Pregnancy center volunteer works to evacuate buildings minutes before explosion
by Virginia Cline

5.8.09—Just moments before the Forestville Pregnancy Center (FPC) and six other businesses were demolished by a gas explosion yesterday afternoon, FPC Board Member Jeanette Zak was there to help evacuate the Penn-Mar Shopping Center in Forestville, Maryland.

“I wasn’t supposed to be in the office yesterday, but I changed my schedule so I could have lunch with a friend today,” said Zak, who volunteers to maintain the center’s statistics. “When I called 911, they instructed me to evacuate the pregnancy center. It all happened so quickly.”

Zak immediately took on the task of evacuating others from the surrounding businesses. Five minutes passed from the time of her emergency call until the fire trucks arrived. Just 10 minutes later the pregnancy center was gone. The local news anchor called it the “miracle at the mall” because no lives were lost.

“I think one of the most miraculous things about it was that the Lord really used Jeanette to save lives yesterday,” said Chyllene McLaughlin, founding director who is retiring this month.

“Even though the smell of gas was prevalent, many didn’t seem to be aware the danger. Jeanette instructed others to evacuate, and because of her efforts lives were saved,” said Forestville Pregnancy Center Executive Director Gloria Bouknight. “Another miracle is that clients had been scheduled for appointments yesterday but due to an urgent need our volunteer had to cancel the afternoon’s appointments. The cancellation turned out to be a blessing in disguise.”

Forestville Pregnancy Center has been serving the community since 1984. All the supplies, including the pregnancy tests and the ultrasound machine, housed in this 2,000 square-foot building were destroyed by the explosion.

"Jeanette Zak placed the initial call and the Lord used her to save many lives. However, in addition Catherine Mousour, our receptionist and IT Tech, was also present and had the presence of mind to grab the hard drive rescuing critical files. Without her actions our entire database of more than 18,000 clients would have been lost," said Bouknight.

“We have a smaller location about three and a half miles away at Marlow Heights,” said Bouknight. “Our biggest challenge will be trying to serve twice the number of clients in an office less than half the size.”

Eight firefighters and one gas company employee were injured by the blast that demolished six businesses including Heartbeat affiliate Forestville Pregnancy Center. Click here for the Fox report which features live footage of the explosion (captured by the fire truck video cam) and a brief interview with FPC Director Gloria Bouknight:

Donations of any size are welcome as the new center director and volunteers work to continue providing resources and services for those faced with an untimely pregnancy. Donations should mailed to Forestville Pregnancy Center, P.O. Box 47109 District Heights, MD 20753.

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