Letter from 2016 on abortion

 On Apr 7, 2016, at 2:30 PM, Norma Bruce wrote:

Today I mailed a contribution for the legal defense of David Daleiden, facing three crippling law suits from 1) Planned Parenthood which receives half a billion in federal funds every year to kill the unborn, 2) The National Abortion Federation, and 3) the biotech company Stem Express. They are after him for those damning videos--you remember, don't you? The Planned Parenthood abortionist who sipped her wine and nibbled her salad while discussing how she could crush a living baby just right to keep the body parts in good shape for sale to a medical research lab. Or the PP council member who joked about hoping to get enough to buy a Lamborghini sports car ($200,000). Now the AG of California (running for Barbara Boxer’s seat) who has contributed over $80,000 to PP is going after him with a raid on his home. It’s not nice to expose the President’s favorite charity and donor to his campaigns.

End of the year contributions, 2016

 Why do I have 5 envelopes for some organizations and none for others?

National Trust for Historic Preservation
Coming Home Network International, Zanesville, OH
Lutheran Bible Translators
Pregnancy Decision Health Center, Columbus
Lower Lights Christian Health Center, Columbus
St. Gabriel Radio, Columbus
168 Film Project (California)
Lakeside
COCINA (Haiti school)
EWTN (Alabama)
Pinecrest Community (in memory of my parents) Mt. Morris, IL
Salvation Army

Donations in Kind
Cat Welfare (memorabilia, jewelry), Columbus, rescue
Discovery Shop (wedding dress) Columbus, cancer

Memberships
Ohio History Connection
Columbus Museum of Art

End of year contributions

Our tithe goes to our local congregation, Upper Arlington Lutheran Church, but there are other groups we like to support through the year and especially in December.  By December, they all come calling.  Increasingly, I get appeals by e-mail--in fact on Dec. 30-31, I must have received at least 10 last minute appeals.  We usually stay with organizations we know, although this year there were some new ones.

A presidential candidate (no comment)
National Parks
Coming Home Network
Lutheran Bible Translators
Black Swamp Bird Observatory
Pregnancy Decision Health Center
Lower Lights
St. Gabriel Radio, Columbus
Mercury One Nazarene Fund (for Syrian Christian refugees)
168 Film Project
Lakeside
COCINA (Haiti school)
EWTN
Pinecrest (in memory of my parents)

The fields are white for harvest

Almost there. My hair is silver in the front, sort of blondish on top, and a darker gray in the back. I'll save about $500/year with no color. I've selected 6 groups to receive a donation. ". . .fields are white for harvest. . ." John 4:35.

1) Into the field; 2) Lower Lights Christian Health Center; 3) Pinecrest Community (probably new beds); 4) Pregnancy Decision Health Centers, Columbus; and 5-6) World Mission Prayer League [Lutheran] and Lutheran Bible Translators.

End of the year 2009 contributions

Time to get all those appeals and write the checks (or click the pay pal) before midnight tomorrow. Again this year we're sending a contribution to Pinecrest for their Good Samaritan Fund. Last year Pinecrest provided charitable care in the amount of $1.9 million. The Good Sam fund helps those people whose funds have run out and we donate in memory of my parents. Back in the days when Pinecrest was "The old folks home" I used to sing Christmas Carols there, and now some of my generation are using their fine facilities. No matter what community or church you claim, they all have financial struggles, with some states months behind in the Medicaid reimbursement. By-pass the bureaucracy and go directly to the source. They'll spend it wisely, I'm sure.

Lutheran Bible Translators are another fine group we support. There are still many peoples on earth that do not have scripture in their "heart language." Their Christmas card told about Rev. Tim and Lisa Beckendorf, working with the translating team for Khwe in Botswana. The national language is Setswana. Khwe is one of about 30 "click languages" found almost exclusively in southern Africa; clicks represent consonants. Some languages use only 5--others as many as 80, with 70% of the words beginning with clicks. Click languages are believed to be among the oldest of all human speech. We who speak and read English have so many resources--be generous with the translation projects. It takes many years just to develop an alphbet.

We're donating to Lutheran Social Services of Central Ohio--they offered a silver ornament, but I really don't need one more thing. Organized in 1912, LSS still carries on the general charitable and religious work for which it was started through food pantries, homeless shelters, senior living residences, affordable housing communities and other services. I would wish that these services were less dependent on the government, but then that means more support from the Christian community, right?

I've been supporting the Pregnancy Decision Health Centers for years, helping women bring their babies to term rather than aborting them. Some babies are adopted, but most will go home with their mothers who just a few months before may have been abandoned by the baby's father or grandparents and will continue to have a tough struggle. If every Christian would cut their funding to Planned Parenthood, which funds abortions, and instead helped the mothers, this world would be a more peaceful, loving place.

Lower Lights Christian Health Center was started some years ago by Dr. Dana Vallangeon, and there are now 3 doctors on staff. It's at 1251 W. Broad St. in Columbus. It serves people who don't have health insurance or have a gap in their services. $100 will pay for one visit, and it's all done with the love of Christ. One program is called Rachel's House, transitional living for women who have been incarcerated. Another project is AIM, which supplies mentors for people attempting to leave a cycle of poverty. I've heard Dana speak, and she is an amazing woman of seemingly endless energy, ideas and love.

We heard about a family whose rented home had a fire and then the mother couldn't work due to illness after they relocated. A special Christmas Eve offering was to go for the family but the community was hit by ice and snow and attendance was small. So we sent a check to the pastor who knows their situation.

A group that had sort of fallen off our radar is World Mission Prayer League, 232 Clifton Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55403, and when I looked them up, I could see why. They don't do mailings and solicitations. They depend on prayer, and they do have a blog!

"We are committed to some very simple ideas: the power of community, the essential ministry of prayer, the adventure of a simplified lifestyle...and the urgent challenge of sharing the wonderful news about Jesus. We are today a community of more than 5000 members across the United States and Canada, and in sixteen countries around the world."

Think Hollywood and TV are just a cesspool of no interest to Christians? It's discouraging when you see the hostile, anti-Christian story lines of Law and Order and NCIS. Well, think again, think 168 Project. Some years ago a young man from our congregation, John Ware, went west to make films and decided the industry needed the light of Christ. The 168 Project allows amateurs and professionals alike some experience in writing, directing, producing and distributing films with a Biblical theme, and it's all done in 168 hours. 396 films have now been produced and they're hoping for another 100 entries this year. Each film is about 10 minutes--just perfect for small group discussion. You can purchase by the year, or "best of" disks. John tells me they've expanded into a prison ministry and are starting a program in China.

For other programs like missions sponsored by our church, COCINA, Lakeside, Cum Cristo (Cursillo), we'd given earlier in the year.

And this time of year, there are many bad people with scams. I heard one today about a phony "Make a wish" appeal. The internet is swarming with them. It's not hard to find out who is reliable and frugal--almost all reputable charities have web sites and there are tracking groups that report administrative costs (some are exhorbitant) and Director's salaries (non-profit doesn't mean low salaries!). So do your homework.

Cha-Ching a ring ding at Christmas

This is the time of year that every household that has donated in the past, ends up on the mailing list of charitable organizations. They know, as retailers do, that we're feeling a bit more generous, and that some even plan ahead for deductions on the income taxes in 2007.

Here's 3 that we support--Lutheran Bible Translators who put scripture in the "heart language" of millions; Pregnancy Decision Health Centers which helps save babies' lives and gives women in distress support when their parents or boyfriends pressure them to abort; and Pinecrest Community, a retirement complex, nursing home, and Alzheimer' care facility in the town where I grew up, affiliated with the Church of the Brethren. My parents, the parents of my friends, my grandmother and her siblings, and my aunts and uncles have all resided or been treated here at some time in their lives.

The middle class and poor give much more from the heart and wallet than the rich, and the working poor more than the middle class. I checked our zip code. We have almost double the median income of the rest of Ohio, but are just slightly below Ohio's average in charitable giving. And it's not just Ohio. In a very similar spread, families in San Francisco give about the same amount to charity as families in South Dakota: $1,300. Yet the SF families have average incomes of about $80,000, compared to only about $45,000 in South Dakota. Evangelical and fundamentalist Christians give much more liberally than mainline, liberal Christians.