Dear Georgette and Janet,

Below is the article about my SNMA experience and our eBay fund-raising auction. We are grateful for the opportunity to share our story, and we hope it will be an inspiration to others.

Please note my husband, Ron and his brother, Don, want to donate their services to Silent No More Awareness to assist in setting up eBay auctions to those who want to share the experience, waiving the standard 20% fee.  You can find more information on their web site at www.edistribute.net. These services will include evaluating and valuing the item to be sold, building the auction ad (with photos supplied by the seller), answering questions from potential bidders, payment settlement, coordinating shipping, and transferring the funds to the designated charity recipient. 

They will use their existing eBay account and reputation to facilitate the process.  Every eBay seller has a feedback rating so potential buyers can see how well the seller treats his customers.  A good feedback rating instills confidence, and will help generate hits, bids, and sales.  eDistribute Network, eBay account 'eDistribute' has an excellent rating at your disposal. 

As I mentioned in our conversation, each eBay listing costs pennies.  eBay applies a 20% fee to the final sales price of the item, but there is no other charge than the listing fee if something does not sell.  All fees are deducted from the sales price before making the charitable contribution, so they do not have to come out of anyone's pocket.  The sellers can place a reserve price on their items so they don't sell below what they perceive as value. 

Our auction experience taught us that it is the story that draws attention to the ad as much as, if not more than, the item itself.  And of course the story is our focus.  As a result, we would like to encourage the sale of items of a more personal nature that can be tied to the heart-wrenching emotional testimony of women who have been harmed by abortion.  We want to be discreet in the eBay community, since our shoppers are not out looking for a pro-life message (one of the reasons why we consider this auction such a success was in reaching people who weren't looking to be reached!).  So we encourage testimonies that focus on the personal tragedy, without graphic details.  You and I both understand that the graphic nature of some of our testimonies may be more than some can bear. 

We can include any links you desire in the item auction ads, and our experience shows they work.  The charitable recipient can be any one of your choosing, of course.  We are not a charitable organization, but since we act only as a pass-through entity, it isn't necessary.  The tax-deductible contribution certificate transfers directly from the charity to the seller.  We don't take possession of any item to be sold, but act as a go-between for buyer and seller.  Each auction settlement will be reported to you and the seller with the eBay receipt for fees deducted and proof of payment settlement (no item ships before it is completely paid for).  If you have any other questions about the eBay selling process or auction administration, please feel free to email Ron at RonShockley@aol.com or myself at JulieShockley@aol.com.  We can be contacted at 480-659-4107.

We look forward to hearing from others who are being silent no more.  It is an honor to do what we can to help others as you have helped us.  At the very least, I hope our story demonstrates the good that can come from being open and honest about abortion's harm and grief.

Sincerely,

Julie Shockley

In the fall of 2002, I found myself blissfully laid off from work and unable to find a new position. With my new-found freedom came the impetus to act on a growing desire to find spirituality in my life.

Flipping through daytime television, I happened upon EWTN when they were rerunning one of Mother Angelica’s programs. I had never heard of EWTN, and had been a lapsed Catholic for twenty years. When I first saw Mother in her eye patch I was worried about the Church. I wondered if they weren't doing well enough to take better care of their religious. Of course, that was silly. But then I had been silly about a lot of things.

Every day for more than two years, at least twice a day, I had passed St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church, which was two blocks from our home at that time. There’s a statue of St. Thomas in the courtyard, and a prominent sign that reads, "Gift Shop." Every time I passed it, I felt a twinge of something more than nostalgia, but I did not have the nerve to go inside.

Soon I figured out that Mother Angelica was on television in her eye patch by choice, because it was her mission, and I started watching it regularly. I dug out my mother’s Rosary, which she had received just weeks before her death, and tried praying along with the people on the hill in EWTN’s video. I vaguely remembered the Rosary from Catechism, but I had never prayed it before. I had what I thought was a sophisticated idea that meditative prayer would ease some chronic pain I had been having. Well, I was right, but it was an entirely different pain that would be helped.

Within a week, I was in that Gift Shop, to purchase a prayer book to teach me how to pray the Rosary properly. Within another week, I was in the Confessional, saying "Bless me Father, for I have sinned. It has been twenty years since my last Confession." "My goodness," he said softly.

Why had I been away from the Church so long? I had an abortion when I was sixteen. Every one in my life at that time thought it was the best thing to do. A young girl with college ambition could not have her life side-tracked by one mistake. So we added insult to injury, and I had an abortion that I did not want. Before I went in those doors, I had an idea that I would never be the same. But I was not at all prepared for the way in which I was truly broken, mind and spirit.

In the Confessional after so many years, my recollected shame poured out. "Do you have access to a computer?" the priest asked me. And he handed me a card, on the back of which he had written www.rachelsvineyard.org. He said, "Go to this web site. They have a wonderful program that helps women who have had abortions." Before I left, he said, "We're glad you're back." All I could do was stammer a quick, "Me, too, Father," as I left the Confessional in tears of gratitude and relief. I had begun my relapse into Catholicism.

I checked out the web site as soon as I got home. When I realized the healing program involved a weekend retreat, I was intimidated at the prospect. I cowered at the thought of sitting in a group of strangers telling them to their faces about my abortion. I could never do that. I didn't even include the abortion in my medical history. I could not possibly discuss it with anyone.

But this card led me to sites where I learned there were other women who were not at peace with their abortions. I learned that the Church, especially through the words of the Holy Father, was reaching out to people just like me. His message to women who had had abortions in the Evangelium Vitae strengthened my resolve. Forgiveness was waiting: I could come back to the Church, but apparently I was going to have to get used to this word, "abortion."

Lent was approaching in the spring of 2004. I had been attending Mass regularly, catching up on spiritual reading and learning, and wanted to participate in Lent in a way I had never before. I took to heart the idea of doing penance, and pondered what I could offer the Lord in this period. Along the way, I took another look at the Rachel’s Vineyard web site. I still couldn't imagine actually doing it. I wished there was something else that I could do, so I started backtracking links. I found Priests For Life, and was nearly scared away by the link telling me to see what abortion looks like. Instead, I dared to click the link of testimonies and began to read what other women who had had abortions wanted to say.

I don't remember the stories I read the first time. There were so many similarities that I was flooded with memories of my own that I had spent years pushing away. I was also flooded with something else: an overwhelming desire to tell my own story. I looked everywhere for a submission button, and found the Silent No More Awareness Campaign. There were a few testimonies posted there already. I immediately knew I had found my penance for Lent. I also knew it was going to be very difficult.

I reserved the story telling for Good Friday. It seemed an appropriate day to discuss death. I tried to prepare myself during the Lenten period. We saw "The Passion of the Christ." The suffering portrayed there and in the Gospels became my strength to start reading about after abortion problems and healing.

I prayed first on that Good Friday. I prayed for strength. I prayed for recollection, because there were gaps in my memory. It took a few hours to write, and many tears were held in check. In certain parts I could barely type because my hands were trembling, and my heart raced so I could barely breathe. I had to close my eyes to write about the abortion itself, as if I was afraid to look. I was.

You don't do something like this without discussing it with your spouse. My husband knew I had had an abortion when I was a teenager, but we never mentioned the subject. He is one of those wonderful people for whom abortion does not come to mind because it is already unthinkable to him. But I couldn't share my story with the world on the Internet, even anonymously, without his input and advice. So I sent him my story to read via email, like a coward, explaining what I wanted to do. And I waited for his response.

He immediately told me to do it, especially if I felt it would help me. So I sent it in with an enormous feeling of relief. It was over. I had done it. I had actually told my own abortion story, and it was going to be published where other people could read it! I had revealed details to my husband that he had never known, and remembered many I had thought lost. I had started to open up. I was scared, but more than anything I was relieved.

I thought it would stop there. It seemed to be enough to stop there. But that’s not at all how it turned out. Within a couple of days, I received an email from my husband with a link to follow. And there I was on the Internet, on a web site he designed for me – my name and my photo at www.SilentRainDrops.com. But more than that, there was my testimony attached to the web site in a .pdf file. Holy cow! I was speechless. Yes, my first response was terror – absolute terror! And a voice whispered in my head, "but this is what is means to be silent-no-more, isn't it?" Yes, this is what it means. The terror subsided, and I felt of all things, joy. Joy? What’s that? Yes, joy! I was set free and had not even realized I was so enslaved. Best of all, my husband was not ashamed of me. It gave me courage then, and continues to give me courage.  Soon, I could do more than just hear the word - I could talk about my abortion and my child.

My husband, Ron, is an Information Systems Engineer with a strong entrepreneurial spirit. He is experienced in web site design and Internet marketing, and runs his own consulting business supporting software distribution systems for supply requisition through the Department of Defense to our military stationed in South Korea and Iraq. My story touched him deeply, and sent him in search of more information about abortion. What he found and what he decided to do would change both our lives in ways we could never have imagined.

He saw the photos of aborted children, and they had the desired effect on him. He didn't have to turn away with guilt, as I do, because his hands are clean. But he had never dreamed that this butchery was legal, and that THIS is what abortion is! And as he read his own share of testimonies, he realized we had to do something about it. Not only was this infanticide, but as he looked at the ruin in my past life, he could see abortion killed more than the children. We had to do something about that, too.

We spent the next few months working on it beginning with what we knew – the online community. Ron began enhancing the web sites and building the business model for a charity auction on eBay to benefit pro-life charities. He set up a blog site for me , and told me to write. He gave me a voice. In the months leading up to the presidential election, I had been writing pro-life letters to editors and submitting amateurish op-eds, and complaining about not being heard. So he took care of that, and gave me a forum where I could say whatever I wanted. Writing helped me explore the feelings I had repressed for a long time.

Ron, with his twin brother Don (who is also a computer expert with years of retail eBay experience), set up an eBay account and researched the potential for auctions for charity, as well as the organizations that would benefit. It was a time of discovery, which led to several contacts in the pro-life community. The feedback was very positive, such as; "A very intriguing idea", "An innovative approach" and simply, "brilliant." During this time, they made contacts with the Michigan Right to Life and the Media Outreach of Pro-Life commercials. With further research, Ron located Virtue Media (www.VirtueMedia.org) and immediately knew that their advertisements were the key to awareness about the truth of abortion. Imagine his surprise when he learned that their office was located less than a mile from our home.

He contacted and met with Jeff at Virtue Media. Jeff was very excited about the idea and offered their assistance toward our objectives. Ron was very impressed with their work, commitment and determination, and decided to focus our initial charity fundraising efforts to benefit their cause. Finding that Virtue Media had already worked with the women of Silent No More for one of their advertisements was icing on the cake. With their permission, Ron began integrating links to Virtue Media in our web sites as the initial focus of our pro-life charity fundraising auctions.

It was agreed that the first step was to run a beta test on the auction procedure. We needed something to sell. Immediately, with no thought at all, I knew I would donate my first guitar. It is a Gibson acoustic guitar of a rarely made model that I purchased when I was 17, a year after my abortion. I had never played before, and with the help of a high school girlfriend, I taught myself how. While my grief was still so fresh and still unrecognized, I found respite in its music. It had special meaning to me that I could directly relate to my aborted child.

When Ron did a product valuation, we found this model was regularly valued and sold between $400 and $700, with original parts, depending on condition. Additionally, he discovered that comparable auctions were getting an average of 300 visitor hits, meaning that at least 300 individuals had visited the auction listings. Musical instruments were good selling items on eBay, so it was also practical.

By the end of November, we were ready to proceed. We used a one-time use camera and had pictures of the guitar developed onto a CD and in print the old-fashioned way. One of our photos came out with an anomaly. In addition to being a personal sign to us that we should continue, this anomaly became part of the marketing strategy to draw visitors to our sale item. Further, Ron insisted that I write about why I was selling this guitar – in honor of my aborted son and being silent no more about the awful effects abortion had in my life. He incorporated the story and photo in the eBay auction listing, widening the search area that would draw lookers to the ad.

The auction lasted for seven days, and they were simultaneously the most grueling and exciting days I can remember. Every day the hit counter grew as did my realization that people were listening. We started getting bids immediately, and "watchers" were signing up – people who wanted to monitor the auction’s progress. Our bidders and our watchers were coming from all over the globe. eBay, like the Internet itself, is a world-wide community. Our pro-life message was broadcasting around this world.

Auctions list by default those that are closing first. Our web site hits were in the thousands already, but as we neared the final day of our sale, the counter started rolling exponentially. Thousands upon thousands of people were looking at our sites. We found out from Jeff at Virtue Media that our web site hit number one in referrals to theirs. It peaked on the last day of the auction and stayed there for a full month. At last check, we were still number five. (The eBay ads stay available to search engines for ninety days after the close of sale) People were linking from our eBay ad to the Virtue Media site, and there they were viewing the commercials.

When the auction closed, we had sold the guitar for $430. We had set the reserve at $400, which is at the lowest end of the product’s valuation. We were not at all dissatisfied with the sales price. The buyer received an excellent value. After deducting the eBay sale fees, we made a donation to Virtue Media in the amount of $360.00. This was a nice outcome, but it wasn't the whole story.

Although our initial objective was fundraising for pro-life charities, we learned that the amount of money raised was not going to be the primary focus. The success of this auction was awareness. Our auction received over 1,400 hits, which is at least 1,100 more hits than the average for an acoustic Gibson guitar of its style on eBay (the ad can still be viewed by going to www.eBay.com, and searching for item# 3768524787). More importantly, my site and Virtue Media's site received in excess of 30,000 visitors. None of these people had been on the Internet searching for information about abortion. Most were shopping. Some dropped by to see the anomaly in our photograph. They weren't looking for a pro-life message, but they came away with one.

So there we were, with this brilliant success. There had been problems – shipping to a buyer in Norway was problematic. Selling on eBay can be problematic. But it is a community waiting to be reached. We feel there is a way to use this idea. We contacted Georgette Forney, and we discussed the auction. Georgette asked me to compose this write-up of how I became Silent No More, and where we have gone because of and for this campaign. I am humbly grateful for the opportunity to share with you how much you have changed our lives for the better. I hope in sharing it that others may be inspired to do the same, and we look forward to using our experience to help any that do.