The famous Chinese saying is may you live in interesting times. Well, we certainly are living in quite “interesting” and indeed challenging times.

Over the past few weeks we’ve heard heated debate about healthcare—especially for the young, the aged, and the poor. For more than four decades, IPM has facilitated the development of extraordinary holistic healthcare programs from Kenya to India to Nicaragua that have addressed the global pandemic of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other preventable diseases, and allowed women to care for themselves and their children

Over the past few months, we’ve heard the scapegoating of immigrants and refugees. From our founding in 1974, IPM has been involved in the resettlement of Refugees from Chile in the United States, Ethiopia & the Sudan in Italy, providing income-generating programs in Bosnia & Uganda, and helping to provide education and financial resources to keep Salvadorans from having to flee their homes.

Since Ferguson & Cleveland, we’ve had powerful reminders that racial injustice continues to stalk our nation. We know that many of our neighborhoods aren’t safe and that young people of color—almost 50 years after Martin Luther King—are still treated differently by our judicial and penal systems. As we come to terms with the violence of this past weekend’s white supremacist and neo-nazi rally in Charlottesville, IPM continues working to help bring racial justice to our nation in small steps from Missouri to Maine that make a huge difference.

We’ve heard much more intensely of late there is no climate change. But we know that care for Creation is part of our inherent responsibility as people of faith and that our planet and its seas are indeed warming. This is the only Earth we have and its fauna and flora are irreplaceable. So from coastal areas in India to the Savannah of Brasil, we are working with IPM Project Partners to ensure that land and watersheds are protected and that food security & potable water are accessible to all.

And since at least 9.11 we’ve regularly heard that we should fear Muslims. I began with IPM just a few months before those attacks but that tragedy, and the violence that has sprung from it, has only further emboldened our International Executive Board and Partners to advocate for and build a truly interfaith organization where we see our Jewish & Muslim, Hindu & Buddhist, Catholic & Protestant brothers & sisters as ourselves.

There can be no denying that while the times we live in are indeed “interesting,” the challenges before us are daunting. We can choose to let hate win or we can strive to embody love in our life and relationships. We can be overwhelmed into feeling that we can’t make a difference or we can remain hopeful even when so much of our world-view may feel upended. I’m writing to remind each of you, that no matter what the politics of our nation are today this is not a time for us to stand on the sidelines and wonder what we might do? It’s a time to engage directly–through advocacy and action–in life-changing effort that have the power to transform our world.

You can join with me in supporting IPM’s life changing work right now. We need your help especially at this time of the year as school is out of session and so many of us are focused on finding time to get away and renew our spirits.

Can we count on you to commit to the mission of IPM, knowing that while our world has changed in innumerable ways, IPM is still the same, small light leading the way?  Thanks to four remarkable IPM Donors, any gift made between now and September 30 will be matched $1 for $1 up to $50,000 doubling the impact of your support! You can donate here: https://www.ipmconnect.org/donations-2?viewmode=list or by calling 1.866.932.4082.

Join with us to remind everyone that a better world is possible and that we are each called to do our part to make it that way.

Thank you for your continued support of IPM and may God’s peace be with you everyday.

Peace, Joe