Summer is upon us!

Yes, I know it doesn’t really happen until later in June, but as soon as we get to the end of May, I’m ready to slow down, put my feet up in the back yard, and enjoy the warmth and sun. In my mind’s eye, I already have a tall glass of iced tea, a pair of sunglasses, and a summer paperback novel. The grill is ready to fire up later. Even when I lived in the city, we’d head up the flight of stairs to the roof and spend a little time in a “beach” chair when the sun was going down!

I hope that life will slow down a bit for you over the summer and you have some opportunities for rest and refreshment over the next three months.

But, before you make those plans to slow down for the summer or get out of town on vacation, I hope you will remember Episcopal Charities of Long Island and all the folks who you help through your gifts.

The mission of Episcopal Charities of Long Island is to foster, develop and contribute to the support of the religious, educational and charitable work of the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Long Island. And we feel that this mission is a way to answer Jesus’ call to us to feed the hungry, give refreshment to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, and care for the sick. This mission is a way to answer Jesus’ call to us to care for the children among us, caring for the most vulnerable on Long Island.

Since 1951, Episcopalians, through their gifts to ECLI, have been caring for people in Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau, and Suffolk, no matter their religious background or status, through the various hospitals, orphanages, homes for the blind, nursing homes, youth programs, and social work agencies we have helped fund. Our agencies have changed somewhat since then, but our overall mission has remained the same: to seek and serve Christ in all people, particularly within the geographic area of Long Island.

Your gifts help urban parishes serve neighborhood children by offering summer day camps and other programs, so children can have a safe place to play and learn, to dance and sing with others, to do crafts, to go on field trips to the zoo and to go swimming! Your gifts help children from all over the Island go to Camp DeWolfe to experience the great outdoors—to learn about God in Creation and meet Christ in neighbor, to feel the breeze off the Sound and hear the crickets sing a lullaby, to play and pray and to make new friends!

Angels Gatherings

Are you an Episcopal Charities Angel in your parish? Would you like to know more?

Over the next few months we are gathering groups of “Angels” in the different deaneries, to meet one another, to learn more about the mission of ECLI and how you can be a part of that ministry. If you are interested, please call us at 516-248-4800, ext. 19, or email cnesmith@dioceseli.org or nkennelly@dioceseli.org. Our mailing address to request information or make donations is 36 Cathedral Avenue, P.O. Box 510, Garden City, NY 11530.

Please give generously to Episcopal Charities of Long Island, 36 Cathedral Avenue, P.O. Box 510, Garden City, NY 11530. To use a credit card, please go to our website www. episcopalcharitiesli.org or call 516 248-4800, ext. 19 and speak with Mrs. Nancy Kennelly, Administrative Assistant. When you make a donation in memory of or in honor of someone, their name will be recorded in the Book of Remembrance and an acknowledgement sent to them.