Solicitation Letters

Year end solicitation letters have been piling up in our home and creating stress in us. Is it just my imagination, or are there more than ever this year? They certainly have an unusually urgent tone, since most Christian agencies have had to make drastic cuts due to reduced giving during the recession.

This morning over breakfast we put all the letters on the table and ruthlessly decided who we would support and who we would not. It would have been nice to say yes to everyone, but our approach is to give our money only to those causes that we are informed about and interested in.

We also decided which items we would donate from the Christmas Giving Guide that the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee has put out. This week we'll let my parents know that in their name a latrine will be donated to a community in Cambodia and a goat to a Third World family.

I feel lighter now that we've made our year end "giving" decisions. Not only is it more blessed to give than to receive, it is also a relief to be done with that imposing pile of donation requests.