Dear Friends,
The holidays are right around the corner, and although COVID-19 will change the way many of our holiday festivities look, the pandemic cannot dampen our holiday spirit. So, true to Marist Brothers’ tradition, we pray that you and all those close to you are blessed with a joyous holiday season.
There is an urgent matter that I need to share with you. We’re suffering a serious financial shortfall due to an emergency repair in our larger Marist Brothers’ retirement facility.
In the spirit of Christmas, please remember our elderly and disabled Brothers with a gift!
Everything began last month, when we called in plumbing pros to inspect the facility’s water pipes. We suspected that something was wrong, and we were right!
It turned out that we needed to replace 200 feet of water piping, which had been leaking beneath the facility’s parking lot
for quite some time. If we didn’t take care of the problem quickly, our plumber warned us that the entire parking lot could soon collapse and our elderly Brothers’ would lose water access.
We signed off on the project immediately! And now I turn to you. Your gift toward this emergency repair, whether $15, $25, or more, will be an enormous help.
Between digging up the parking lot, removing the leaking pipes, laying new water piping, and finally repaving the lot, our invoice exceeded $90,000. Yes, the pipes will last long into the future, but the bill is due shortly.
Your gift this Christmas season will be such a blessing!
We reorganized our budget, dug deep into our emergency funds, and came up with enough to cover 1/3 of the total invoice – but we are still $60,000 short. Our plumbing contractor granted us a few extra months to cover the full $90,000, and for that we are enormously grateful! But we can’t push off payment for much longer. We need your help!
Please send a gift today. We’re relying on your kindness to help cover this unexpected expense.
As I often remind our Marist Brothers’ friends, whether a gift is large or small, it makes a difference! Consider two nickels. One nickel is 5¢ and just like that, two nickels become 10¢. Now imagine how your gift becomes twice as powerful after we add it to the gifts from other Marist Brothers’ friends!
I also need to mention a special request from my Brothers. They asked me to remind you about the enclosed prayer intention slip. Take a moment to write out your intentions and send the slip with your donation. We will be honored to include your special intentions in our Christmas devotions. This is something we look forward to doing for you!
I’ll close with my heartfelt wish that the timeless message of Christmas fills your heart and home with joy – now and throughout the coming year.
