Sunday, March 23, 2008

5000 for 100 - Can you help?

I am shocked at how long it has been since I updated this blog. I don't know if anyone is still checking in - but if you are I want to share something with you. And also ask you to pass this on to every online friend you have.
Later, I will have a post about our just completed Holy Week at St. Patrick's.
But first - I started a group on Facebook called "5000 for 100". The description of the group is below:
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St. Patrick's Episcopal Church in Long Beach, MS was completely destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in August of 2005. At long last the church is just about ready to begin building it's new facility, a few miles in land (on high ground) from the beach property.
Unfortunately, due to incredibly higher construction costs, we do not have enough funds from insurance and donations to construct even our first building - which will be a multi-purpose building with a Parish Hall / Worship room, offices, and classrooms. We estimate to be about $500,000 short.
While we continue to solicit contributions from large groups, and of course from our own congregation, the idea behind this group is a grassroots campaign to find 5000 people / organizations / groups to give $100 each to our building fund.
We hope that churches (of all denominations), church youth groups, men's groups, women's groups, Sunday school classes, individuals will pray about ways they can help and donate to our building fund.
Soon we will add pictures to the group, including what we looked like before and preliminary sketches of our first building.
All contributions to St. Patrick's are tax deductible. We ask that you mail contributions to the church, P.O. Box 550, Long Beach, MS 39560. You can reach us at 228-863-7882 or email officestpats@cableone.net . If you do contribute - THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. Please indicate "5000 for 100" on your check so we can track this campaign (and know when we have reached 5000 contributors.
IN ADDITION, 10% of all contributions to this campaign will be given to local charities on the Gulf Coast that are helping our communities rebuild and providing services to people in need.
Lastly, will you pray for us? And pass this group info on to ALL of your friends.
God bless
David Knight
Rector, St. Patrick's Episcopal Church
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I am convinced there are 5000 people or entities across this country that can give $100 to this cause. And of course, we are not just looking at people who are on Facebook to help. We already have begun receiving donations, and people are getting excited about it. One of our partner parishes, St. Mary's in Arlington, VA, has decided to donate $100 for every member of their church who has been to our relief center to help out - and they have sent 80 people down here! So that's $8000 right there to our campaign. I am so excited about this, and I am convinced we will be able to start building soon.
We will have a special page on our website soon dedicated to this campaign. Meanwhile, click HERE to link to our web home where you can find pictures before and after Katrina and other information about us.
And PLEASE - PASS THIS ON!
God bless you all and Happy Easter - The Lord is Risen Indeed!