When other pro-life groups out on the sidewalk take a different approach to outreach, it can feel like a roadblock to sidewalk advocacy – but for Sidewalk Advocate Cathy and her team, it was an opportunity that paid off.
There’s a man who spends time on the sidewalk outside the local abortion facility who has a “super brutal” approach, Cathy says. “When there’s not women to pick on, he’ll pick on the security guards,” she explains. “He’ll say terrible things.”
So Cathy and her team went out of their way to differentiate themselves to the clients and the workers at the facility, slowly building up trust and good will. And when Cathy had an opportunity, she said to one of the security guards she’d been “working on,” “You know, we talk about abortionworker.com. It’s the real deal.
“Would you take my number down?”
As she told him her phone number, he entered it into his phone. The Advocates continued to talk with him as opportunities presented themselves, sometimes speaking with him on the phone or texting him. And when Cathy showed up for her shift on the sidewalk, he often said something like, “Good morning, Miss Cathy. There are 37 patients here today – I hope you save some of them.”
Cathy learned that the security guard was also an ordained minister – and that he had a record that had made it difficult for him to find other work. Cathy assured him that And Then There Were None would help him to find a more life-affirming job, and the planning continued. 
Finally one Thursday he called Cathy and said, “You know that thing we talked about? It’s happening now. Right now!”
Cathy asked when she and some of her Advocates could take him and his wife out to dinner to celebrate his resignation from the abortion facility.
The former security guard continues to work with And Then There Were None, and is excited to take advantage of their programs to help him legally, to restore himself spiritually, and to find other work. He also continues to talk with Cathy – one day saying to her, “I hate to even bring this up … but we don’t have a mattress. Do you have an extra mattress?”
Cathy did indeed, and some of her Advocates delivered it, along with box springs and a headboard, to the man and his wife.
“How desperate do you have to be for work if you’re sleeping on the floor?” she asks.
“[His resignation is] a huge praise to God. We had prayed about that for such a long time.”
Submitted by Sidewalk Advocates for Life-Atlanta, GA