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Executive Director Bob Emberger teaching Professional & Vocational Development Class

Dear Friend of the Mission,

As we come to the end of our fiscal year on September 30th, first and foremost I want to thank you for your friendship. Through your support, the lives of broken and hurting homeless men were touched and transformed by God’s amazing grace. Here are only a few of the many ways that your support made a huge difference in the lives of our men and their families:

• Our men enjoyed over 80,000 nutritious and plentiful meals and snacks this past year.
• Over 100 of our men received free eye exams from Great Faith Vision; this wonderful non-profit also provided free prescription eyeglasses to any man who needed glasses.
• Carson Wentz, quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles, and Chris Maragos, a safety on the Philadelphia Eagles, shared powerful words of encouragement with our men.
• Thousands of items of good used clothing and brand new underwear and socks were given without charge to our men.
• The Mission provided over 1,648 new toys at Christmas to 317 needy children including the children and grandchildren of our men as well as a number of other needy children.
• Several of our men were able to recover from surgeries and serious illnesses while living at the Mission. Residents were medically treated for and/or recuperated from a hip replacement, a knee replacement, diabetes, stroke, heart disease, congestive heart failure, an irregular heartbeat, painful abscessed teeth, painful body abscesses, COPD, severe edema in a leg resulting from a clot, dehydration, high blood pressure, gastro esophageal reflux disease (GERD), asthma, HIV disease, AIDS and life-disrupting mental illness.
• The Mission helped over 45 of our men secure a good job outside of the Mission and 6 men enroll in an off-site education or training program.
• Over 75% of our men increased by at least one grade level in reading, writing and math.
• A multitude of our men experienced for themselves the peace, hope and joy of the Lord. Our loving Lord brought life out of death, hope out of despair, and joy out of sadness.

We have also had many financial challenges this year. Please give an extra generous gift before September 30, 2017 and help us end our fiscal year financially strong. Thank you!

With warm regards,

Robert A. Emberger, D.Min.
Executive Director

Bob Emberger, Executive Director

Dear Friend of the Mission,

You often hear me say that the Mission provides homeless men a hand-up and not just a handout. You can never go wrong with compassion, and there is nothing wrong with handing out food to a hungry and homeless man surviving in downtown Philadelphia. But it is always far better to equip and help a homeless man get a job and become self-supporting so he can buy his own food instead of depending upon others for his next meal. Equipping and empowering homeless men to become self-supporting is one of the main things that we do here at the Whosoever Gospel Mission.

At the beginning of my Professional and Vocational Development Class which I teach on Monday nights at 6:00 p.m. (you are always welcome to sit in!), I always ask our men who has gotten a job since last week. After a man shares about his new job, our men always give up a hearty round of applause and cheers. Thank you for your kind and generous support that helps us give homeless men a hand-up and not just a handout. Your faithful giving is used by the Lord every day at the Mission to make life-giving and life-changing differences in the lives of our men. Our ministry is a ministry of transformation, restoration, and best of all, celebration!

Please accept my special thanks for helping us out with some extraordinary expenses this summer – an expensive air conditioning repair and a very large water bill resulting from the Philadelphia Water Department under billing the Mission for over 7 years (they incorrectly programmed the new water meter they installed in 2008 shortly before we reopened after being closed for almost three years after our catastrophic arson fire of 2006). Your kind and generous gifts are a great encouragement to us. It is comforting to know that when difficulties and problems come our way, we are not alone. We have a multitude of friends and supporters who fervently pray for us and who also give generously to us. Because of your kindness, our water bill is paid off and our men are enjoying cool temperatures in our dormitory building. We found out that we still need additional work on our AC, but for now it is working, and our men are comfortably cool. I hope your summer has been a good one thus far.

With much thanks and appreciation,

Robert A. Emberger, D.Min.
Executive Director

Bob at the Colorado Monument

Dear Friend of the Mission,

At the end of March, my wife Marcia and I visited our son, daughter-in-law and 4 precious granddaughters in Grand Junction, Colorado. My son Jason is an Assistant Pastor of a church in Grand Junction. We certainly had a wonderful time with our son’s family – we can never spend enough time with our granddaughters!

Bob’s son Jason with his wife Tina and their four daughters

Grand Junction, Colorado is a very beautiful part of our country. On one side of the Grand Valley where Grand Junction is situated is the Grand Mesa, a majestic 11,000 ft. high flat mountain. On the other side of the Grand Valley is the Colorado National Monument, a beautiful national park filled with amazing rock formations, ravines, and breathtaking panoramas.

As beautiful as this scenery is, the amazing grace transformations that take place in the lives of our men are even more beautiful.

A view from the Colorado National Monument

On a daily basis, we have the joy and privilege of seeing God rebuild and transform shattered lives that have been damaged and destroyed by addiction, childhood trauma, street violence, the terrible consequences that come from poor choices, incarceration, serious health problems, unjust treatment from others, a poor education, and deep poverty that is impossible to escape apart from someone giving you a hand-up. Through our life-changing ministry, we have seen God bring beauty out of ashes, turn mourning into joy, give hope to the hopeless, and even put Humpty Dumpty back together again – doing the impossible for our men.

Your kind and generous support keeps the Mission going as a place where every day the Lord makes happen these wonderful transformations in the lives of our men. Thank you in advance for your financial support. Please also take a look at our enclosed Spring and Summer Needs List. Whether you give cash or items on our needs list, your gifts will be used to help our men rebuild their lives brick by brick. And most exciting of all, the Lord will use your gifts to transform the lives of our men so that they truly become masterpieces of God’s amazing grace.

Joyfully working together wtih you,

Robert A. Emberger, D.Min.
Executive Director

Save the date! – Our second annual night of celebration will be held on Saturday, April 9th from 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. – Refreshments will be served after the program. Admission is free – just a free-will offering. Details will follow.

Dear Friend of the Mission,

Derrick and Steve enjoy each other’s company at a Christmas luncheon.

Please enjoy these photos filled with laughter, smiles, good food, toys and gifts from our 2015 Christmas celebration at the Whosoever Gospel Mission. Your financial gifts, gifts of new toys for the children and grandchildren of our men, gifts for our men and all sorts of other wonderful kindnesses made Christmas 2015 a wonderful time at the Mission. Thank you for making Christmas for our men (and their kids and grandkids!) a time of celebration and joy rather than a sad time filled with crushing loneliness, heartache, regrets and hopelessness. Our men and their families join with me in thanking you.

Each resident personally received 14 different presents this Christmas from friends who lovingly made up gift bags for the men.

As we begin this new year of 2016, please let me also thank you for your kind and generous support throughout 2015. You have given us food, good used items for our thrift stores, laundry detergent, personal care items, office supplies, over-the-counter medicines, paper products, cleaning supplies, trash bags, new underwear and socks, and good used grocery bags for our thrift stores. You have supported us financially through generous cash gifts, employee giving programs such as the United Way and the Combined Federal Campaign, gifts of stock, donor advised fund grants, employer matching gift programs, and gift cards to stores we shop at for the Mission. We truly wish we could thank you all individually and in person!

Your support helped us to provide life-giving, life-changing and even life-saving help to our men.

New Life Program Residents & Graduates gave over 1,000 brand-new gifts to 127 of their children and grandchildren this Christmas! Each child received an assortment of gifts including a main toy, puzzles, games, stuffed animals, hats & scarves.

The Mission is ultimately not about programs, bricks and mortar, but it is about loving broken and hurting homeless men with the love of Christ, giving them a hand-up and not just a handout, and giving them a real hope that changes their lives both now and forever. Your gifts are a sound investment in the lives of our men that will keep on growing and paying out dividends for years to come. The positive changes that take place in just one of our men will touch and impact for good the lives of hundreds of other people – perhaps even your life and the lives of your friends and family. Keep on investing in our men – your support makes a huge difference for good.

With heartfelt thanks,

Robert A. Emberger, D.Min.
Executive Director

Dear Friend of the Mission,

We work hard to help our men rebuild broken relationships with their families. It is always a real joy and a reason to celebrate when one of our men tells us with a big smile that he will be spending Thanksgiving Day with his family. But sadly, there will be a host of men at the Mission who have no home to go to on Thanksgiving Day. The Mission will then become their home, and we will become their family. And so on Thanksgiving Day at 1:15 p.m., our men will enjoy an all-you-can eat feast of delicious, homemade food – roast turkey, cranberry stuffing, mashed potatoes, giblet gravy, macaroni and cheese, candied sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, buttered corn, cranberry sauce, dinner rolls, cider, coffee, tea, cookies, ice cream and an assortment of pies are all on the menu. We work extra hard at Thanksgiving to love and bless our men by preparing a feast fit for a King (in fact, we prepare our dinner as though we were serving it to Jesus Himself!). Some of you have volunteered at the Mission on Thanksgiving Day and can testify that our Thanksgiving Feast is truly a wonderful time of good food, warm friendship, a sense of family and heartfelt laughter. You can still join us if you would like – just call Heather Rice at 215 438 3094 ext. 103.

As we quickly move toward the end of 2015, please consider making a special gift to the Mission so that every day at the Mission can be filled with the warmth and happiness of Thanksgiving with friends and family. Here are a few special ways you can help:

1. A generous year-end sacrificial gift. God will use your gift to change a life.
2. Some families bless our men by pooling their resources 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 direct services to our men. Your gift would be a major investment in the lives of our men.
4. Give 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. If you would like to do this, please call me at 215 438 3094 (ext 102).
5. If you have set up a donor advised fund, you can recommend that a grant be made to the Whosoever Gospel Mission. Your grant will make a difference in the lives of our men.

Your faithful and generous financial support gives us the resources we need to work as hard as we can with the Lord’s help to make the Whosoever Gospel Mission a warm and loving home for the homeless, not just on Thanksgiving Day, but on every day of the year. Not only do our men enjoy good food at the Mission, but they are also given real hope – hope in the Lord, hope for a better tomorrow, hope for today, hope that will not disappoint or fail. For 123 years, the Mission has been a place of real hope for broken and shattered men who are homeless, destitute, crushed by despair, without jobs and facing a future that looks pretty bleak and hopeless. But through God’s amazing grace, our men are able to rebuild their lives. Achievements that may seem ordinary to us are miracles in the lives of our men – miracles such as getting a good job, earning a GED, overcoming a stubborn addiction to drugs and/or alcohol, rebuilding destroyed relationships, getting their own home, becoming a member of a good church, regaining their health, learning to read, and developing a purpose driven life that is productive and fulfilling. Your kind and generous support makes possible these miracles.

As you enjoy Thanksgiving Dinner with your friends and family, my family and I will also be enjoying Thanksgiving Dinner with our friends and brothers at the Mission. And together, we will thank God for you – our giving friends who keep the Mission going as a place where broken lives are made whole, where broken families are restored, and where broken hearts are healed and changed forever.

Warmly yours,

Robert A. Emberger, D.Min.
Executive Director