Helping Our Neighbors this Christmas
Dear Friends:
It doesn’t seem possible, but in just a short time Christmas will be upon us. Our churches will be filled with the sights, sounds and feelings of Christmas cheer—Christmas music and decorations, warmth, joy, and generosity. Christmas is a time for family, church, and community. But mostly, it is a time to celebrate God’s love for us as we remember the birth of the Christ-child.
But for some of our county’s neediest citizens, Christmas will be another reminder of how bleak and unkind life can be. They identify with Mary and Joseph as they sought shelter from the elements, only to be turned away and forgotten. They are intimately familiar with grief, failure, rejection, loneliness, and emptiness. They are the forgotten ones of our community—the outcasts without a home, the addicted trapped in the chains of alcohol or drugs.
But there is a place for them, a place of safety and hope. For 13 years now, Neighbors of Hope has been providing shelter and basic needs for men without a home and life-change for men addicted to drugs and/or alcohol. It is a place to meet Christ and find new life.
That is why I am writing you this letter. These men need your help and encouragement. Here’s how your church can help:
- Adopt-a-man: Select one of our men and purchase a couple of gifts for him for Christmas.
- Christmas Angel: Be an angel to one or more of our men who have children and have no way of providing gifts for his children this Christmas and purchase gifts for him to give to his children.
- Send personal Christmas cards to the men at the mission. Tell them that they are not forgotten. Email or call us for a list of the men’s names.
- Collect food for the mission.
- It cost approximately $750 a month, $25 a day, to house, feed and take care of each man. Won’t you please consider helping with one-month’s expense? We are not funded by the government.
- Send us gift cards to buy Christmas presents for the men.
As you prepare to celebrate Christmas, please don’t forget the homeless at Neighbors of Hope. They’re counting on you. Please call me if you require additional information.
Sincerely,
Pastor Steven Palmer
Executive Director
