In the photo are: Dinah Spurgin, Thrivent Financial; Sandy Scheibel, KNUJ/SAM; Sarah Gillis, First Choice Pregnancy Services; and Lori Pickell-Stangel, United Way of the Brown County Area.

NEW ULM — The Willkommen Committee of the New Ulm Area Chamber of Commerce recently visited First Choice Pregnancy Services to welcome Sarah Gillis, the new director.

An ultrasound nurse of 8 years, she also was a director for 22 years at a Minneapolis location. Sarah was also previously a float nurse at Abbott Northwestern and said she found her love for OB during her time in Mankato.

First Choice Pregnancy is a pregnancy resource center that offers services ranging from free pregnancy testing to programs for education and counseling services.

They were gifted an ultrasound machine so that is also offered, Sarah uses her expertise with ultrasound equipment being a certified tech.

She explained how they are also working with public health to get some education to the middle school children of the community on healthy relationships. Their big fundraising event, Hero for Life, was held on September 17.

First Choice Pregnancy Services is mainly operated on donations, but also gets some government funding.