Serving as a foster parent and community volunteer Amanda Hjortshoej began to feel the need to provide a meaningful alternative lifestyle for pregnant girls and women in the Abilene area and beyond. Crisis Pregnancy Outreach Center, a non-profit organization, was created to help fill a need in the Abilene area by providing a wide-range of services such as: a place to live during pregnancy, providing items for mothers-to-be trying to set up an apartment, clothes for children, infants and mothers-to-be and educational workshops for mothers-to-be. Crisis Pregnancy Outreach Center functions on a volunteer and donation basis.