When Olive Nossek and her three children became homeless in 2022 after relocating here from Texas, a community organization helped them move into a hotel. As an experienced certified nursing assistant, Nossek was able to get a job quickly. An apartment followed.

But it was being connected with the Prepares program at Vancouver’s Holy Redeemer Parish — and parishioner Christie Soanka — that has made a deeper impact on Nossek and her family.

“She’s strengthened me as a person, as a mother, and in my personal career goals,” said Nossek, a single mom who is studying to be a nurse. “She’s empowered me … to stay strong in my faith and stands behind me in anything I want to do.”

Soanka is a Prepares companion, a trained parish volunteer who walks in encouragement and friendship with a parent or family with children up to age 5.

As a companion, “I think the most important thing is being available for whatever kind of needs come up,” whether that’s providing clothes or diapers, just checking in or simply having another adult to talk to, said Soanka, a married mother of six girls.

“There’s no judgment, there’s just support,” she said.

When Nossek became unexpectedly pregnant with her fourth child, “I was super depressed to the point where I was considering adoption for him, just because I felt like it wasn’t meant to be,” she said.

Olive Nossek was supported by her Prepares companion and the Prepares ministry at Holy Redeemer Parish in Vancouver when she became unexpectedly pregnant with her fourth child. (Photo: Stephen Brashear)

Soanka was there with encouragement and support during Nossek’s pregnancy.

“I think she was surprised when I congratulated her, was excited for her and asked how I and the Prepares ministry could assist her,” Soanka said. When Nossek had a C-section, Soanka visited her almost every day she was in the hospital. She also set up a meal train for the family, with most meals delivered by the Prepares group, and assisted a bit with childcare. “Christie’s supported me through everything,” Nossek said.

“Christie continued to pray for me in the church and lift me up and let me know she would be there at the drop of the hat if I needed anything.”

Offering families ‘real choices, real assistance’ 

Companions are just one part of the statewide Prepares program, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary in October.

Prepares, short for Pregnancy and Parenting Support, was created by the bishops of Washington state in 2014 as a way to journey with moms and families from pregnancy through a child’s fifth birthday.

From his 25 years of hearing confessions, Seattle Auxiliary Bishop Frank Schuster said, he believes most women who have abortions feel they have no choice. “If we say we are ‘pro-life,’ we must therefore also offer women real choices, real assistance. Supporting Prepares is one way to do that,” said Bishop Schuster, who chairs the boards of trustees for Catholic Community Services and Catholic Housing Services of Western Washington.

A Prepares volunteer at St. Mary Magdalen Parish in Everett talks to a family picking up diapers at a monthly diaper giveaway. (Photo: Rowland Studios)

In the Archdiocese of Seattle, Prepares operates under the umbrella of CCS, but it’s parish volunteers who provide direct services to families in need of support.

Each parish group decides what services to offer from Prepares’ areas of focus: essential needs like diapers, wipes and clothing; play groups; parent support groups; and companions. Services are free of charge and open to people of all faiths and backgrounds.

St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Camas hosts a Prepares “Play with Love” group. (Photo: Courtesy of Prepares)

Today, 109 parishes in Western Washington are engaged in Prepares in some way — such as direct service, material support or in the planning stages of starting a Prepares group, said Aleah Patulot, Prepares program director for CCS.

You can find Prepares groups reaching out in various ways, such as organizing diaper drives and distributions, sponsoring “Play with Love” groups in Spanish or English, organizing a “baby closet” with donated clothing and essential items or celebrating expectant and new moms at a community baby shower.

New mothers are honored with a Prepares baby shower at St. Joseph Parish in Lynden. (Photo: Courtesy of Prepares)

In 2023, more than 7,800* families in Western Washington were assisted by Prepares, Patulot said.

Just as Jesus met people where they were, “we are meeting families wherever they are,” Patulot said. They might be living in a car or newly arrived from a war-torn country. “We are meeting single moms, folks struggling with their mental health, teen dads who are doing their best to figure out parenthood,” she said.

“Prepares is a wonderful way Catholics can be the hands and feet of Christ,” Patulot added. “We are encountering the divine in our encounters with families.”

‘God has a plan for me’

In 2022, the Prepares group at Holy Redeemer was discussing who could be companions for three or four women who had been referred for assistance, Soanka said. She hadn’t been a companion yet and wasn’t sure it would be possible with her work and family commitments.

But when Soanka saw that Nossek “had identical twin girls like I did,” she felt “God was speaking to me.”

So the two moms connected.

From the early days of providing much-needed essential supplies, the two women “have developed a little bit more of a relationship along the way,” Soanka said. “It has always blown my mind the things that she has encountered and

From the early days of providing much-needed essential supplies, the two women “have developed a little bit more of a relationship along the way,” Soanka said. “It has always blown my mind the things that she has encountered and her attitude … and how she has been able to overcome things.”

“I’ve been lucky that she is very strong in her Christian faith, so I can tell her that I’m praying for her,” Soanka added. “Sometimes her faith has helped me with my faith.”

Olive Nossek and her Prepares companion, Christie Soanka, gather in Vancouver with their children, who have also become friends. (Photo: Stephen Brashear)

Today, the two women touch base by phone or occasionally meet at a park with their kids, who have also become friends, Soanka said. Nossek’s older son is the same age as Soanka’s oldest daughter, and the two sets of twins are close in age.

Through her ministry as a Prepares companion, Soanka said she has been able “to show my kids that it’s always important to give back wherever you can and in whatever capacity you can.”

Nossek said Soanka has made a big difference in her outlook on life.

“She just reminds me that I’m so much more than my situation,” Nossek said, “that God has a plan for me and … I should just go for it and he will give me everything that I need.”

Soanka said she feels blessed to be walking this journey with Nossek.

“She’s enriched my life [and] hopefully I’ve helped out with her life.”

This article appeared in the October/November issue of Northwest Catholic magazine. Read the rest of the issue here.

Highlights of Prepares in action

Hundreds of donated diapers are collected by Prepares volunteers on the campus of Holy Rosary in Tacoma, where they will be distributed to families in need.

These are just a few of the ways Prepares groups around the archdiocese are supporting families:

• The new Bremerton parish family of Our Lady Star of the Sea and Holy Trinity hosted their first joint “baby bottle fundraiser,” collecting over $15,000 for moms in need, including many recent migrants.

• St. Rose de Viterbo Parish in Longview served 78 families at a free pop-up event that welcomed families to shop for diapers and clothing.

• New Prepares programs began at St. Hubert Parish in Langley and the Skagit Valley Parish Collaborative.

• Holy Family Parish in Kirkland hosted a baby shower for two pregnant single moms at Catholic Community Services’ New Bethlehem Shelter in Kirkland.

• Play groups were started at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Camas and St. John the Evangelist Parish in Vancouver.

• The Western Washington office distributed $122,500 in diapers, wipes and other necessities to families in need through a grant from the Washington state Department of Commerce.

Source: Prepares statewide 2024 semi-annual report

LEARN MORE ABOUT PREPARES

Find out how to volunteer with Prepares, refer a family for services, support the ministry and more at preparesforlife.org.