We need your help today

If you have heard about the unemployment news this morning, you may have gotten the wrong impression that things are getting better. Yes in some areas the unemployment rate went down from last month. But let’s take a real look at those figures closer to home, at least the homes served by the Mor Gregorios Community Center.

Last month in Marshal County, Indiana, where the Community Center is located, March’s unemployment rate was 14.3 percent. And yes that is less than February’s. February’s unemployment rate was 14.9 percent. Let see, if I did my math right that means that March’s rate is four tenths of a percent less than February. And last year the unemployment rate in Marshall County was only 6.1 percent.

The real story is on the faces of the people who come in for the Community Center’s employment program. There are also more people coming in every week.

The Mor Gregorios Community Center also serves the neighboring counties of Starke and Fulton. In Starke County the unemployment rate last month was 14.8 percent, and in Fulton County the rate was 12.7 percent.

We know that we are making a difference in the lives of your friends and neighbors. We are called by God to do just that. So are you. Several people have help us and have made a difference. Computers and other equipment, time has been volunteered to listen and help, and a few dollars have been donated. Every donation, every prayer is important. No matter how small the donation, you have been remembered at all of the parish’s services. And almost every day someone tells us to thank all those who have donated time, and money, and equipment. So, from those we serve, “Thank you!”

But we need more help. We need help in meeting our overhead. If the electric goes off, the computers don’t work. If the computer’s don’t work our consumers can not file their unemployment claims, prepare their resumes, apply online for new jobs. I short, they are not able to put food on their families table.

We have been able to pay for the internet connect this month, but there is still an unpaid utility bill...the heat, the lights, the computers.

Your help is needed to help make a difference in the lives of your friends and neighbors. To discover how you can make a difference, email us at monastery@synesius.com, or call the Mor Gregorios Community Center and St. Mary’s Church at 574-540-2048.

And please, please keep our work and those we serve in your prayers. In the eyes of every person who walks in the doors of the Mor Gregorios Community Center we see Jesus. If you were here, so would you. So can you look into the eyes of Christ, smile, turn away, and just not help?