Help for Relief in Peru

In 2nd Corinthians 8, Paul reports how wonderfully generous  the Macedonian church has been.  One could very easily substitute St.  John’s congregation into that passage.  You are such a model for the  diocese (which is not unnoticed, by the way) of open handedness with our resources both at home and abroad.  That very generosity makes us  reluctant to “go to the well” too often but at the same time it assures  us that you actually delight to help others in dire situations.  
 
 Well, our fellow Christians in Peru are in dire straits and their flu  “season,” which is seeming to correspond to the COVID 19 season, is just  starting in Lima.  The infection rate has climbed rapidly just in the  last week from 8,000 to now approaching 30,000 with the rise in deaths  following.  This has ended employment for almost all of parishioners  since most are in menial and cottage shop industries.  Unable to work  and with no governmental safety net to speak of, health care is  difficult and food and even water supplies in the small towns and  barrios are depleted already.  
 
The Global Missions Committee has, of course, cancelled all of our  upcoming mission trips and is sending a substantial part of our  resources immediately to Bishop Aguilar for relief work.  This letter is  to both inform you of what is going on in Lima and to ask you to  consider contributing to this relief work.  We have built a solid,  loving relationship of trust with the Bishop and his priests and have  the utmost confidence that any funds to his diocese will be distributed  specifically to those in need.  
             
Thank you for your extraordinary generosity in the past and for your  open hearts and hands now even while we ourselves are a bit anxious  about our own future.  
You are a tribute to Christ.