St. John the Evangelist Parish

Week 4: The Need  St. Margaret Mary Parish relief efforts are focused on helping families, like the Rodriguez family who were introduced in last week’s bulletin, to secure supplies to help rebuild “houses” and make them “homes.” Volunteers from both inside and the outside the parish community are volunteering their labor but the basic cost of materials and equipment still need to be covered. A typical rebuilding effort to get a family back in their home with just the basics includes:

$3,500-$4,000 for Materials
$4,000 for Systems/Appliances
$2,500 Furniture
Expenses are already tight for many Midland Beach residents like the Rodriguez family without factoring in a natural disaster. A few thousand dollars of assistance can close the gap between the cost to rebuild and any insurance and FEMA benefits. Our gift can allow this family of four to stop living “on-hold”, and make their house into a home. A home because with the basic appliances the family can now eat and sleep, laugh and cry, and pray and live together.

Our Outreach

During Lent we follow Catholic tradition by turning toward God through prayer, fasting and charity with the knowledge that God has chosen to enter the world today through us and others. In fact, God only asks us for only one thing and that is Love.  Let’s show our Love for Christ and compassion for the residents of Midland Beach and St. Margaret Mary Parish on Staten Island in both spiritual and concrete ways. First, these families need our prayers as they engage in the struggle to rebuild not just their homes but also their lives. Second, let’s donate to St. Margaret Mary Parish’s rebuilding fund which augments recipients’ available funds to reframe houses and rooms and help buy appliances such as stoves, ovens and refrigerators. In essence, our gift will enable these families to “help themselves” rebuild their homes and lives. Please consider a prayerful and generous donation to our 2013 Lenten Gift collection, next week Saturday, March 16th and Sunday, March 17th.

We are reminded in St. Theresa of Avila’s beautiful prayer which we also sing here at St. John’s, that we are Christ’s body:

Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on Earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world.