Help keep PHEWA justice ministries strong
Dear PHEWA Friend and Supporter:
It’s that most wonderful time of the year! A season of hope, when we reflect on our blessings and look to the future. For PHEWA members and friends, it’s that time when we recommit to PHEWA’s cutting edge ministries and:
- Renew our PHEWA membership
- Resolve to increase our personal involvement in its ministries
- Consider a year-end gift to ensure PHEWA’s financial stability
To that end, PHEWA’s board of directors has set a fund-raising goal of $50,000 by year’s end and $150,000 by May 2012. They have not only set this goal, they have led the way by pledging (and already paying) close to $10,000 towards meeting it.
As PHEWA’s new Executive Director and National Organizer, I am honored to share in the ministries of this dynamic community of activists whose networks have transformed individual lives and entire communities through activities that include:
- Creation of original congregational resource packets on Domestic Violence, Caregiving issues, AIDS, and Ministry with Returning Veterans and their Families
- Creation and support of parish nursing programs
- Four on-call disability concerns consultants
- Public policy advocacy
But despite its incredible work and witness, PHEWA is currently in the struggle of its life for its life. In this time of budget crunches and downsizing, PHEWA’s viability and relevance is being questioned. And so, we need to do more than tell our very compelling story.
We need to be able to show that support for PHEWA is “deep and wide” within the denomination.
We enter 2012 blessed with an enthusiastic board, innovative networks, and a new staffing structure; ready to grow and increase our effectiveness. Our unique “hybrid” nature, which combines denominational connection with the independence of being our own 501c3 (meaning that all of your gifts are tax deductible), offers a model for ministry that promises to benefit the entire church.
Since its establishment by General Assembly in 1956, PHEWA has lived out Micah’s admonition to “do justice and love mercy” in concrete ways on behalf of the national church. Thanks to PHEWA the face of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is visible and its ministry is present with and for Presbyterians throughout the United States. And, because the work of PHEWA is carried out almost entirely by volunteers, the PCUSA has benefitted from their time, valued at close to a quarter of a million dollars in the past twelve months alone.
PHEWA’s future is filled with promise – but only with your support. So renew your membership today. Make an extra gift. Let it be known that you are in this for the long haul and that support of PHEWA is “deep and wide” throughout the denomination.
In joy and justice,
The Rev. Trina Zelle
PHEWA Executive Director & National Organizer
P.S. You can renew your membership or make a donation to PHEWA online.