| Dear Members and Friends at Bethany, Thank you SO much for your fast and generous response to World Relief’s request for Welcome Kits for Afghan refugees! You completely filled all the items requested for our goal of two welcome kits (one bed & bath kit and one kitchen kit), so we are adding more slots to build two more kits! Also, World Relief has said that they can always use more gift cards ranging from $50-$100, so we will continue to collect those. You can sign up here. Donate to World Relief If you’d like to donate to World Relief via Bethany, simply mark your donation for “Outreach—World Relief” and Bethany will follow up with World Relief on where they’d like that donation to go. Or, you can donate to World Relief Seattle directly: www.worldreliefseattle.org Volunteers Needed at World Relief There is also an urgent volunteer need at World Relief that they have asked if Bethany might be able to help with. Currently WR only has a donation team of one, so they are looking for a small volunteer crew to assist with sorting the influx of donations that are coming through at their offices in Kent. Weekdays are preferred, but if you are interested and only available on the weekends, that is an option as well. If you are interested, please reach out to me as soon as possible: marisag@bethanypc.org. Seattle World School Supplies Additionally, our partner organization, Kandelia—the non-profit arm of Seattle World School, will be serving some of these families as they come to Seattle. To get the approximately 250 students ready for the school year, they have asked if Bethany would be willing to supply pens and pencils! The items needed are No. 2 pencils, and Bic pens (blue and/or black ink). These can be dropped off at the same time as World Relief items OR at Marie Fritzberg’s home any time before September 2nd (4526 35th Avenue West, Seattle, WA, 98199). If you haven’t had the chance to watch the video that Chitra Hanstad sent detailing some of the other needs, you can watch that here. Lastly, as I’ve struggled to attach my heavy heart with the appropriate words, I’ve continued to come back to a simple prayer I saw on the Rev. Kelle, J. Brown’s Facebook page and which I shared on the virtual prayer wall on Sunday. May this prayer undergird all that we do as we come alongside World Relief and Kandelia as they serve refugee families. A Prayer For Afghanistan: For those who are fleeing: sanctuary For those who are staying: safety For those who are fighting: peace For those whose hearts are breaking: comfort For those who see no future: hope Thank you again for your care and generosity toward our Outreach Partners on behalf of our newest neighbors. Blessings, Marisa |