Part of What We Do:

Here is a prayer request Patty sent out today - an example of how important it is to just being here:

This morning at 10am Gary and I are going to a funeral for a young man that used to live in the neighborhood. His family (7 kids) moved away around 2 years ago. 3 of the 6 kids (Jose, Junior and Victor) were involved at the Center. The funeral is for the oldest 20 year old son Hera who was shot and killed outside his house last Tuesday. Could be gang related, we don’t know. Hera had been in a lot of trouble in the past. He had just come from the Farm Drive neighborhood where he visited so a bunch of neighbor kids had just seen him so his death came as a shock.

Yesterday afternoon Pete and I drove 5 of our older neighborhood girls to Hera’s house where they had the rosary and Hera’s body. A very sad and hopeless sight. Lots of people there, all in black, crying and praying the rosary. The girls all got to see and touch Hera’s body. We got to see Hera’s 3 brothers that used to be involved at the Center and that was nice. The sad news is that Jose who was the oldest of those 3 has changed a lot and seems headed down a dangerous path, just like his older brother. A lot of anger there.

Pray today for Gary and I as we go to the funeral. We want to support the family and we want to be available to the kids that go to the funeral that live in the neighborhood now like those 5 girls that we took to Hera’s yesterday. Maybe we will have time to take them to lunch after. We know it is important to the kids to show them we care for Hera and his family. This has shaken up some of the older kids and it has opened up some great opportunities to talk about choices, gangs etc.

Thanks. Patty