40 Days for Life is Coming to Long Island

From Celeste Broyles at the Long Island Coalition for Life:
40 Days for Life: The Groundbreaking Pro-Life Campaign that GETS RESULTS!
Save Lives From Abortion... Protect Women and Men... Provide Healing to the Wounded... Mobilizes the Body of Christ in Your Town... IN JUST 40 DAYS!
40 DAYS FOR LIFE - LONG ISLAND, September 26th through November 4th
The 40 Days for Life campaign is a faith-based prayerful, peaceful, lawful, prolife effort that is comprised of 40 continuous days of
(1) prayer and fasting
(2) prayer vigil at an abortion facility
(3) community outreach.
Originating in Texas 3 years ago, 40 Days for Life campaigns have been held in several cities the past few years and there is one going on right now in Aurora, IL, where Planned Parenthood constructed a medical building under ANOTHER NAME so the locals wouldn’t know who was moving into town.

This year, 40 Days for Life is going national and 84 cities in 33 states plus the District of Columbia have signed on for a SIMULTANEOUS 40 DAYS FOR LIFE campaign... and LONG ISLAND will be part of it!
How large a part Long Island is to the national effort depends on how many prolifers share the vision of a 40-day, round the clock vigil at Planned Parenthood of Nassau County in Hempstead. How successful the Long Island campaign is depends on how many churches grasp the power of this campaign and lead their congregations in a 40-day prayer rally to stop abortion and start healing for post-abortive men and women.
Right now, I’m spearheading the 40 Days for Life - Long Island campaign.
I hope and pray you visit the links below. For all the reasons 40 Days for Life has gone national, this program is needed on Long Island.
More than one person has already told me that 40 Days for Life can’t happen on Long Island we can't do 960 hours at Planned Parenthood in Hempstead. Why? A big reason is because being a prolife activist on Long Island (or in NY) is demoralizing and depressing. There are nine Planned Parenthood facilities in Nassau and Suffolk. In 2005, there were 4100 surgical and medical abortions in Suffolk County and almost 3500 in Nassau County. And PP of Nassau County committed more than 1300 of those abortions. Politically, nothing even remotely resembling prolife legislation sees the light of day in Albany. Meanwhile, for the past few decades, the silence of the churches has been deafening. Despite countless recruitment efforts only a handful of us witness at abortuaries each week. People who have been fighting this battle for 30+ years are worn out and few people have stepped up to fill their 70- and 80-year old shoes. Based on experience, they simply don't believe there is the will or the leadership to carry out 40 Days for Life. And, I can't blame them.
But all this is EXACTLY why 40 Days for Life has Long Island written all over it! Certainly, there are those who are not able to stand outside an abortion facility, but there are scores who are able to come. These sideline prolife individuals, families, and clergy need to be moved out of their comfort zone - at the very least for just once out of 40 days for a few hours of prayerful witness at Planned Parenthood. Prayer is the uniting force behind 40DFL - that's the message to convey to get people excited about the challenge of fulfilling 40DFL. Forty days for 24 hours sounds like a lot... until you break it down. If one church covered one day, that would be only 40 churches needed.If groups of 3 people committed to 3 hours per week, that's only 56 groups and less than 200 people. Can we not even do that? Who can join the prayer vigil? It's easier to say who can't join the prayer vigil - those who don't agree to be peaceful, prayerful and lawful. So, it's time to think outside the box! -- Prayer groups, Moms In Touch groups,-- Religious ed/Bible study classes,-- Students who need to do community service,-- Members of prolife pregnancy help centers,-- Knights of Columbus (think night time slots!)-- College students (think night time slots)-- Parish youth groups,-- Parish respect life group,-- Any church organization (Columbiettes, Catholic Daughters, etc.)-- Smaller churches can join with other like churches to cover a day,-- Larger churches can take a full day.

40 Days for Life - Long Island, as of now, will do neighborhood/media outreach on an as-time-allows basis. The priority is the vigil and prayer and fasting. Each church can design its prayer and fasting however it wants. It would be nice to have a particular time in church each day for people to pray for the 40DFL intentions or for church bells to ring the same time each day of the 40 days, etc.

It is being sponsored by the Long Island Coalition for Life (631)243-1435. Frank Gariboldi of the Life Center of Long Island is building up a prayer force. Hurry and be the next prolife group to sign on!

Please spread this information to prolife friends, teachers, pastors, youth ministers, and prayer groups. If you don’t clue them in, they’ll miss out on being part of this awesome event.
Thank you for any and all support you can offer to 40DFL-LI.
And let me know now what hours you want to witness at Planned Parenthood.

1]40 Days for Life - overview, past campaigns, endorsements

2]BEING HUMAN video - why 40 DFL
(Show scheduled to air on EWTN Sept. 3, 2007 at 3:00 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.)

3]Coalition for Life - Bryan-College Station, TX

4]Wisconsin - the state that is making other 40DFL cities jealous - check out the dedicated 40DFL website, including calendars to get coverage at FIVE abortion mills:
Note Bene: Population Wisconsin: 5.5 million.
Population Nassau/Suffolk: 2.8 million. (Hint!)

5] Houston Coalition for Life - why 40 Days for Life is working there