Volunteers are pictured with one of several pro-life billboards created and installed at several locations in the Champaign area. Among those pictured is Father Fredi Gomez Torres, who blessed the sign and site. (Provided photo)

Teams of volunteers are creating and installing billboards with pro-life themes along roads in the Champaign-Urbana area. The billboards, designed by a volunteer graphic artist from St. Patrick Parish in Tolono, are placed on donated land.

Another billboard design. (Provided photo)

“We’d love to put up as many as possible to foster a stronger culture of life,” said Renee Mullen, a member of Holy Cross Parish in Champaign who heads up the Pro-Life Billboard Project. “All that is needed is permission to erect the sign in a spot that won’t interfere with anyone’s farming, business, or daily life, but will be visible to traffic. Volunteers will do the rest.”

Father Fredi Gomez Torres, pastor of St. Mary Parish, Champaign, as well as St. Joseph in Ivesdale and St. Patrick in Tolono, blessed two of the properties where the billboards were installed. Thus far the billboards, which include the toll-free phone number for a helpline through Heartbeat International, have been erected along Interstate 57 as well as on state and county roads in Fisher and St. Joseph.

Additional installations in Mahomet and Gibson City are planned for mid-July.

To support the project, including offering land or volunteering labor, visit the Pro-Life Billboard Project site on Facebook, or contact Mullen at (217) 607-0811 or reneemullen1@comcast.net.