Birth Choice Honors Robert Dolan With Life Award 

MIDWEST CITY— The 2nd Annual Life of the Party Banquet and Auction benefiting Birth Choice of Oklahoma, Inc. was a great success!  This year’s proceeds total more than $23,500, a substantial increase over last year.  Held at the new Reed Center, some 200 people participated in the silent and live auction.  Generosity from the floor was amazing, with some items being sold “twice.”                            Ruth Blakley, Robert G. Dolan, Jr., Jan O'Neill, and Barbara Chishko.

Robert G. Dolan, Jr. was the recipient of the 5th Annual Celebration of Life award.  Barbara Chishko, Executive Director, Ruth Blakley, Assistant Director and Jan O’Neill, Development Director presented Mr. Dolan with the award.  

Chisko credited Dr. Thomas Nix with introducing Dolan to Birth Choice in 1990. She said the first question the retired Fleming executive asked was “do you have a budget?” When the answer was no, he started asking more questions and before long the organization had a budget and a set of objectives necessary to complete in order to reach their goal, to serve more women.

Dolan is described by the Birth Choice officials as “a faithful volunteer and Board member since joining us, always looking out for Birth Choice.”

O’ Neill said Dolan “served on our recent Beacon of Life Capital Campaign and was instrumental in securing thousands of dollars for our new facility.” And Blakley called him a “lifer” in terms of supporting Birth Choice.

“There are three different kinds of volunteers,” she said. “The volunteer who comes to training, learns about Birth Choice and applies their gifts and talents on a one-time basis, helping us with a specific project and then they are gone; then there is the volunteer who helps us on a short-term basis before going on to another calling; and there is the volunteer who is called by God to the cause of the unborn and their mothers, who listens and stays with us, committed as we are to life.  This year’s winner is definitely a lifer.”

Dolan has called the mission of Birth Choice “...the major social/moral issue of our lifetime and perhaps I can be of some assistance in a small way.”

Dolan was born and raised in St. Louis, Mo.  He graduated from Spring Hill College in 1963 with a B.S. in business administration.  He served as an officer in the US Army for two years.  He is a long-time member of Christ the King Catholic Church and also serves on the Board of Directors at Catholic Charities.