posted on May 1, 2005 in News | Be the First to Comment | Print

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I am writing this letter as a private individual, not on behalf of our presbytery or any other body.
My concern is to support the appeal of the Moderator for $500,000 to combat AIDS. We must not let this appeal go unanswered and unsupported. I challenged the Presbytery of Newfoundland to raise $8,000, and we managed more than $13,000!
I wrote to all the presbyteries in the Atlantic Synod, suggesting the following targets: Newfoundland $8,000, Cape Breton $15,000, Pictou $20,000, Halifax-Lunenburg $20,000, Prince Edward Island $20,000, Saint John $20,000, Miramichi $10,000. This would raise over $100,000 from our Synod. What about your Presbytery? If Atlantic Canada can come up with $100,000, what about the rest of the country? (As of the end of March, the PCC had raised a little more than half the target.)
Together we should raise more than half a million. We raised over a million for the tsunami victims through PWS&D. AIDS is worse than the tsunami. That natural disaster was horrendous and dramatic. But what is happening to tens of millions of human beings around the planet, and particularly in Africa, is a tragedy beyond imagining, and one that can be controlled and stopped. A whole generation of adults has been erased in Africa; the next generation of children is orphaned and faces similar annihilation. We can and must make a difference.
At the opening of the General Assembly, on June 5 in Edmonton, Rick Fee, as retiring moderator, should be presented with a cheque for more than half a million dollars for his AIDS appeal.
This is a matter of great importance for our church. Your presbytery and its congregations may have programs in place, and my targets may be too low. I hope so. There is still time. The money for the tsunami was raised in eight weeks.

Rev. Ian Wishart is the clerk for the Presbytery of Newfoundland.