Project Love is a grant program of Illinois Right to Life that supports women in unplanned or crisis pregnancy situations. Project Love was founded in 1996 by the late Mary Bliss out of her love and concern for pregnant women in difficult situations.
Since its inception, we have gifted over half a million dollars in grants to support pregnant women and their families.
Mission: Project Love’s mission is to support pregnant women and new mothers in a financial crisis by providing grants for rent, utility bills or other necessities.
Applicants go through a rigorous application process and those who qualify can receive a one-time grant for up to $1,000 to pay vital bills. Grants are always issued to a creditor or creditors to pay the bills and not to the grant recipient.
Applicants are first screened by their counselors at qualified Pregnancy Help Centers or other social service agencies throughout Illinois. These agencies then work with the applicant to submit the grant request on the applicant’s behalf.
To qualify:
- Must be a resident of the state of Illinois
- Must either be pregnant or have had a child in the last 12 months
- Must be doing all they can to solve the crisis or problem themselves
- Need is urgent and it has been determined that Project Love is a last resort
- Only one grant is given per pregnancy and is issued to her creditor
For more information on how to apply click here.
About our grant recipients:
Tanya worked as a caregiver for an elderly patient, but when she became 7 months pregnant, she could no longer continue her work. Because her work situation didn’t allow her paid maternity leave, Tanya was left without an income and many bills to pay. Tanya’s family lived in Africa so having a family member take her in wasn’t an option. Just before her baby was due, Tanya fell behind on paying her rent and was left with no money to buy food. With an empty fridge and bills piling up, she called Illinois Right to Life for help. We immediately connected her with a pregnancy help center who took her that day to buy food and set her up with a long term solution for meals. Then, we helped her apply for government support to give her long term financial support. We found a kind donor to donate her a gently used baby bassinet and other baby items so Tanya would have a place to lay her son when he was born.
Finally, Tanya applied for a Project Love grant to help her pay her rent and utility bills. The grant was approved, and Project Love helped Tanya pay her rent and utility bills to get her through the temporary crisis and back on her feet.
Situations like this are all too common as we see every day the struggles of our grant recipients.
Many of our grant recipients are facing eviction, large medical bills, or are about to have their heat or water shut off. Project Love is here to extend a helping hand to those families in need.