Fall Appeal 2007

Dear Friends,

At a recent board retreat, a new member to Mercy Center’s Board of Trustees commented that driving through the gates of Mercy Center made him feel like he was entering a sacred space - that the winding, tree lined road made his whole body exhale.  It filled him with peace.

Think about how you feel entering the gates of Mercy Center.

Think about how your spirit is lifted at the first view of the ocean.

Think about how special it is to discover a labyrinth by the sea, inviting benches and silent spaces.

Mercy Center provides a place of respite for people struggling with one of life’s many challenges. It provides a sacred place in a society of consumerism and environmental carelessness. And it provides a sense of peace in a world that desperately needs it.

We love Mercy Center and we know you do, too. We want it to be around for many years to come. But it takes a tremendous amount of resources to maintain this 33 acre property with 116 rooms and 5 eco-systems for the thousands of seekers that come to Mercy Center each year.  Program and conference fees do not cover our expenses. We do not receive a subsidy from anyone. We have to make it on our own. The only way Mercy Center will survive and thrive is through donations from friends like you.

Every year around this time we write asking you to be as generous as you can be to our Fall Appeal.  Your donation gives us the means necessary to preserve the peaceful environment of Mercy Center.  Contributions received last year helped us to renovate three conference rooms, pay for new roofs for the W. T. Grant mansion and purchase 62 new mattresses for our guest rooms.

If you can find it in your heart to make a gift to Mercy Center this year, your donation will allow us to meet the ever rising costs of sustaining and updating our facilities.  This year we plan to replace a boiler from 1948 which recently failed for the last time (a $20,000 refurbishment), renovate Dempsey Auditorium (our largest conference space), and carry out vital structural ceiling and lighting repairs in Founders.

Please take this opportunity to make a generous contribution to our Fall Appeal.  All donations are gratefully appreciated.  On behalf of everyone who drives through the gates of Mercy Center to rediscover who they are and enter a world of peace, thank you.

In gratitude,

Jim Emswiler                                             Elizabeth McClelland
Executive Director                                    Chair, Board of Trustees