Each weekend, members of Food For The Poor’s Speakers Bureau – Catholic and Episcopal priests and Lutheran pastors – travel to churches around the United States, sharing our mission. They speak from their hearts and from firsthand experience of visiting the countries and the families we serve throughout the Caribbean and Latin America. Below, a parishioner shares her story.
Dear Father Bob,
It was such a pleasure to meet you Sunday at St. Anne. I loved being your cantor – it was a joyful Mass.
You asked me to send you an email about my experience tithing to Food for the Poor.
I had been feeling the Holy Spirit tugging at my heart to do something to help my brothers and sisters who have to struggle to feed their families. Food for the Poor has provided me the perfect vehicle to implement the plan God put into my heart.
My husband and I struggled for 25+ years to make ends meet. It seemed every time we thought we’d catch up or even get ahead enough to put a little something in savings, something would break, a car would get wrecked – you know the familiar story – and the money would be gone. I used to joke that, if someone wanted to rob me, I’d have to write them a check because I never, ever had any cash on me.
In December of 2012, I realized that my little antique booth had done better than it ever had. So I committed a monthly tithe amount to Food for the Poor for 2013. My booth is now committed to feeding my family and feeding someone else’s family. The better I do, the more I can give. This year, I’m able to double my tithe amount. The growth I experienced over the course of last year was unprecedented. July has always been my slowest month of the year. In 11 years of business, I’d learned not to expect to make much at all in July. But after I made that commitment, July 2013 turned out to be not only the best July I’d ever had, but, until December, the best month of the entire year!
I’m not saying God is a fairy godmother who waves a wand and makes all my problems go away and pours money into my bank account. All I know is that he has provided me a way to provide for others and I have been blessed in the process.
I am grateful for Food for the Poor and the assistance it provides for me and others who want to give and want to know we are giving through an organization we can trust.
Thank you for your interest in my story.
Sincerely,
Celeste K.
St. Anne Parishioner