Category Archives: 2012 Lenten Gift

Thank You!

To one and all who responded our Parish Lenten call to give, whose hearts traveled the distance to East Africa, entered the refugee camps and shared in easing the suffering.  We thank you!  Our parish gift of $14,450 holds a value not to be measured, as it becomes part of the CRS response to a famine and human suffering unspeakable proportions. Once again, as for so many years past, St. John’s Parish has given generously and thereby has once again Given Hope! Thank you!

2012 Parish Lenten Gift – Special Collection March 24-25

This weekend, St. John’s Parish will again show its solidarity with people in need by collecting funds for our Lenten Gift – Giving Hope to East Africa. Our Lenten gift strengthens each of us individually and the parish as a community of faith, as we give witness to Christ’s call to…love one another; as I have loved you (John 13:34). We ask that you be as generous as you can as we designate our second collection to this effort. (You can also donate online, using ParishPay.) Continue reading

2012 Lenten Gift: Giving Hope to East Africa – Catholic Relief Services: Uniquely Qualified to Provide Relief

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and its partners are working frantically to respond to the unfolding crisis by distributing food, clean water and other emergency supplies. CRS is running relief operations at refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia. Working with church partners, they have also been bringing food aid into Somalia, where access is difficult due to conflict. The plan is now for a massive and sustained relief effort to save lives and prevent malnutrition and disease from taking hold in the drought areas. Continue reading

2012 Lenten Gift: Giving Hope to East Africa – The Dadaab Refugee Camps

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in.”    Matthew 25:35

The recent drought in East Africa, coupled with insecurity in South Central Somalia, has drastically increased the number of Somali refugees coming into the Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya. Built to accommodate 90,000 people 20 years ago, the camps have now swelled to 400,000, with as many as 1,500 people arriving daily. Continue reading

2012 Lenten Gift: Giving Hope to East Africa – One Family’s Plight

Extreme hunger is a harsh daily reality for more than 12 million people in East  Africa because of what many are calling the worst drought in 60 years.  Further compounding this natural disaster are political violence in Southern Somalia and drastic increases in food prices. These numbers have swelled the already overcrowded Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya to a half a million people. Crowded conditions in Ethiopian and Kenyan camps, and in urban areas in Somalia, pose huge health concerns. Cases of cholera and measles outbreaks are on the rise. Somalia is the hardest hit of the East African countries stricken by drought. The UN estimates that more than 3 million people are suffering from inadequate nutrition. And nearly 250,000 Somalis are at risk of starvation if immediate lifesaving interventions do not reach them. Continue reading

2012 Lenten Gift:Giving Hope to East Africa – Supporting East African Refugees Fleeing Drought and Famine

St. John’s Parish will again show its solidarity with others who are in need by collecting funds for a Lenten gift. This year’s gift will be: “Giving Hope to East Africa” – Supporting East African Refugees Fleeing Drought and Famine. Throughout Lent, the plight of these refugees will be shared with you in our weekly parish bulletins and on the parish web site. Continue reading