01 Oct Growing in Hope Gardens

…a message from Executive Director Marsha Eichelberger

All eyes were on Philadelphia recently as Pope Francis made an historic visit to our great city. This is a pope most people respect and admire, regardless of religion. I’ve certainly been impressed with much about him, especially his words on family and homelessness. He has consistently spoken about the duty of all people to help those less fortunate, but one quote in particular filled our hearts during this visit: “It is imperative,” Pope Francis declared, “that the followers of the various religions join their voices in calling for peace, tolerance and respect for the dignity and rights of others.”

This quote sums up our vision and philosophy very well. We bring people of various faith traditions together in a shared dream of ending the devastating and in many ways dehumanizing problem of family homelessness. We do not judge people on their past but encourage them toward a better future and we do so with the goal of seeing each family in our program regain their independence, dignity and self respect.

We hope that some among the millions of people watching Pope Francis’s message take up his call to serve the most vulnerable and the most forgotten. We hope that the spirit of cooperation and genuine desire to change the world does not disappear as business as usual returns to our area. We hope that those inspired by the Pope’s message know that organizations like Inter-Faith are eager to provide help and ways to help, and we are grateful to those of you for whom helping is a way of life.

Thank you.
Executive Director Marsha Eichelberger