MOSES LAKE — Crossroads Resource Center introduced its new leader at the fundraising banquet Saturday night.

“As much as I love this ministry and I love all the people involved in this ministry, I'm just not the person to move it forward,” said outgoing Executive Director Carol Knopp. “The board of directors has hired Cristie Bingham to be the new executive director. I fully support that, and I believe she will do an excellent job.”

The event was Crossroads’ annual fundraiser banquet, held at the Grant County Fairgrounds. Chuck Yarbro Jr. served as the MC, and Top Gun catered a prime rib and chicken cordon bleu dinner. This year’s guest speaker was bioethicist and author Scott Klusendorf, who discussed arguments for and against abortion.

The amount of money raised Saturday wasn’t available Monday, Bingham said.

Crossroads Resource Center is a Christian ministry with locations in Moses Lake and Ephrata that offers women facing unplanned pregnancies alternatives to abortion. Crossroads offers, among other things, pregnancy and STD tests and sonograms before birth and baby supplies and counseling after the baby is born, as well as post-abortion counseling if the woman decides to take that option. Bingham has served at Crossroads for a number of years as its in-house sonographer. 

During Knopp’s eight-year tenure as executive director, Crossroads has increased its online advertising, which led to better training for staff and new programs, she said. During the past year, Crossroads received accreditation as a bona fide medical clinic from the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care, or AAAHC, Bingham told the donors.

“It doesn’t sound like a very exciting announcement, but it actually is a really big deal for us,” she said. “Crossroads has demonstrated that we meet nationally-recognized standards for health care and patient safety. Part of our mission statement reads that we will provide evidence-based health care and educational services to families in the Columbia Basin, so that fits well with our mission statement.”

Bingham plans to add more clinic days to Crossroads’ schedule, she said. Crossroads’ medical personnel are part-time and hold full-time jobs elsewhere; as a consequence the center can only administer pregnancy tests and sonograms once a week in Moses Lake. With a new ultrasound machine and a new RN coming on board, Bingham said, the Ephrata center will also have one day a week for clinical functions.

“The more hours we’re open, the more opportunities we have to serve women when they need us,” Bingham said. “If a woman finds herself in a crisis pregnancy, she is more likely to go to the clinic that is going to be (available) the soonest, and we want that to be Crossroads.”

Every year at the banquet, Crossroads honors a community member who has been supportive of its mission. This year’s honor was given posthumously to Mary Courtright, who passed away in September. Courtright had served on the Crossroads board for more than 15 years, said fellow board member Pastor Kathy Jingling.

“We all know Mary’s up there (in heaven) making a list and getting that place organized,” Jingling said. “She’s an amazing woman.”

The medical side of Crossroads’ work is important, Bingham said, but there’s another dimension that can’t be measured by an accreditation standard.

“We all here are pro-life,” Bingham said. “We feel called by God to serve women in our community with unplanned pregnancies. And we want them to feel the love of Christ by the way we treat each client with dignity, compassion and grace.”

    Attendees at the Crossroads Resource Center banquet fill their plates with a prime rib dinner catered by Top Gun Catering.
  

    The late Mary Courtright, a Crossroads board member, was recognized with the organization’s annual award. It was presented to her family by Pastor Kathy Jingling.