After the glut of requests for help in a variety of organizations in the weeks before Christmas, I am sure many of you, like me, are receiving more solicitations now that the new calendar year has begun. Of course, many, if not most of them give compelling reasons as to why they need our help. The organizations usually are focused on a specific need (food, clothing, and/or shelter, etc.) and target a specific demographic of people and places in this country and/or abroad that need help. Since none of us have unlimited resources, we have to decide who to help, when to help and how much money to give to the beneficiaries.One of the reasons I am so happy and blessed to give generously to the Catholic Arkansas Sharing Appeal (CASA), is that I know it helps such a wide range of people and needs throughout the state of Arkansas. Both Catholics and others are recipients of my gift and the "Help" among other things serves to evangelize people who come to know the love of the Lord for all people, expecially those who are in need and/or those people who are seeking to help those in need. I ask ALL our parish familllies this year to give thoughtfully and generously to this annual drive. While around 240 families from our parish gave something (and some GENEROUSLY) to this appeal in 2019, many, sadly (at least to me), gave nothing. Please, please, please get on board to help the number of donors in our parish go up GREATLY this year.
I would like to review our goal as a parish this year ($83,000 compared to approximately $69,000 that was given last year) as both a compliment and a challenge to us because of our generosity in the past to CASA (around $84,000 was given in total a few years ago). Unlike some of the organizations that solicit our help throughout the year and with high administration and solicitation costs, the Arkansas Catholic Sharing Appeal does not send us solicitation requests all year long. It does, however, give us the opportunity to give either now or anytime throughout the year, as our circumstances allow.
If you have misplaced the envelope that was given before Mass last weekend, know that CASA envelopes can be found in the pews and in the Narthex throughout the month of February and maybe beyond. Your response to this appeal is very much appreciated, especially by the MANY who will benefit in various ways from our sharing of some of the blessings we have received at the hand of the Lord (from whom all blessings flow) to us and from us to others!!