I'm walking in the 2008 AIDS Walk - Please Donate!

One of the three traditional activities we are charged with in Lent, besides fasting and prayer, is almsgiving. With that in mind, I'd like to invite you to sponsor me in the 2008 AIDS Walk. I'm a member of Episcopal Resonse to AIDS, and last year we gave away $30,000 in grants and pledges to Episcopal related organizations that work directly in HIV/AIDS work. We'd like to be able to raise that to $40,000 this year, and I need your help to do that.

Why HIV/AIDS? Yes, of course it was the "gay disease." But it is no longer. Most new infections are occuring in African American and Latino men and women, the populations in the New York area that are most stressed and most unable to access health care services. Jesus has always been most aware and most saving toward the outsiders and the downtrodden, and so, in the mind of Christ, I support this too.

I invite you to go to my personal AIDS Walk page and enter your donation, which of course is fully tax deductible as allowed by the IRS. The Walk itself is Sunday May 18. If you'd like to Walk too, that would be great, if you're in the area, but I'd really appreciate your support.

Last year we gave grants to:

• Angel Food East in Kingston, Queens
• The Church of St. Luke in the Fields, Manhattan
• Mision San Jaun Bautista, in the Bronx
• The Church of St. John in the Village, Manhattan
• St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Queens

All of these communities are doing important work for those suffering with HIV/AIDS and their families. Would you please consider a donation during Lent toward these and other worthy HIV/AIDS efforts? Please consider donating now.

Lenten Blessings,

RFSJ