On Sunday afternoon, October 7, Right to Life of Southwest Indiana will host the annual Life Chain.  Life Chain is a silent prayer vigil to protect life and oppose abortion.  The Life Chain supporters will gather at Brinker’s Jewelers parking lot at the corner of Green River and the Lloyd Expressway for free refreshments and to pick up signs beginning at 1 p.m. The silent prayer vigil is from 1:30-2:30 p.m.  All those who support Life are invited to stand on Green River Road sidewalks beginning at the Lloyd Expressway and going south to Lincoln Avenue.

This is the 31th year of public witness on behalf of rejected Preborn Children; and Life Chain will fill the sidewalks in over 1,500 cities and towns in the U.S. and Canada. It is an opportunity for people to unite in prayer and to stand up for the rights of the unborn. They will stand in honor of the more than 60 million children whose lives have been lost to abortion in our country since 1973.  Every year young moms report choosing life for their unborn children over abortion after reading the signs and seeing the people praying at the Life Chain.

According to Mary Ellen Van Dyke, Executive Director of Right to Life of Southwest Indiana, “Supporters of unborn babies and their moms will stand together respectfully and prayerfully to honor the sanctity of life. This year with all the attacks against the sanctity of human life, conscience and religious freedom, many prayers are needed.”

Supporters of Life will hold signs that say:

• ABORTION KILLS CHILDREN
• JESUS FORGIVES AND HEALS

• ADOPTION: THE LOVING OPTION
• LORD, FORGIVE US AND OUR NATION
• ABORTION HURTS WOMEN
• PRAY TO END ABORTION
• LIFE—THE FIRST INALIENABLE RIGHT
• DEFUND PLANNED PARENTHOOD

The Life Chain follows a strict Code of Conduct, is peaceful, and family members, young and old are invited to attend.  Everyone who believes in the protection of unborn children and their mothers is welcome to participate.

Right to Life of Southwest Indiana with 50,000 supporters protects life.  We exist to protect the right to life of innocent human life from fertilization to natural death.

“Convenience. Convenience. That sums it all up,” says Jerry Bergner, Jacobsville resident.

Right off North Main Street sits an empty grocery store. To some in the neighborhood, the store was their only source for food.

“Like say I’m in the middle of a meal and I need something and I can skip right over and get it,” says Bergner. “You know, to continue cooking.”

For Bergner, the former IGA grocery store was where he shopped.

Now, the Evansville Redevelopment Commission approved $5,500 towards a grocery study in Jacobsville.

“The study that we’re paying for will look at the potential revenue and profit from fuel that could be gleaned from opening gas pumps at that location,” says Kelley Coures, Evansville’s Director of Metropolitan Development.

Fuel and a fast food restaurant could potentially be included as part of the business model to make it more of a full-service stop for commuters and residents. Houchens Industries has operated the IGA store there for years and holds the property lease until the end of 2019.

“Houchens has not made a commitment yet to reopen so it just gets us one more step down the road in trying to work out the reopening of that place,” says Course.

Community residents say that not having a grocery store affects their daily lives.

“It takes me over an hour to get there and back,” says Bergner. “If I need something in a hurry, I’m out of luck.”

City leaders say as of now there aren’t enough people who walk to the grocery store to make it profitable but not having a grocery store where people need to walk makes it difficult.

Bergner agrees.

“A whole lot of people would be happy if another grocery store did come in,” says Bergner. “I mean, I’ve talked to a lot of people around the neighborhood and everybody misses it.”

A similar model of a grocery store, fuel, and fast food service is located at Green River and Heckle Road. The study should be completed by November.