| Greetings! One week from today (Tuesday, October 25th) many folks from IM will be on the radio all day long as part of "Meals on Wheels for Greater Houston" day at KUHF (and KUHA, the new all music public station). We are so proud and thankful to be part of such a great effort to raise money and awareness about the great public good that our very own Houston Public Radio stations provide our community. The KUHF/KUHA Fall campaign begins this Thursday and goes until next Friday, October 21st. Every day counts but if you want to forgo your "thank-you" gift and have the fine folks take the money they spend on mugs and such and purchase meals, next Tuesday is the day for you! As you will hear me say - "it's a double bang for your buck." Every time we are on the air, on average more than 8,000 meals are purchased because you love both of us! Let me add something really important: We are getting very close to our financial capacity to meet the need of hungry seniors in Houston. We now get about 200 requests each month for Meals on Wheels. We have almost reached 4,700 clients a day - and if you do the math you can see that we could easily be at 5,000 or more by next summer. Given the small (thankfully) cuts we've had in government funding; and the weak economy, it is getting harder to accept everyone who needs a meal. Bottom line, even though we DO NOT have a waiting list today, we might have one soon. Folks like you, your companies and congregations can step forward to help us feed every senior that qualifies. We are so thankful to those like Shell and Motiva Enterprises our lead corporate sponsor, who have stepped forward already. We are incredibly fortunate to have grown so much over the past five years to meet the need. To help us grow further, click here. |
| IM Dates to Remember
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| A THOUGHT TO PONDER It seems that every time I venture into anything close to the political realm I get burned. But I feel compelled to take a chance one more time. There's been a lot of talk lately about the Mormon faith and whether or not Mitt Romney is fit to be president because he is a Mormon. I remember when Jack Kennedy ran there were all sorts of consternation about he being a Catholic. There were those who worried that his first loyalty would be to the pope. I also know that if a Jewish person was in the front of the pack, there would be those who would find this objectionable. It may not be nice to say that in public, but we know it would be true - no different than if a Muslim was closing in on the presidency. The great majority of Americans are Christian of one sort or another. It is natural for any majority to want to perpetuate what feels familiar. So much of America's roots come from Christian philosophy, ethics and culture. So why do so many, including many Christians, find all this posturing distasteful? Because it's disappointing! Instead of being inspired by those who seek to lead us to find common ground, religion, in this case, is used to divide us. Many of us see religion as a force for good - and hope that the common and shared values of honesty, integrity, fairness, respect, devotion, compassion, faith and humility can help unite a fractured nation. The sooner we realize the strength of shared beliefs, the sooner we can harness our energy to fix the many problems facing us. The debate over religion is just one more distraction keeping us from the important work we have yet to do. Elliot Gershenson President and CEO Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston |
