Baby Bottle 'Brigade' to come to rescue of unborn

Submitted on August 19, 2011

Jennifer Brinker | jbrinker@stlouisreview.com

Sonographer Linda Byrnes, left, performed an ultrasound on Shayla Taylor, right, Aug. 16 during the filming of a promotional video in the Thrive St. Louis Mobile Medical Unit. Thrive’s mobile unit, which was launched in March, offers free ultrasounds and pregnancy tests. The Knights of Columbus Council 9981 at Incarnate Word Parish in Chesterfield has announced it is launching a “Baby Bottle Brigade” with the hope of raising $25,000 for a new laptop ultrasound machine for the mobile unit. The amount raised by the local council would be matched by the Knights of Columbus Supreme Council as part of its Ultrasound Initiative. Bridget VanMeans, executive director of Thrive St. Louis, said a new laptop ultrasound machine would cost approximately $50,000.

Jerry Naunheim Jr.

It's only fitting that a local Knights of Columbus council is forming a "brigade" in defense of the smallest members of society -- the unborn. That's exactly what members of the Knights' Council 9981 at Incarnate Word Parish in Chesterfield are doing as they prepare to launch next month a parish "Baby Bottle" campaign and larger "brigade" in an effort to raise funding to help Thrive St. Louis, a group of local pregnancy resource centers.