February 3, 2012 Dear Presence for Christmas Participants:
On behalf of the Center for Community Service and Justice, the Sophomore Class SGA, and our many community partners across the city, we thank you for participating in this year's program! This year, we were flooded with generosity from the Loyola community. The gift donations amounted to an estimated total of more than $25,000! We were overwhelmed by the willingness on the part of so many community members to join in the giving spirit of Christmas.
The community agencies were just as inspired and overjoyed by the commitment that the Loyola community displayed through the Presence for Christmas program this year. The excerpt below comes from John Schiavone, the President & CEO of St. Vincent de Paul of Baltimore, in reference to the Home Connections program through Beans and Bread. His sentiments match those of many others, and echo the same appreciation that is seen in the notes of thanks we've received during the holiday season.
"Our ability to provide our wide range of services depends on the generous contributions of time and gifts in-kind from people like you, who care about our neighbors in need. With your gifts, you invest in our mission to ensure that individuals and familes in our community have the resources and opportunity to care for themselves and built a better future. This holiday season, you ensured that the men, women, and children served by St. Vincent de Paul had a brighter, more joy filled holiday."
Other members of the Home Connections programs expressed their gratitude with comments like, "Thank you for everything...Every thought, every prayer...I return to you!" Staff at Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital wrote, "Your gift enables us to help kids get better in a safe and caring place and prepares families to be good caregivers when their girls and boys come home." Our friends at the Esperanza Center also wrote words of thanks: "Gracias por su generosidad con los ninos, dios los bendiga siempre" ("Thank you for your generosity to the children, God bless you always"). Pictures and other thank you notes from individuals, children, and families appear in the slideshow above. Like the sentiments these thank you notes express, we too are so very grateful to each of you for making this program successful and for striving to live out our common Jesuit and Mercy values. Sincerely, Catherine "Missy" Gugerty, SSND
Director, Center for Community Service and Justice Edwin Ortiz
Sophomore Class President, Class of 2014
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