Dear Friend of the Urban Missionaries of Our Lady of Hope,

This is an appeal letter, plain and simple.

We are at a crossroads and the decision on which road to take is weighing very heavily on Kathy and I. For the last forty years, we have relied on your goodwill cash donations to make this ministry what it is today, a very active 12 hour a day, six days a week of never saying no outreach ministry to “the least, the last, and the left out.” Many of you have kept up with our efforts by reading StreetLights, our quarterly newsletter and, more recently our blog at www.urbanmissionaries.com. Your encouraging comments concerning our articles have helped fuel our commitment for the “work” 

The problem we are facing is “we are getting too old for this important work. I will be seventy-seven in May, and Kathy will be thirty-nine in August. We are feeling the effects of being “O-L-D” We have no alternative but to start cutting back.

Over five years ago, our board of directors, Kathy, and I decided to start looking for a successor or successors to take over the ministry. During that time, we have tried three times bringing a person or a couple in, to learn the ministry and finally take over the day-to-day operations and three times we have failed in this effort.

After more than a few discussions with the Board, we have come to the conclusion that we would have to significantly increase our annual revenues to be able to attract a candidate for this position or face the alternative of closing down the ministry completely. This is the crossroads we are at today.

So I guess what we are really saying is, that this is an election in which you vote by: 1. Making a sustainer pledge as a yes vote to keep this ministry going into the future or 2. By not becoming a sustainer is a vote to have us close this ministry down. It is just that simple!

To vote yes, go to www.urbanmissionaries.com and click on the sustainer button. In five minutes you will be a sustainer. To vote no, just place this letter in the circular file.