Be a Good Samaritan with LUM
November 2015
Hello Friends,
A man spoke with the Lord about heaven & hell. 
The Lord said to the man,
“Come, I will show you hell.”
They entered a room where a group of people sat around a huge pot of stew. Everyone was famished, desperate and starving. Each held a spoon that reached the pot, but each spoon had a handle so much longer than their own arm that it could not be used to get the stew into their own mouths. The suffering was terrible.
“Come, now I will show you heaven,”
the Lord said after a while.
They entered another room, identical to the first – the pot of stew, the group of people, the same long-handled spoons. But there everyone was happy and well-nourished.
“I don’t understand,” said the man. “Why are they happy here when they were miserable in the other room and everything was the same?”
The Lord smiled and said,
“Ah, it is simple. Here they have learned to feed & take care of one another. Here, they have learned the ways of love.”
I am writing today to ask for your support of the Lafayette Urban Ministry Good Samaritan Fund — the most important way that our community takes care of neighbors in need.
Each day, families come to the Lafayette Urban Ministry in desperate need of help. Some require food or drink. Others are new to our community and in need of basic necessities. Some have just been released from prison and are now back home struggling to make a fresh start in life. Many are unemployed. Still others don’t earn enough in wages, or have jobs where they are given insufficient hours to make ends meet.
Last year, the Good Samaritan Fund expended almost $129,000 to resolve more than 2,500 financial emergencies. Families were sheltered, food was shared, transportation was secured, prescription medicines were obtained and utility bills were paid.
Through it all, the generosity of our friends and supporters has enabled the Good Samaritan Fund to be here for our neighbors in need. By sharing your generous support now, you will assure that this important work will continue into the weeks and months ahead.
The Good Samaritan Fund is made possible by those in our community, like you, who have learned the ways of love and giving. I hope you will consider making a financial gift today, so that this important work may continue.
Your contribution of $50, $100, $250, $500, or $1,000 will allow the Good Samaritan Fund to be here, faithfully serving those with critical financial needs, both now and throughout the coming year.
The Good Samaritan Fund is unique. Not a single dollar of what you give is spent for administrative overhead. In other words, everything you contribute goes directly to feed someone who is hungry, shelter a family in need of housing, or respond to some other emergency crisis for a neighbor in need.
Through your generous support of the LUM Good Samaritan Fund you show kindness and you help our community to be a more compassionate place. By giving, you are choosing to use your long-handled spoon in a way that is a blessing to others.
Please, won’t you make a generous gift in support of the LUM Good Samaritan Fund?
PS — Write your check to Lafayette Urban Ministry and mail it or drop it off to our office (420 N 4th Street, Lafayette). If you prefer, you may contribute to the Good Samaritan Fund online at www.lumserve.org/donate. Thank you.