OCTOBER 5, 2005

Dear Friends,

Look into the heart of each child you encounter and see nestled there the purpose of life God has bestowed, unsullied by the accumulated stuff that years bring to smudge and cover potential. A child challenges in us a deeper understanding of God's love.

Walt Whitman wrote in Leaves of Grass, "Song of Myself":

A child said, What is the grass?
Fetching it to me with full hands;
How could I answer the child? I do not know what it is,
any more than he.

Then, in his notebooks he states:

Bring all the art and
science of the world, and
baffle and humble it with
one spear of grass

A child asks, "What is it?" A child is still struck by small things of wonder.  REACH is a small ministry; a small wonder, a means by which God is doing powerful things: relationships, mentoring, education, psycho-social activities, case management, and, now, proposed global initiatives. On behalf of children who suffer, their families, the community that we serve, we are called to stand in the gap, to change the social structure, to help carry their burdens, to help guide their children no matter how long their lives on earth will be, and to develop young, dynamic leaders here and around the world in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

REACH is called to a profound awareness of what can bewilder even the most careful observer: to see what God reveals, to listen to children who ask previously unspoken questions, to acknowledge and assure that they are beautiful and productive members of life, to rectify the social shunning they too often suffer.

I ask you to "LOOK." Look at the complexities that define the lives of the children of REACH here and around the world.  Borrow Whitman's words. "Baffle and humble" your minds by imagining the questions and longings of their hearts. Then, help us change their world.

Blessings my friends,

Susan K. Slonaker

Please support us with continued monthly pledges in addition to a one-time gift to support three interns for the year 2006 for Northwest REACH, our psycho-social Progressive Units and continued education.