Little Church, Big Heart
Westerners look at a braggart who has little to brag about and say, “Big hat, no cattle.”  It’s too bad there’s nothing as apt to describe people who are the opposite—people like the members of St. Paul’s.
    As they have before in time of need, they responded immediately to the plight of millions who lost their loved ones, their homes, and their livelihoods in the lethal tsunami of Dec. 26.  The church and its members have given more than $2000 so far in relief aid.  This represents only those contributions that have been channeled through the church and the deacon’s discretionary fund;  there were substantial additional donations given directly by our members to charities and relief agencies. 
    To put this in perspective, a collection for tsunami relief taken at the recent diocesan convention yielded some $3000 from the hundreds attending.  Our little church, with a membership only a fraction of that, has again shown it has a big heart.
    And we’re not through yet.  At this writing, Jan. 23, our giving has been mainly to Episcopal Relief and Development and to Direct Relief International, a Santa Barbara organization that immediately rushes medicines and medical supplies to disaster areas.  We are also committed to a longer-term goal: building a home in Sri Lanka for a family that had theirs destroyed.
    The tsunami swept away roughly 5000 homes built by Habitat for Humanity in that part of the world.  We will be raising the $1600 it takes to build a new one, as a token of gratitude to Rob and Donna Ross for their service among us.  If you want to contribute to this, make your check out to the Deacon’s Discretionary Fund, with a check memo designating the gift as being for the Habitat house. And if you think that what you can do can’t possibly make much difference, read the story of the star thrower below.