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Theresa Restaino, left, and Jill Cawley organize carnations last May in preparation for a Mother’s Day carnation sale at local Roman Catholic churches. The proceeds of the sale benefitted the Pro-Life Center in Wilkes-Barre, which the girls promoted as part of their senior project at Lake-Lehman Junior/Senior High School.
Jill Cawley, left, and Theresa Restaino hold protest signs during the 37th Annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 22.
Best friends Theresa Restaino and Jill Cawley knew they wanted to do their senior completion projects together.
Restaino, 18, and Cawley, 17, both of Shavertown and both seniors at Lake-Lehman Junior/Senior High School, were raised pro-life and Roman Catholic. So when Restaino’s mom, Nancy, suggested the girls promote the Pro-Life Center, they jumped at the chance.
Founded in 1973, the Pro-Life Center on Hanover Street in Wilkes-Barre is a crisis pregnancy, educational and resource center that opposes abortion, infanticide and euthanasia. The center is operated solely by volunteers.
Restaino and Cawley started by helping sort carnations last May at St. Therese Church in Wilkes-Barre in preparation for the center’s Mother’s Day sales. The carnations are sold each year at local Roman Catholic churches on both Mother’s Day and Father’s Day to raise funds for the center.
Last summer, Restaino and Cawley volunteered their time each Thursday to work the Pro-Life Center’s educational stand at the Wilkes-Barre Farmers Market on Public Square.
Restaino and Cawley said a man who appeared to be in his 50s came to the stand and was shocked to learn about abortion and that it is legal.
“He just couldn’t believe this was going on in the United States,” Cawley said. “I pretty much thought that everyone knew about this.”
The girls were not required to raise money as part of their project, but they decided to, anyway. They designed T-shirts with pro-life slogans which they sold for $12 each to benefit the center.
Restaino and Cawley selected a weekend last fall and spoke together at the Masses at their church, Gate of Heaven Church in Dallas and Our Lady of Victory Church in Harveys Lake. They spoke about the Pro-Life Center’s mission and services and took orders for their T-shirts.
To their surprise, they raised $1,600 in donations from parishioners, not including the money from their T-shirt sales.
“It felt really good,” Cawley said. “It felt like a lot of people cared.”
The girls also sold more than 150 T-shirts to parishioners at the churches and at the Pro-Life Convention in Scranton last fall. In addition, they collected change in baby bottles at their churches to benefit the center.
Between the donations and T-shirt sales, Restaino and Cawley raised a total of almost $2,000 for the Pro-Life Center.
Dedicated to the cause of their project, the girls also participated in the 37th Annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 22. They joined about 300,000 pro-life walkers at the U.S. Capital and the Supreme Court building on the 37th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion in the United States.
Restaino and Cawley traveled to the march on a bus with teenagers from other churches in the area. The night before the march, they slept at a Roman Catholic church in Washington, D.C. and the next morning they attended a youth Mass at the Verizon Center with more than 20,000 people in attendance.
One speaker at the Mass was a girl with Down syndrome. Because Down syndrome is a condition that causes mental retardation, women pregnant with a baby believed to have Down syndrome will sometimes undergo an abortion.
Another speaker was Tim Tebow, a former college football player who won a Heisman Trophy. Tebow’s mother, Pam, was advised by doctors to have an abortion when she was pregnant with him because they expected him to be stillborn.
Tebow was also featured in a controversial pro-life commercial that aired on television during this year’s Super Bowl.
“It was really cool,” Cawley said of the Mass. “It made you fill up with adrenaline and stuff.”
Outside of their school project, Restaino and Cawley have been active volunteers at the Meadows Nursing Center in Dallas since junior high school. They also help out each June at the Gate of Heaven Church Annual Bazaar and Restaino teaches a kindergarten Catholic Christian Doctrine (CCD) class at the church.
Although their senior project is complete, the girls hope to stay active with the center and participate in the March for Life again next year.
“You feel good that you’re sticking up for something you believe in,” Restaino said. “If teens don’t start (standing up for their beliefs) now, who knows if they’ll ever start in the future.”
Dedicated to the cause of their project, the girls also participated in the 37th Annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 22. They joined about 300,000 pro-life walkers at the U.S. Capital and the Supreme Court building on the 37th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion in the United States.