A nationally known pro-life speaker will be the main attraction during the annual Whispering Hope Fundraising Gala.

The event is set for April 16 at the Family Center of First Redeemer Church, 2100 Peachtree Parkway. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the program begins at 7 p.m.

Vicky Clair, president of Whispering Hope, a nonprofit that provides medical assistance and other help to women facing unplanned pregnancies, said she is excited to welcome Susan Baldwin as the event’s keynote speaker.

“She’s been around for a while and she really knows what she’s talking about,” Clair said.

Baldwin is a speaker with Bruce Wilkinson Ministries, which is leading a national grass roots movement called “The Great Turnaround.”

Clair said Whispering Hope is participating in the movement, which seeks to save 100,000 lives of unborn babies by raising $100 million for pregnancy centers across the nation.

Baldwin has served as executive director for more than a decade at Women’s Resource Center of Mobile.

The center, also known as Sav-A-Life Mobile, operates out of two medical centers in southwest Alabama. It offers free pregnancy tests to more than 2,000 women each year and sonograms to about 100 pregnant women every month.

Baldwin manages four full- and part-time sonographers, 40 client advocates, 80 volunteers and 15 staff members, as well as coordinating the efforts of nearly 50 churches and 2,000 individual donors who support the center.

Clair said she is excited to have Baldwin address the local audience.

“We’re going to have a great program with a lot of information,” she said. “Then the gala will conclude with a dessert reception and a silent auction that’s going to have some great items.”

In years past, Clair said, the event was a banquet dinner. However, organizers decided to try something different this year.

Rather than charging a fee for a meal, this year the event is free.

However, those wanting to attend need to R.S.V.P. by April 12 by calling Whispering Hope at (770) 889-8302 or visiting the organization’s Web site at www.supportwhisperinghope.org.

Whispering Hope has been a part of the Forsyth County community since 1995, when it helped 17 clients, Clair said.

Those numbers have increased tremendously over the years.

“In 2012, we did 292 pregnancy tests and did 165 ultrasounds,” she said. “We had a total of 387 active clients and 199 babies that were born in our program. We had 2,051 appointments, so we helped a lot of women.”

Clair said the women represent a wide range of backgrounds.

“The youngest we’ve helped was 12 and the oldest was 42, so it’s all ages,” she said.