Notre Dame’s pro-life club offers free childcare for parenting graduate students

South Bend, Ind., Feb 8, 2018 / 15:37 pm

Parents pursuing graduate degrees at the University of Notre Dame are now able to partake in a free childcare service through the campus' Right to Life Club.

"The Right to Life's mission is to promote and uphold the sanctity of all human life from conception until natural death through prayer, service and education," stated Lorenzo Beer, who was the commissioner behind the new childcare service, according to the Observer.

"The Child Care Service is a direct, concrete action of the Right to Life Club to showcase the love the pro-life movement has for those who choose life," Beer continued.

The childcare program is offered once a week to parents who are graduate students at the University of Notre Dame. The children are cared for by university student volunteers, who are required to have a background check and a child care training session.

Currently, the program has 30 trained child caretakers, while upwards of 80 students have shown an interest in volunteering for the program. The service is in its third week of operation, during which it has served five different families.

"Last week, the service provided daycare for about 11 children," Beer said.

Beer, who is a sophomore at the university, believes the program will showcase what it means to be pro-life, while also supporting fellow students.

"Raising a child is hard enough," Beer said, but "raising a child while being a graduate student requires superpowers."

Beer also noted the challenges involved when parents experience the "difficulty of choosing life." However, he noted that life itself is "the greatest gift of humanity."

"For that reason, we want to serve those who choose life, and what better way to do so than helping those right here on campus in our community."

The president of the university's Right to Life Club, Sarah Drumm, said that she hopes the new childcare program will help parents who are pursuing their graduate degrees, even if on a small scale.

"We recognize that our once-a-week child care service isn't going to dramatically improve the lives of parenting students," Drumm said.

"However, we do hope that the little we do somehow can make their workload a little lighter and their jobs as parents a little easier, at least for a few hours a week."