Dear Friend,

I have fervently wished and prayed to see the day when I could send Baptist Family’s donors a different kind of letter. One that would say something like “We had a quiet year: business is slow, the phone isn’t ringing very often, things are just fine.”

A letter like that would mean that child abuse and neglect had been solved, that all children were treated with loving care, and that poverty had been eradicated. In that kind of world, Baptist Family wouldn’t be as vital to the social fabric. We would go the way of the Maytag repairman, just looking at the phone (more likely our email inbox), just waiting for somebody to reach out with a job for us to do.

But as Christ tells us in Matthew 26:11, “the poor you will always have with you.” The problems that Baptist Family was founded to address 91 years ago are relevant and pressing, and I do not have the luxury of writing my imaginary “all is well” letter to you.

Instead, please let me tell you how very busy we were in 2011:

67 abused and neglected children were sheltered and nurtured in our CHOSEN Treatment Foster Care program.

2,309 impoverished children received school supplies and/or Christmas gifts via our Good Samaritan Network.

We sheltered three homeless families, working intensively to make sure that they became financially stable and independent, never to return to the streets again. We worked with seven other families to keep them safe, secure, and independently housed.

More than 200 families in crisis received support and assistance from our Information and Referral hotline.

We placed our first kids into a new program called Safe Families For Children. This program uses Christian hospitality to prevent child neglect and to keep kids out of the social service system. We continue to spread the word about this new service to families in trouble, and are happy that we are already serving both Maryland and Delaware.

While it is easy to report these numbers to you, it is hard to do justice to the monumental effort that goes into achieving them. It takes all the energy and creativity of our staff to keep reaching out to the poor and disaffected day in and day out, meeting each new client on their own terms, sharing compassion as Jesus showed us.

It is likewise impossible to describe the effects that these actions and interventions have, both on the individual client and on our world as a whole. Each child rescued from abuse is much less likely to be an abusive parent themselves later in life. Every family pulled out of poverty gives the current generation a stable platform to build upon, and means the next generation may not ever know how it feels to go without food, or clothing, or education, or shelter. The work that we do at Baptist Family helps families both now and far into the future.

In conclusion, let me announce that this is the last appeal letter you will receive with my signature at the end. After more than 30 years as Executive Director of Baptist Family, I am heading into retirement. Whether you know it or not, I have long considered you a valuable partner in my work We at Baptist Family have the people and the ideas to help those in crisis, but the donors who provide funding and prayer support power the whole process.

I will cherish the memory of every child we have saved from abuse, the homeless families we have sheltered, the evictions we prevented, the bellies we kept full, the Christmases we brightened, and every other act of kindness and charity we performed, great and small. We have made the world a better place, and I thank you for your contributions to a marvelous 30-year long journey. It has been my joy and privilege to make a career of helping those in need.

In this time of shrinking resources, I urgently need you to help secure the future of Baptist Family and Children’s Services for the next 30 years and beyond. You have been so generous in the past. Would you consider making a gift of support today? Your contribution will help the agency continue its God-given mission: to give kids and families a new start.

God bless you and your families and loved ones this Christmas, and always.

Yours truly,
Bob Gerstmyer

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Baptist Family's work is made possible by generous donors and energetic volunteers. We honor their contributions, and make sure that in every way, the talent and treasure they give us is put to the best, most efficient, use.

If you are interested in the financial side of Baptist Family, we are happy to make the following documents available to you: audit for Fiscal Year 2009 and our IRS Form 990 for FY09. Please note that our fiscal year runs from July to June. FY09 represents July 1, 2008 through June 30, 2009. As of this posting, audited financial statements for FY10 are not yet available.

Also, feel free to download our FY10 Annual Report.