Dear Friends of Habitat,

I once heard a story about thousands of starfish that washed up on a beach. A little boy who lived nearby was concerned that the starfish would die, so one by one, he began picking them up and tossing them back into the ocean. A man walking by felt sorry for the boy and said, "Son, you don't need to throw them back. There are too many. It won't make any difference." As he was about to launch the next starfish, the little boy replied, "It will make a difference for this one."

Friends, almost every month you hear us talk about the need for affordable housing in St. Joseph County. There is not a single county in the United States where a standard two-bedroom apartment is affordable for a full-time worker earning minimum wage. And there are thousands of families in our community that are paying more than half of their income for housing. It might make you wonder whether your $5 or $50 gift to Habitat will even make a difference - to which I would reply, "Your gift of any size absolutely makes a difference!" In fact, this year your gifts of all sizes helped put 10 hard-working, low-income families in homes.

Our goal is to raise $60,000 in sponsorships for each house we build. That is 12,000 five-dollar gifts, 6,000 ten-dollar gifts, and only 600 one hundred-dollar gifts. The power is in the numbers. The goal is reached when everyone does something. This month, please consider making a donation of any size to Habitat by using the on-line giving link to the right, and picture that little boy throwing a starfish back into the ocean. Your gift does matter, and it does make a difference.

Jim