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:
- A generous year-end sacrificial gift. God will use your gift to change a life.
- 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).
- 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.
- 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).
- 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
