Episcopal Diocese of Western New York - Emergency Relief: Let’s Give for Good

Emergency Relief: Let’s Give for Good

The Rev. Susan Anslow Williams St. Luke’s, Jamestown

Channel surfing, I flip from fattening Recipes to Home Improvement to Shopping – oh yeah! – and come upon broadcasts from the unimaginable devastation happening in other parts of the world. China, Myanmar, burnt up or flattened areas of the US – now I’m thankful to be in a place where my worst weather-related problems are the Sixth St. potholes.

I also thank God that Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) is already at work in those places (and many others), enabling emergency efforts with the donations they have received. And yes, ERD needs our help to keep it up.

As many of us rejoice to find extra “consumer” cash in our accounts this month, why not “Give It 4 Good” – a suggestion from Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation (E4GR), which notes that of all the countries in the world, the US hardly needs to be consuming more. We Americans are now saving less than ever, since the days of the Great Depression; preferring to spend more than we earn and thereby miring ourselves in an $800 billion national debt. (For more on the economics of consumption, visit www.e4gr.org.)

What would Jesus do? I don’t think He’d go to the mall. Instead He might be inclined to follow the Biblical command to care for the poor, the widows and the orphans… And He’d look over at us, to see what we’re doing too.

A donation of all or part of your “stimulus check” to an organization like ERD would do a world of good for people who really need it. Give it for good.

There are many worthy agencies; we pick ERD because there’s relatively very little spent on staffing, pamphlets, etc. Donations can be mailed to: Episcopal Relief and Development, PO Box 7058, Merrifield, VA 22116-7058. To donate online, go to: www.er-d.org – you can even specify which area of the world to benefit.

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