Wednesday, March 26, 2003
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Wednesday, March 26, 2003 |
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Encourage our soldiers, help local charity
By CAL BEVERLY Now it came to pass in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. II Samuel 11:1.
So, while the Japanese cherries burst into snowy blooms along the Peachtree City causeway, our school children scribble notes of encouragement and mothers of all ages bake and sew and pack gifts from home for our troops engaged in a life and death struggle in a faraway land whose ancient capital Babylon still reverberates with meaning throughout what once was called Christendom. With this issue, The Citizen is opening our pages to all our readers who have ties to those battling the Iraqi dictator's forces. Send us names and e-mail addresses of troops you know over there so that others can send them greetings and morale boosters. Are you sending Care packages to our soldiers? Let us know about your efforts, so that your neighbors and fellow Fayette Countians can join you in encouraging our men and women in the Middle East, whether on land or sea. We plan to post many such letters and photos on our World Wide Web site www.TheCitizenNews.com that can be accessed from anywhere on the globe. We enthusiastically and emphatically support our men and women in the U.S. armed forces, wherever they may be based, during this time of challenge for our country. And we support wholeheartedly our President, who has made the hard decisions that must be made. The best way to get your information to us is via e-mail. Send your letters, addresses, artwork and photographs to editor@TheCitizenNews.com. If you don't have access to e-mail, send your material to The Citizen, Drawer 1719, Fayetteville 30214. Or you can bring it to our office at 310 B North Glynn St., Fayetteville. Back here at home, I'd like to encourage you to consider helping some of our fellow Fayette Countians who have encountered temporary but urgent family or financial difficulties. The Fayette Samaritans is a local charity supported by more than 40 churches that acts as a kind of clearinghouse for urgent needs and distributes food and financial help to local families. The ministry maintains a well-stocked pantry of canned goods, a freezer of meat and two closets full of clothing for citizens in need. The group also supplies vouchers to families whose utilities are being shut off. The group needs a permanent facility to provide this help and has been offered a site next to Fayetteville Christian Church on New Hope Road. The charity needs an additional $40,000 to begin construction of their new 2,400-square-foot facility, and they need it before April 15. Teaming with the Samaritans is another Fayette-based charity, Square Foot Ministry, a coalition of churches and individuals that build houses and do repair work for selected needy families in Fayette, much like Habitat Humanity. The Square Foot folks have pledged to provide at no cost most of the labor and crafts needed to construct the Samaritans' facility. But more money is needed to buy materials before the work begins. How can you help? Send your tax-deductible checks quickly to Fayette Samaritans Building Fund, 203 Jeff Davis Place, Fayetteville, Ga. 30214. Any money left over after the building project will go to Square Foot Ministries for use in their local projects. God bless you for caring for our men and women in uniform and our local helping ministries.
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