Kristi Hofferber

After being canceled in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual Respect Life Dinner in Peoria is scheduled to return in early October with a few changes.

This year the dinner will be served at the Spalding Pastoral Center, 419 N.E. Madison Ave., on Saturday, Oct. 2 — the eve of Respect Life Sunday. It begins at 5 p.m.

The featured speaker will be Kristi Hofferber, a pro-life and adoption advocate who currently serves as outreach coordinator and sidewalk counselor for Coalition for Life St. Louis. Hofferber is an adoptee and the wife of an adoptee, and together they have two adopted children. She will share her compelling personal story, which includes learning that she was conceived in rape and incest.

Registration is requested by Sunday, Sept. 26, and may be done online at cdop.org/rldinner or by mail to the Diocese of Peoria Respect Life Ministry, 419 N.E. Madison Ave., Peoria, IL 61603. The cost is $25 per adult. Student tickets are $10 each. Consecrated women and men are admitted free, but are asked to register.

Proceeds will support pro-life messages placed in newspapers on Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.