Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Dear Friend of the Mission,

I love Christmas! I preach in a lot of churches throughout the year about a lot of important truths from God’s Word. But the Scripture passages from which I enjoy preaching the most are the Gospel accounts of the birth of Jesus. I also enjoy the Christmas movies that are shown at Christmas time. I love It’s a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, and The Bishop’s Wife. I think I have every version of A Christmas Carol including the Muppet version! One of my favorite Christmas shows is A Charlie Brown Christmas that came out in the 1960’s when I was a kid growing up in the Tacony section of Philadelphia. I was nine years old when it was first shown during the Christmas season of 1965. My favorite part is Linus’ speech about the true meaning of Christmas – he simply recites the Christmas story from Luke 2:8-14. I still remember Linus declaring with his gentle voice, And the angel said unto them, “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord!” And after Linus recites the Scripture passage, the whole Peanuts crowd joyfully sings, Hark, the Herald Angels Sing! I still smile when I see the Peanuts characters throwing back their heads, and all you see is the big circle of their open mouths. Charlie Brown and his friends get it right in the end! Here at the Mission we also want our men to get it right – not just in the end, but at the very beginning of their stay at the Mission. We want our men to experience the hope and joy of Jesus throughout the year and not just at Christmas. Christmas can be a rough holiday for our men. They feel like spectators watching everybody else having fun, but they are left out. This is why we work hard to make the Christmas holidays extra special for our men.

As we quickly move toward the end of 2018, please consider making a special gift to the Mission so that we can give our men the joy and hope of Christmas each and every day throughout the coming New Year. Here are several great ways you can help:

1. Give a generous year-end gift of cash. God will use your gift to impact and change lives.
2. If God has especially blessed you this past year, please consider sending a larger than usual gift to the Mission. Large gifts take big bites out of our budgeted expenses. They also strengthen and expand our compassionate services to our men. Your gift will be used to make life-giving, life-changing, and life-saving differences in the lives of our men.
3. Some families bless our men by pooling their money and giving a special Christmas gift to the Mission from their family (individual receipts for each donor can still be given).
4. Give the Mission a gift of appreciated stock. A gift of appreciated stock is always a great help and can also provide you with some excellent tax benefits, especially if you transfer the stock directly to the Mission rather than first selling it. Please consult with your financial advisor to confirm these tax benefits. We can easily arrange for an electronic transfer of your stock. Please call me at 215 438 3094 (ext 102).
5. If you have a donor-advised fund, you can recommend that a grant be made to the Whosoever Gospel Mission. Your grant will bless our men in many ways.
6. Make a Charitable IRA Distribution to the Mission. This provision has now been made permanent by the IRS, and it allows you to make up to a $100,000 qualified charitable distribution. The effect in most situations is both a tax savings and an increased gift. Please consult with your financial advisor to confirm these tax benefits.
7. Save postage and time – you can go to our Whosoever Gospel Mission website to make an online donation. You can also set up a monthly recurring donation for 2019.
8. Make your online purchases through AmazonSmile which is run by Amazon.com as a unique way to support charities. You will get the same service, same merchandise, and the same prices. Register with AmazonSmile and designate the Whosoever Gospel Mission to receive a percentage of all the eligible purchases you make on AmazonSmile. You can search for the Mission on AmazonSmile, or you can type in the following link: http://smile.amazon.com/ch/23-1352579. You won’t pay any more for your purchases, but you will be helping the Whosoever Gospel Mission.
9. Make a gift to the Mission through PayPal Giving Fund. Search “Donate with PayPal Giving Fund” or go to PayPal Giving Fund’s website: www.paypal.com/us/fundraiser/hub and search “Whosoever Gospel Mission.” We get the full value of your donation – PayPal doesn’t charge us any fees.

Christmas will be here and gone before we know it. But through your kind and generous support, the hope and joy of Christmas will continue throughout the New Year in the lives of our men. Jesus is the reason for the season, but He is also our hope and joy for the rest of the year. Our men truly do thank you for your kind and generous support.

As we finish out 2018 and begin 2019, my prayer for you is that the Lord will abundantly bless you and your loved ones with good health, much happiness and great success in all of your endeavors. Thank you for standing with us in 2018. Your generous support was wonderfully used by the Lord to impact 188 homeless men in 2018. Your gift also impacted their families, their friends and society as a whole as our men became responsible, contributing members of our community. Your support made a big difference, and will continue to do so in the days ahead.

Wishing you the joy and peace of Christmas,

Robert A. Emberger, D.Min.
Executive Director