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:
- Give a generous year-end gift of cash. God will use your gift to impact and change lives.
- 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).
- 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.
- 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).
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
