Oh Lord, my God, I cried to thee for help, and thou hast healed me. Psalm 30:2

Throughout the season of Lent and on the journey to Easter, images of sacrifice and new hope resonate in the sermons we hear, the hymns we sing, and the devotions we read. These same images are exemplified by the organizations chosen as beneficiaries of the 2007 special Easter Offering: the Kansas City Free Health Clinic and the Sudan-Darfur Crisis through Week of Compassion.

The Kansas City Free Health Clinic provides health care to more than 6,500 individuals in our community who are uninsured or underinsured. A staple in our community for more than 30 years, the Clinic’s mission, “to promote health and wellness by providing quality services, at no charge, to people without access to basis care,” is put in motion everyday with the help of 750 medical and community volunteers. Assistance from our church will support the Clinic’s Access to Care and Medication Project, which assists individuals affected by chronic illnesses. This service gives patients access to medications they need, empowering them to manage their disease(s) so that they experience fewer of the complications that lead to expensive emergency room visits and increased costs. Funds received through our special Easter Offering will help purchase the high-priced medications provided to patients.

For more information, visit the Clinic’s web site: http://www.kcfree.org/

Week of Compassion, Sudan-Darfur Crisis is the focus of the Church World Service/Emergency Response Program, a group of more than 60 ecumenical organizations which have combined financial resources and advocacy activities under a single management structure, creating one of the largest humanitarian programs in this region. The Sudan-Darfur Crisis is one of the world’s worst ongoing humanitarian crises, affecting more than three million people. This crisis has resulted in more than 200,000 deaths and has driven more than two million people from their homes into camps. Support through our church, combined with hundreds of other congregations, will sustain efforts to open clinics and hospitals, establish water points, distribute food, rehab schools, and offer protection to the desperate people of this region.

For more information, go to http://www.cwserp.org/reportview.php?entry=551

We ask for your prayerful consideration and generous support for these groups. You may mail your gift, marked “Easter Offering,” to Country Club Christian Church, 6101 Ward Parkway, Kansas City, MO 64113 or place in the offering plate on Sunday.