Gaylord Diocesan Relief
- Fri, Apr 18, 2025 10:20 PM
Dear Brother Knights of Michigan:
In the aftermath of the severe ice storm that affected roughly half of our geography in the Diocese of Gaylord, I am announcing the establishment of a new “Natural Disaster Relief Fund.”
This fund will be a permanently established resource for funds that are contributed from solicitations and generous benefactors in response to a natural disaster in our diocese. The fund will be activated at the discretion of the diocesan bishop and overseen by a diocesan staff committee.
In response to the widespread natural disaster of the March 29-30 ice storm, collected funds will be pooled for distribution to parishes, upon request, for the particular purpose of acquiring generators for future use. Given the possibility of an extraordinary need of a parish, also upon request, ten percent of the pooled funds will be designated for this kind of assistance.
This is not a mandated diocesan second collection.
The solicitation of funds can be done by simply putting a reference/link to our website or the phone number of our Office of Development, in your parish bulletin, e-newsletter, website, or social media sites, where contributions can be made directly.
As these matters are timely, I suggest you share information about this fund as soon as possible and continue it for one month. The funds received by May 19 will be announced, and then parishes can request a percentage of those funds before the June 2 deadline. In this case, only parishes affected by the ice storm will be eligible to submit requests.
After parish requests are received, the diocese will attempt to secure a discounted bulk purchase rate on generators, and monies will be equally divided among those who submitted requests. It is likely the entire generator cost will not be covered by the fund, so parishes will need to be prepared to cover a portion as well; the amount will be determined after May 19.
I have personally benefitted from the foresight of Bishop Raica to have a generator at the bishop’s residence. A proactive step of having a generator at our rectories/halls/churches can benefit our communities by allowing sacramental and pastoral care to go uninterrupted and by providing humanitarian services for those in need.
Obviously, the establishment of this fund will have future benefit in other circumstances and other places and be activated at the discretion of the diocesan bishop. There are many people both near and far who want to help when they hear news of a natural disaster. This will be one way for the diocese to provide a trusted outlet for donations and direct support of parishes.
Please do not hesitate to contact our Director of Development Chance Armstrong or our Director of Finance Kim Smith with any questions. Thank you for your attention to this matter and thank you for your prayers for all who have been affected by the ice storm.
In Christ our Life!
Most Reverend Jeffrey J. Walsh
Bishop of Gaylord