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Printed From Acorn-Online.com Wilton Bulletin
But on a recent Sunday, when the plate was passed through the pews, Mr. Gish made a surprise announcement. He asked each member to take some cash. Each parishioner took an envelope — filled with $10, $20 or $50 — and the church gave out $6,500 in all. But it isn’t an advance on the federal stimulus package, or a bailout for people facing tough times. Instead, church members are being asked to grow that money as best they can, returning the seed and the harvest to the church on “Harvest Sunday,” May 4. Called The Talent Adventure by the church, the experiment comes from the Parable of the Talents from Matthew 25:14-30. “It has, really, the idea of ‘Can you take what God gives you and grow it for Him,’ ” said Mr. Gish. “We have a lot of really smart, creative people in our congregation and we said ‘Let’s turn them loose.’ ” In the parable, a manager entrusts three of his employees with some of his money and asks them to grow and multiply it for them, said Mr. Gish. Two make efforts using their ingenuity and hard work to bring in a profit, while the third buries the money, afraid he will lose it.
Ethiopia The goal of the drive is to raise at least $25,000, enough to pay for a home, or homes, for orphans in Ethiopia through Hoe Ministries, which stands for Hope for Orphans of Ethiopia. The group is run by Tom Mustico of South Salem, N.Y., a longtime parishioner at Hope Church. Mr. Mustico said he happened across the plight of Ethiopian orphans almost by chance, when he had been in the country in 2006 teaching a course. “The day that I was ready to return to the States, my Lufthansa flight” was delayed and some women where he was staying were planning to visit an area orphanage. Mr. Mustico accompanied them on the trip, and saw such abject poverty that even when he returned to the U.S. he couldn’t forget the faces of the children. “The poverty’s pretty intense in Ethiopia. It’s about as wide as the Atlantic Ocean wherever you turn,” said Mr. Mustico. And while an orphanage by any standing is never a plush place, Mr. Mustico said the condition of Ethiopia’s orphans — the lucky ones able to find a group home rather than wander the streets alone — is about as bad as it can get. Adding to the poverty is the prevalence of AIDS and HIV, which orphans millions of African children each year.
“Many of the children have watched their parents die without medication,” he said. “Many of them lived on the streets with their parents while they died.” Remembering the children’s faces, Mr. Mustico worked with Hope Church to prepare what is know as Backpack Ministries, filling backpacks with food, clothing, toys and hygiene equipment and bringing them over to the Ethiopian children. He then decided to take the next step, forming Hoe Ministries, a non-profit focused entirely on the plight of Ethiopia’s orphans. The group “derives its name from the idea that in the same way a hoe tills the soil to cultivate and nurture it to bring forth and perpetuate life, we are all instructed by God to do the same to aid our brothers and sisters,” according to its Web site. “It’s not easy,” said Mr. Mustico. “It’s an uphill battle in Ethiopia. The government and customs doesn’t help.” Now Mr. Mustico is working with Hannah Orphans Home to build new housing for the hundreds of orphans being cared for. Previously the children had lived in tin and cloth shacks, taking lessons and playing in squalid conditions. With the new buildings, Mr. Mustico hopes the orphans will have a chance to grow, to learn and to become leaders, something they couldn’t do if left in abject poverty. For $25,000, the goal of Hope Church’s campaign, the group can build a home for six girls or six boys to live with a housemother. “It’s not anything that you would find around here, but it’s clean, it’s safe,” said Mr. Mustico of the orphanage buildings. Mr. Mustico said his group is growing, partnering with many area churches, but he feels it is important to keep a human face in the forefront, so people know who they are helping and why. “People are compassionate and they want to give, but they’re afraid to give to large organizations because they don’t know where the money is going,” he said.
Talent adventure Back in Wilton, Mr. Gish said his parishioners have already started working on the campaign, coming up with all sorts of ways to turn the money they were given into a significant sum. “Some people only got $10, so they don’t have much to work with,” he said, adding many parishioners have pooled their money, hoping to have a bigger impact. One woman and her daughter are going to be making bead necklaces” and selling them around town, said Mr. Gish. Another parishioner, “he’s a Starbucks addict and he bought a couple pounds of Starbucks coffee grounds and he’s going to make it himself,” he said. “Every time he has a cup of coffee he’s going to throw $3” into a bucket. Many members of the church are considering running tag sales to raise money. One member is planning to sell back rubs and another, an accountant, is planning to complete tax forms or provide other financial services for a donation, said Mr. Gish. “One woman, she wants to paint an African plain and put in it an orphan cheetah and make and sell prints,” he said. Cindi Serenbetz, an accomplished photographer, has taken some of her more captivating images and had them printed as postcards using the money she was given by the church. The cards are being sold at Wilton Center Photo and Rockwell Art and Framing. “We’re leaving it up to people’s creativity,” said Mr. Gish. He said the church estimates that 40% of its budget goes “to mission work from Bridgeport to Ethiopia to Belize.” The church has even created a blog for parishioners to share their ideas: hopetalents.blogspot.com Information: hopechurchwilton.org, hoeministries.org © Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers |
