July 25, 2018

More on Houses

This past Sunday, the Rev. Bruce Torrey visited St. John's on behalf of Food for the Poor (FftP). He spoke eloquently and passionately (and even threw in a little banjo music) about FftP's expanding mission to feed, clothe, and house the extreme poor of Central America and the Caribbean. I found his story of Carmen to be particularly moving. Both our website and Facebook page have last week's service up, so you can view it again or for the first time if you choose.

For those who missed it, Fr. Torrey told of an experience in Honduras where a group of FftP representatives visited an open pit garbage dump. It was while there that they met Carmen and her four children who lived in the dump on a couch they found and managed to shade with a tarp. They not only lived in/on the dump, but that is also where they worked, scavenging enough materials and food to live. As it turns out, FftP was able to build a house for Carmen and her family so that they no longer live in/on the dump, greatly improving their standard of living.

I have received at least one e-mail asking if St. John's could support the building of a house through the FftP program. As it so happens, I was also wondering the same thing.

A single-unit house through FftP is listed at $3600 – quite a bit less than the houses Joelene and I have seen. Basic math tells me that it would only take 36 people donating $100 to accomplish the goal of a St. John's sponsored house.

In conversation with this person, they made the very generous offer, and challenge, to match received donations so that we could donate the cost of a single-unit home with sanitation or, depending on the amount received, the cost of a double-unit home with sanitation and water.

If you would like to be a part of funding a FftP house through St. John's, please either send a check to the office, or put one in the offering plate, and memo it “FftP House.” Donations will be accepted through August 26, 2018.

We live in times where we are all asked to support ministries and people in a variety of ways, and we need to discern how we want to be generous with our funds. We can't do everything, but we can do something. And if St. John's could support one house a year so that there is one less family living in a garbage dump, it would be a very good thing.

Blessings