Dear Friends,

Each of us is called to play an indispensable part in God’s plans to reconcile the world to Himself. On the one hand we ourselves and everyone else is beset by dysfunction and pain. On the other hand, God offers His Holy Spirit to forgive and be forgiven, to heal and to be healed. For every one of us who believes and holds out their open hands, we contribute to this reconciliation to our own small immediate world and even in a tiny degree to the entire world.

That’s why your support of Golden Harvest’s mission of ending hunger makes a difference. You have chosen to respond to your own unique and indispensable call.

This means that we, and the whole world, would fall that much further behind without your selfless contributions.

For example, in spite of having extreme difficulty in raising enough funds right now, we distributed a record amount of grocery products in June: 1.2 million pounds!

Thanks be to God for His constant mercy! And thanks again, to you, for your generosity!



Dear Friends,

Most of us look forward to the summertime, and filling it with vacations, family reunions, barbeques, swimming pools/the beach and outdoor sports with the kids. God’s creation seems to invite us into His huge outdoor stretched-out Arms, to run and play: in other words, to be His children! The intensity of the other nine months of the year seems to fade into the background of carefree activities.

Not having enough to eat doesn’t seem to fit into the typical summer’s imagination, does it? That’s why I’m so grateful to you for your recent gifts to Golden Harvest! While many of us have the resources to take a “carefree” and childlike summer, the fact is that summer is the busiest time of the year for the Food Bank. The children of the poor are home from school, and often stay with grandparents while their parents must continue working (most do have hourly-paid jobs). School lunches aren’t available and already hard-pressed themselves, the children’s caregivers have to find a way to feed them.

The food pantries supplied by Golden Harvest are our neighbors’ first recourse from the “heat of hunger.” We have the food to supply to them because of your generosity!

May God give you a safe and happy summer, and may He reward you richly for helping fill the Food Bank for these next busy months.



Dear Friends,

I was struck with the simplicity of a reading from the Gospel of St. John recently. "This is how they will know that you are My disciples: if you have love for one another." (Jn 13:35) Most often I know full well what it is I should do: be selfless and giving. But just as often, I choose to think of myself first or I fail through neglect and inattentiveness to do the right thing at the right time.

Your selfless contributions to Golden Harvest make you one of those disciples demonstrating love for your neighbor. You have been given gifts by God and you are not hoarding them but share them. Thank you very, very much!

The Food Bank is facing the second summer of the recession, and summers are the time when the need of families for food assistance is greatest because of the absence of school breakfasts and lunches for their children. Adding to this pressure is a funding crisis with our Brown Bag Program for the Elderly. We may have to cut by one third the number of needy senior households we serve unless we can find funds to support this program.

This is why your support is so welcome and so necessary!  May God bless you for your generosity.

P.S. We really need to raise awareness and support in our rural counties, where so many poverty-stricken elderly live. Please help us connect with businesses and your friends out there who might want to be partners in feeding the hungry. Thanks! 

Dear Friends,

I want to thank each of you for your recent gifts to Golden Harvest Food Bank. Your act of love will last far beyond the time it took to write a check, or for the Food Bank to distribute the food to the hungry, or for a Mom to open the cereal box or open the can of vegetables she received: the love of God, as St. Paul says, “endures.”

 When my children were young I used to lay my hand on their heads, one by one, and pray a blessing on them before they went to sleep. So I thought that today, in this letter, I could do a similar thing for you.

 Lord God, I ask you to bless your friend because in giving to those in need they have proven their love of you and their faith in you, just as surely as the Centurion did in St. Mark’s Gospel when he said to Jesus, “Say but the word of command, and I know it shall be done.” Bless their family with health and safety. Let them be filled the spiritual riches of the Holy Spirit as they walk life’s journey. Bless them with continued faithfulness to your call on their lives so that, in the end, they may enjoy everlasting happiness with You in heaven. Amen.



Dear Friends,

Thank very much for your help Golden Harvest end hunger in our community. Every dollar you send  is multiplied by a factor of seven by the Food Bank to feed family after family, in town after town throughout our region. As groceries get distributed, hunger really does end for that family. Maybe they’ll require longer-term assistance or maybe not. Yet a start has been made toward change for the better. Your support is truly making hunger end in literally thousands of lives every month.

As we look toward Thanksgiving, a whole day set aside by our Country for the purpose of acknowledging God as the Giver of all good gifts and the Sustainer of all things, I am truly grateful for all the ways that the Food Bank is being used to help the women and men, elderly and children who endure much painful hardship. You are a partner with our food donor companies, the business community, thousands of volunteers, churches and county governments in making this great domestic missionary work called Golden Harvest a vital network of food assistance.

May our loving God pour His richest blessings upon you for your generosity!