Category Archives: From the Staff

From the Director ~ Christmas 2020

Dear Friend of the Mission,

I love Christmas! I love the cookies, the decorations, the glorious Christmas carols (Hark! The Herald Angels Sing is my favorite!), the fun and festive music of the season (Deck the Halls!), the sparkling lights, special gatherings with friends and family, my children and grandchildren traveling from all over the country back home to Philadelphia to celebrate Christmas with my wife and me, special chapels and dinners at the Mission provided by visiting churches, the giving and receiving of gifts, special church services packed with people, and of course my favorite Christmas movies – the Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is by far my favorite (I have about 12 versions of it including the Muppet Christmas Carol!). I especially love preaching at Christmas. I never get tired of the Christmas story, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord!” (Luke 2:11).

Because of COVID-19, in so many ways this Christmas will be quite a bit different from other Christmases. There will be smaller and even canceled church services, none of my children or grandchildren traveling from afar to come home for Christmas, no special gatherings with friends and family, no special chapels and dinners at the Mission provided by visiting churches, and no hearty singing of Christmas carols in the Mission’s chapels. I will miss these things, but I still rejoice that the heart of Christmas remains the same even during a pandemic: “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord!” A virus may be able to take away many of the external trappings of Christmas – large church services, special gatherings and fun festivities with friends and family – but it cannot take away what Christmas is truly all about – “Joy to the world, the Lord is come!” May you and yours experience the joy and wonder of Christmas 2020. With the pandemic surging around the country, the angel’s words to the shepherds carry extra weight and hope, “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people…” (Luke 2:10). And in spite of the pandemic, I am still going to eat some Christmas cookies, watch the Christmas Carol, and joyfully sing in my own house, “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!”

As we quickly move toward the end of 2020, please consider making a special gift to the Mission so that we can give our men the joy and hope of Christmas each and every day throughout the coming New Year. Here are several great ways you can help:

  1. Give a generous year-end gift of cash. God will use your gift to impact and change lives.
  2. Some families bless our men by pooling their money and giving a special Christmas gift to the Mission from their family (individual receipts for each donor can still be given).
  3. If God has especially blessed you this past year, please consider sending a larger than usual gift to the Mission. Large gifts take big bites out of our budgeted expenses. They also strengthen and expand our compassionate services to our men. Your gift will be used to make life-giving, life-changing, and life-saving differences in the lives of our men.
  4. Give the Mission a gift of appreciated stock. A gift of appreciated stock is always a great help and can also provide you with some excellent tax benefits, especially if you transfer the stock directly to the Mission rather than first selling it. Please consult with your financial advisor to confirm these tax benefits. We can easily arrange for an electronic transfer of your stock. Please call me at 215 438 3094 (ext 102).
  5. If you have a donor-advised fund, you can recommend that a grant be made to the Whosoever Gospel Mission. Your grant will bless our men in many ways.
  6. You can make up to a $100,000 Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) to the Mission instead of taking your required minimum distribution (RMD). Your distribution must be sent by your IRA custodian directly to the Mission. The effect in most situations is both an income tax savings and an increased gift. Please consult with your financial advisor.
  7. Save postage and time – you can go to our Whosoever Gospel Mission website to make an online donation. You can also set up a monthly recurring donation for 2021.
  8. Make your online purchases through AmazonSmile which is run by Amazon.com as a unique way to support charities. You will get the same service, same merchandise, and the same prices. Register with AmazonSmile and designate the Whosoever Gospel Mission to receive a percentage of all the eligible purchases you make on AmazonSmile. You can search for the Mission on AmazonSmile, or you can type in the following link: http://smile.amazon.com/ch/23-1352579. You won’t pay any more for your purchases, but you will be helping the Whosoever Gospel Mission.
  9. Make a gift to the Mission through PayPal Giving Fund. Search “Donate with PayPal Giving Fund” or go to PayPal Giving Fund’s website: www.paypal.com/us/fundraiser/huband search “Whosoever Gospel Mission.” We get the full value of your donation – PayPal doesn’t charge us any fees.

Christmas will be here and gone before we know it. But through your kind and generous support, the peace, hope and joy of Christmas will continue throughout the New Year in the lives of our men. Jesus is the reason for the season, but He is also our hope and joy for the rest of the year. Our men truly do thank you for your kind and generous support.

As we finish out 2020 and begin 2021, my prayer for you is that the Lord will abundantly bless you and your loved ones with good health, much happiness and great success in all of your endeavors. COVID-19 made 2020 a very hard and challenging year for the Mission. Thank you for standing with us. Your generous support kept the Mission alive and was used by the Lord to bless the 184 broken and hurting homeless men who lived at the Mission in 2020. Your gift also blessed their families, their friends and society as a whole as our men became responsible, contributing members of our community.

Wishing you the joy and hope of Christmas,

Robert A. Emberger, D.Min.
Executive Director

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From the Director ~ Thanksgiving 2020

Executive Director Bob Emberger making his famous 10-cheese Mac & Cheese for our Thanksgiving Feast

Dear Friend of the Mission,

Because of COVID-19, our Thanksgiving Day celebration is going to be quite a bit different this year. We normally have a big crowd of 130-140 people – our residents, volunteers, friends of the Mission, New Life Program graduates, staff members, and family members of our staff and residents. I have celebrated 31 Thanksgivings at the Mission, and it is always one of the highlights of my year. When my four kids were still living at home, our Thanksgiving Day dinner was always at the Mission. But this year, in order to protect our residents from COVID-19 possibly being brought unknowingly into the Mission by an asymptomatic visitor, we are going to limit our Thanksgiving Day celebration to just our 55 residents and a few staff. A good number of our residents are medically vulnerable – they would probably die if they caught COVID-19. So the most loving thing we can do is to be extra, extra careful for their sake.

But we are still going to enjoy a delicious Thanksgiving Day feast fit for a King (the Lord Jesus Christ Himself!). Our Thanksgiving Day feast includes roasted turkey, homemade gravy, seven-cheese macaroni (which I make every year), creamy mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, savory stuffing with cranberries (which I also make from scratch every year), green beans almondine, buttered corn, rolls & butter, cranberry sauce, apple cider, and an amazing assortment of desserts – pies, cookies, brownies, cheesecake, and candy.

With the relentless COVID-19 pandemic and all of the turmoil and trouble in our country, we work hard every day to make the Mission a safe haven and a peaceable refuge for all of our men. Recently in one of our Overcomers meetings (i.e., our drug and alcohol support groups), one of our residents shared his testimony. He thanked the Lord for the peace and quiet of the Mission in contrast to “the craziness that is going on out there in the streets.”

Thank you for your support which makes it possible for our men to enjoy a delicious Thanksgiving Day feast in a safe and peaceable home. And because of your support, the Mission is a refuge and safe haven from the “craziness of the streets” not just on Thanksgiving Day, but 365 days a year. As we celebrate Thanksgiving 2020, we give thanks to the Lord for you as a friend and for your kind and generous support. Please pray and give generously. Every gift counts and will be used to bless, encourage, equip and help our men move forward in life.

Thanking God for you,

Robert A. Emberger, D.Min.
Executive Director

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From the Director ~ October 2020

Dear Friend of the Mission,

The COVID-19 pandemic has certainly thrown a few curve balls at the Mission. But we are still open, and we are still providing, without interruption or cutbacks, on-site housing and help for up to 55 broken and hurting homeless men on any given day. We are deeply grateful for your much needed financial support. But at this time of year, there are additional ways you can support us. The enclosed handout highlights a few of those ways that will make a wonderful difference in the lives of our men. The fall also marks the beginning of workplace giving campaigns. Many companies and government agencies ask their employees to contribute to their workplace giving campaigns. The happy news is that through your workplace giving campaign, you can designate your gift to the Whosoever Gospel Mission.

  • The United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey – donate to the Mission through United Way’s Donor Choice Option. Our Code Number is 1045.
  • The Combined Federal Campaign – federal employees can choose the Mission to receive their gift through the CFC. Our Code Number is 69784
  • The City of Philadelphia Employees’ Combined Campaign – the Whosoever Gospel Mission is listed in the Contributor’s Guide under the category: Independent Charities Vetted by America’s Charities. Our Code Number is 30-0047.
  • United Campaigns in other states and regions – you can still designate your gift to the Whosoever Gospel Mission even if you live and work in another state or region of the country. Check your campaign booklet or ask your workplace United Way coordinator.
  • America’s Charities, Network for Good, and the Benevity Community Impact Fund provide administrative services for several workplace giving campaigns throughout the country – check with your company’s workplace giving coordinator to find out how you can designate your gift to the Mission if your workplace uses one of these organizations to conduct their giving campaign.
  • Matching Gift Programs – many companies will match their employees’ gifts to a non-profit dollar for dollar. Check with your employer to see if they have a Matching Gift Program. You can double your gift to the Mission at no additional cost to you.

Your gifts are being used every day by the Lord to change lives! Thanks so much!

With joy and thanksgiving,

Robert A. Emberger, D.Min.
Executive Director

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From the Director ~ September 2020

Dear Friend of the Mission,

Thank you. as we quickly move toward the end of our fiscal year on September 30th, the most important thing I can say is thank you. Please accept my heartfelt thanks for –

  • Above all, for your prayers (no one has gotten sick at the Mission from COVID-19!).
  • For standing with us during the good times and the not so good times such as now.
  • For your extra generous gifts when we had to close both of our thrift stores in March under Governor Wolf’s orders (losing over $150,000 from March until now). Your financial gifts kept us afloat.
  • For your patience in waiting for my thank you letters and receipts. I really fell behind because of the extra challenges brought on by the pandemic – my days get filled up so quickly with more to do than time to do it. Though my thank you letters are very belated, my gratitude is still very real and present. I don’t have enough words to thank you.
  • For holding onto your donations for our thrift stores until our stores reopened. We thank the Lord that on June 19th our Germantown Thrift Store reopened, and by the time you read this newsletter, our Lighthouse Thrift Shop will have reopened on September 4th.
  • For sending non-perishable food, supermarket gifts cards, fresh produce, special meals for our men and other food items to us. The huge amount of food we used to get from the Philabundance Food Bank was reduced to a trickle. Your food donations really helped.
  • For encouraging notes, cards, phone calls, emails, texts and Facebook postings sent our way. You are a friend that sticks closer than a brother or sister.

I really love this photo of the Whosoever Gospel Mission’s first location in Germantown. It used to be a bar that our founder, William Raws, used to go and get drunk in during his previous life as a homeless alcoholic from England. But then the Lord got hold of his life and placed in his heart an unstoppable desire to open the Whosoever Gospel Mission.

128 years later, the sign on the door is still true. ALL are welcome to come in. Thanking God for his continued protection and faithfulness through the years.

In our 128 year history, we have been through a lot – most recently our catastrophic arson fire of 2006 and now the COVID-19 pandemic. I have served at the Mission for 31 years, and I am confident that the Lord will bring us through this pandemic through dear friends such as you.

With heartfelt thanks and friendship.

Robert A. Emberger, D.Min.
Executive Director

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From the Director ~ July 2020

Bob and Roger play each other the first round of the Mission’s ping pong tournament

Dear Friend of the Mission,

We have an amazing and dedicated staff here at the Whosoever Gospel Mission. Every day without fail our staff members show up at the Mission ready to serve the Lord by serving our men. Each staff member shows up with dedication, enthusiasm and joy for the work that the Lord has given us to do. When you think about the Mission and COVID-19, our story is pretty remarkable. We have been operating at our 55-bed capacity during the whole pandemic. We have a staff of 21 which sadly was cut to 15 because of the closure of our two thrift stores. Thankfully we have called back all of our full-time staff with the exception of one staff member who is looking to retire. On any given day during the entire pandemic, our staff members were and continue to be fearless. With 55 residents and 15 staff members, we have about 70 people living and working at the Mission. Humanly speaking, the probability of the coronavirus making its way into the Mission was and is rather high. We did everything we could to keep the virus out and to protect our residents and staff, but at times we felt like we were fighting a forest fire with a garden hose. We realized that ultimately God was the only one who could protect the Mission and keep us all safe. And the Lord has in fact done so! As of the date of this letter (I am writing this letter on July 1st), we have not had one case of COVID-19 in the Mission. Our residents and staff have all stayed healthy. We thank God for His amazing grace and mercy.

And through it all, our staff never complained. They never hesitated to come to work and risk their health and possibly even their lives. Our staff understood that we are essential workers and that the Mission is an essential life-giving ministry permitted by the government to stay open. But above all, our staff understood that our ministry is a ministry close to the heart of God. Our staff did not call out sick or suggest we stop taking in new homeless men, nor did they ever suggest that perhaps we should close down the Mission until the COVID-19 pandemic passes. Our staff understood that a ministry such as ours cannot be done by staying home, or by doing our ministry virtually online. Our ministry must by necessity be done face-to-face – ministering the love of Christ to our residents in person – meaning we daily become the hands and feet of Jesus to our men in practical, compassionate and tangible ways.

Thank you for your kind and generous support. You are our critical supply lines, prayer intercessors, and cheerleaders. We cannot do what we do without your continued support.

Pressing on with joy & steadfast endurance,

Robert A. Emberger, D.Min.
Executive Director

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From the Director ~ June 2020

Dear Friend of the Mission,

Because of your kind and generous support, our ministry to homeless men is going strong in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. We continue to operate at our 55-bed capacity, we continue to serve three delicious and nutritious meals a day, our Overcomers drug and alcohol meetings are held twice a week, all of our men have a scheduled counseling session at least once a week, tutoring and classes are still conducted with face masks and social distancing, we still have chapel services (although we have divided our men into smaller groups so our men can spread out in chapel and maintain social distancing), seven of our men are employed, and best of all, as of the date of this letter, not one resident or staff member has gotten sick with COVID-19. Our residents and staff are working hard to keep COVID-19 out of the Mission, and by God’s grace and mercy, everyone has stayed healthy. Please continue to pray with us that we get through this pandemic without one case of COVID-19 in the Mission.

I have so much to thank you for during these challenging and difficult days. You have been a friend that sticks closer than a sister or brother. Thank you for your financial support, for your prayers, for masks that you made for our residents and staff, for food donations, for donations of retail gift cards, for encouraging emails, cards, texts and Facebook postings; for donations of paper products and cleaning supplies, for special dinners purchased for our men from a Germantown pizzeria, for holding onto your thrift store donations until we are permitted to reopen our two stores, for sending additional financial gifts to the Mission to make sure we can pay our bills, for making up Blessing Bags filled with treats for our men, and for letting us know in so many ways that you are with us and for us – that we are not facing this pandemic alone. The Lord promises to never leave us or forsake us. I think one of the ways that God fulfills that promise is through friends such as you who stand with us during such a trying time as this.

I especially want to thank you for your patience in receiving our thank you letters and receipts for your gifts. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, everything takes longer to do – nothing is easy. And every day is filled with unexpected challenges. There is many a night that I am still awake in the wee hours of the morning weighed down with concerns over the present and future welfare of the Mission. And thankfully, the Lord gently reminds me to cast my burdens upon Him – His shoulders are bigger than mine. I thank the Lord for that truth! Thank you for helping us to “keep on keeping on.” We are pressing on to better days. Please find enclosed a wonderfully creative photo from one of our residents that is all about joy!

Working together with you,

Robert A. Emberger, D.Min.
Executive Director

Please check out this wonderfully creative photo from one of our residents that is all about joy!

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A Word from Jeff Foxworthy

The Whosoever Gospel Mission is a member of Citygate Network. Any donation you make to the Mission will help us care for men experiencing homelessness as together we weather the Coronavirus pandemic.

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Thanks for the masks!

So many of you responded to our need for reusable masks that we now have an ample supply!

Thank you!

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Thank you!

To everyone who has given so generously to help keep us going as a safe haven for homeless men with nowhere else to turn during this pandemic, we say thank you!

Please know that while your financial donation receipts and thank you letters are delayed because of a staff shortages and the extra challenges we are all facing at this time, our gratitude is not!

You are a part of God’s rich blessing to us, and we thank you,

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From the Director ~ How you can help during the COVID-19 pandemic

Executive Director Bob Emberger with cleaning and household supplies for a New Life Program graduate moving into his own place a short while ago. We need more supplies like these.

Pray.  Please pray for our residents and staff.  Please pray that the Lord will place a hedge of protection around the Mission and keep the coronavirus out of the Mission.  Please pray for the health and safety of our residents, staff and their families.  We had to lay off 6 staff members (almost 1/3 of our staff) and make salary and budget cuts to keep the Mission viable.  Please pray that things soon return to normal, and we can recall our staff members.   

Give.  Our two thrift stores are closed which results in a loss of $30,000 – $32,000 each month.  All of our budget cuts and layoffs will cover less than ½ of our lost income.  We need your help to make up the other half in lost income.  You can mail your check in or make an online gift. 

Donate.  Please donate gift cards (mailing them to us is fine) to the following stores:  Walmart, Aldi, Giant Supermarkets, Target, Home Depot or Lowes.  We still need to buy food, cleaning supplies, and facility maintenance supplies.  We also need disinfecting wipes (Clorox, Lysol, or any other brand) and hand sanitizer (any size container).     

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