My first reaction to the envelope was to put it back in the offering plate. I live in a sheltered world and could think no one to whom the gift would make a real difference. I did not consider an organization because the gift would be invisible to the final benefriary. When the plate came around, I accepted the challenge and put the envelope in my pocket. As I drove home, I approached a stop light where a man always stood, holding a cardboard sign. I thought about him as the corner came closer. What would he do with such a gift? See a doctor? Sleep indoors? Go on a bender? Or maybe share with others who also had needs? The gift might be life changing or it might be wasted. And then I pictured Jesus in Gethsemene, asking those same questions about me! I stopped and rolled down the window.

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Today we received our donation from your parishioner, David Schackmann. He has been a longtime volunteer--over 20 years! He believes in our mission to help educate individuals, and volunteers weekly in our tutoring program. A little bit about what we do! Last school year we served 191 individuals-- 76 in the educational program, with 25 who graduated with a GED, and 115 in the computer lab for testing, college refresher, job and college search, and application writing. Our mission, as a government approved charitable organization, is to provide quality educational programs for the residents of the Greater Cincinnati area, aimed at increasing students' basic literacy, academic, computer, and job skills. We turn no serious student away and our services are free. Programs Offered: GED Instruction with one-on-one and group instruction On-site GED Testing for the Official GED College Preparation and Counseling Tutoring for Current College Students Job and Career Counseling Computer Instruction

Since many families suffer from hunger (food insecurity) in Cincinnati, we donated our $100 check to the Freestore Foodbank.

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On Sept 6 an acquaintance of my daughter gave birth to her 4th little girl. Her other girls are 13,9, and 7. Two hours after delivery the mother died. She had been told earlier that she a tumor in her abdomen and needed to have surgery. She refused to do anything to harm the baby and made the decision to wait til after her daughter was born. She told no one. So even though they attempted

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Chance, Jake and I were blessed with an envelope containing a $100 check. The boys were pretty excited by this challenge and gave lots of thought to the best way to put God’s grace to work. We tossed around thoughts about helping a homeless person(s), supporting a foster care agency, Big Brothers/Big Sisters and in the end the boys selected a charity they had spent time with recently.

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