Sunday, March 8, 2015

Chronic Care International

This weekend the Bulletin Letter was written by Dr. Hans and Andrea Dethlefs largely to thank their fellow parishioners for the generous support of Chronic Care International last November. Because the bulletins for this weekend have not been yet, it seems appropriate to post it here as well.

Dear St. Columbkille Parishioners,

I am excited to thank you for your generous support of Chronic Care International after our appeal in November.  Below are a few glimpses of the tremendous impact of your kindness.

The Diabetes & Hypertension program:  I write this letter 30,000 feet in the air, en route to the Dominican Republic and Haiti.  As I went to check in at Eppley airport with 6 bags full of medications and equipment, I was told that I could only check 2 bags.  I explained that we were on a mission trip and the young attendant called their global office to plead our case.  He got my bags authorized and after I thanked him I asked how I should pay what I thought would be a $600 extra baggage fee.  He said not to worry – it was taken care of.  God is good.

This particular trip is made possible by your generosity.  Those who gave 1 time gifts and those who chose to sponsor a patient are helping sustain the health of 800 mothers and fathers who will not have to learn what it is like to be blind, who won’t leave their families prematurely from a heart attack or stroke, who won’t lose a leg to their diabetes, and who won’t have to experience the slow suffocating death of the poor who have kidney failure.  A tearful quote of gratitude from one of our patients to you was, “Before I felt sick all of the time, but now that someone is helping me with my diabetes, I feel complete.”

The Nutrition Center: Jessica, at 15 months of age, was the size of a newborn because her mother would leave her suspended in a hammock everyday in a small one room shack, so that she could go pick coffee to earn money.  She was the girl that prompted us to seek your help in building the center for malnourished children 16 years ago. Over the ensuing 14 years hundreds of children like Jessica spent weeks to months at the center, finding a new opportunity to live.  The nutrition center closed 2 years ago for a new roof and renovations. It  is now ready to reopen with the expanded mission of offering a daycare for small children of single mothers who will then be able to work or study without neglecting their children.  We will be using the one time gifts you gave to purchase books and educational toys and the funds from ongoing sponsors of the center will help support the $4,500 required monthly for food, salaries, and medical care.

The Street Children of Ouanaminth: Tuesday we will visit the Sisters who provide food to 100 street children in the town of Ouanaminth, Haiti.  We had previously helped purchase the food for the children, but have helped the Sisters connect with Food for the Poor and so on this trip we will ask the next question: “What about building the children a safe place to stay?” The gifts and sponsorship from St. Columbkille are the reason we can ask that question.

The City of Mercy: This beautiful place for the poor with mental illness was a longstanding dream of the Sisters in Tijuana and provides healthcare instead of prison for those with the double curse of poverty and mental illness.  The hospital is running at half capacity for lack of funding.  The gifts of St. Columbkille will help the Sisters continue this important ministry.

The House of the Poor: Our St. Columbkille school staff performed the selfless act at Christmas of giving a donation rather than buying each other gifts.  A common quandary for poor parents is to decide which of their children can go to school, and which will need to work instead. The teacher’s collective donation is allowing the Sisters at the House of the Poor in Tijuana to give scholarships to several children who would not be able to go to school otherwise…what a priceless gift to a child.

Thank you so much for both you’re work in our local community and for your generosity to the poor we strive to serve.  We are blessed to belong to such a great parish.


Hans & Andrea Dethlefs 

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