Callaghan
Tom & Lisa Castaldo
Cathie Raney
Bill Savino
Deborah Sucich
Carmen & Patricia Tripo
Glenn & Kristin Wolter
St. Rita’s Parish
St. Simon Stock Lay Carmelites
We are still in need of diapers, specifically sizes 3, 4, & 5 in the Mommy Store.
Please contact us if you’d like to make a donation.
The Richard & Lois Nicotra Foundation named Cross Road as a recipient of a $1,000 grant at an awards ceremony located at the
COMMONS Café on June 19. The grant will go towards continued funding of the Earn While You Learn Parenting Program.
Photo credit www.silive.com.
Don’t miss our FALL FASHION SHOW!
Thursday, October 16, 7 p.m.
Nicotra’s Ballroom, Hilton Garden Inn, Staten Island
Amazing Baskets, 50/50 Raffle, Door Prizes, Runway Fashions from local boutiques
Call 718-556-3474 for tickets! $60 per person, includes dinner
Wanted: Pro-Life
Health Care
Professionals!
Do you have pro-life
views and work in the
health care field?
We have assembled a
Pro-Life advisory
committee and are
looking for medical
professionals. Please
contact us if you are
interested in more
information.
Mark your calendars!
The 2015 March for Life will be held
in Washington D.C. on Thursday,
January 22, 2015. A Pro-Life rally
will begin at 12:00 p.m. and the march
will begin at 1:00 p.m. The March for
Life began as a small demonstration and rapidly grew to be the largest
pro-life event in the world. The peaceful demonstration that has
followed on this somber anniversary every year since 1973 is a witness
to the truth concerning the greatest human rights violation of our time,
abortion. (www.marchforlife.org) Every year, marchers peacefully
march from the National Mall to the United States Supreme Court.
For more information, please visit www.marchforlife.org.
Cross Road Foundation
1152 Victory Blvd.
Staten Island, NY 10301
Helping expectant and new mothers in need since 1987.
C r o s s R o a d F o u n d a t i o n
1 1 5 2 V i c t o r y B o u l e v a r d , S t a t e n I s l a n d , N Y 1 0 3 0 1 ( 7 1 8 ) 5 5 6 - 3 4 7 4
w w w . c r o s s r o a d f o u n d a t i o n . o r g
Non-Profit Organization
U.S. Postage
PAID
Permit No. 303
Staten Island, NY
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to
justice everywhere.”
-Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Officers Board of Directors Executive Director Director of Development
Joann Gilmartin, President Virginia Buonviaggio Joseph Forlenza William Harder Janna Gaudiuso
Dolores Celentano, Vice-President Rev. Michael Cichon Joan Mutone Administrative Assistants Director of Parenting Program
Salvatore Marra, Treasurer Joseph Delaney Novella Lawrence Jeanette Munda Annette Esposito
James Stahlnecker, Secretary Nancy Delaney Charles Sanfilippo Ana Suarez
Thank You to Our Loyal Supporters!
Our heartfelt thanks go to those who participated in Baby Bottle Campaigns during Summer/Fall 2014:
Our Lady Star of the Sea Parish St. Anthony of Padua Parish St. Sylvester’s Parish
If you are interested in running a Baby Bottle Campaign in your church or organization, or if you are interested in volunteering in
one of the campaigns, please contact Bill at 718-556-3474.
We would also like to acknowledge support received in the Summer/Fall of 2014
from the following parishes/organizations: Our Lady Help of Christians Parish ● St. Christopher’s Parish
St. Teresa’s Baby Bin ● Monthly HOPE Donors ● Sacred Heart Parish Holy Child Parish ● St. Rita’s Parish ● St. Simon Stock Lay Carmelites
O’Toole Foundation ● The Richard & Lois Nicotra Foundation Diaper Drive Donors
