Winter 2018

The month of March is upon us, and so our thoughts turn from Winter to Spring, and to our Volunteer Potluck Dinner. This event is scheduled for Sunday, April 15th at 4:30pm at St. Peter's Parish Center. Dr. Edmund Guelig will speak about "The Four D's: Dementia, Depression, Delusion and Delirium. 

​Dinner will follow the presentation. Meat and beverages will be provided, and each volunteer is asked to bring a dish to share. All are welcome to bring a guest as well. Please RSVP via email or text (570)- 404-2180 no later than Monday, April 2nd. The Committee looks forward to seeing you there. ​

---

---

Need for New Volunteers​

The present roster of Samaritan House volunteers includes over 100 names. Although this seems like a large number, many volunteers are retired. A number of these travel, or care for family members, and are not always available. Some volunteers work and have limited free time. The effort to recruit new volunteers is ongoing and vital to the work of Samaritan House. Please consider encouraging family members and friends to join our volunteers so that we may sustain this ministry.​

---

Scheduling​

Volunteer availability will be determined before each new guest is welcomed. Admission of future guests will depend upon how well a schedule can be filled and sustained. It has been a challenge to cover recent shifts, so there is a dire need to increase our number of volunteers, in particular those who are able to cover over night shifts. ​

---

Thank You

Sincere gratitude to our volunteers for the compassion and dedication with which they serve our guests and their families. Many volunteers stretched their limits and took extra shifts to accommodate the schedule for our last guest. Your service and dedication are deeply appreciated.

---

Book Group

The next Book Group gathering will take place on Monday, March 12th at 6:00pm at the home of Jan Bernethy (18 Delmar Ridge). *Please note the change in time and location. The book "Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion" by Gregory Boyle, will be the topic of the March discussion. This book has inspired many, so we look forward to sharing an evening of enlightening discussion and friendship. Snacks to share are welcome!

​The April Book Club selection is "Dying Well" by Ira Byock, MD. To purchase, visit our local bookstore "From My Shelf" or Amazon.com.

---

Prayer Shawl Ministry​

​Here's how it works: Anyone in the community who loves to knit or crochet can make a shawl. After a shawl is made, it can be kept somewhere in the Samaritan House to be shared with a guest. as the shawls are made, prayers are prayed for the one who will receive the shawl.

​For more information about this beautiful ministry, please contact Jan Bernethy at 307-267-0677.

---

---

From "Tattoos on the Heart"

Once, after dealing with a particularly difficult homie (gang member) named Sharkey, I switch my strategy and decide to catch him in the act of doing the right thing. I can see I have been too harsh and exacting with him, and he is, after all, trying the best he can. I tell him how heroic he is, and how the courage he now exhibits in transforming his life far surpasses the hollow "bravery" of his barrio past. I tell him that he is a giant among men. I mean it. Sharkey seems to be thrown off balance by all this and silently stares at me. Then he says "Damn, G ... I'm gonna tattoo that on my heart."

Our common hospitality longs to find room for those who are left out. It's just who we are if allowed to foster something different, something more greatly resembling what God had in mind. Perhaps, together, we can teach others how to bear the beams of love, persons becoming persons, right before our eyes. Returned to ourselves. 

Leon Dufour, a world-renowned Jesuit theologian and Scripture scholar, a year before he died at ninety-nine, confided in a Jesuit who was caring for him. "I have written so many books on God, but after all that, what do I really know? I think, in the end, God is the person you're talking to, the one right in front of you."

About the Author:
Gregory Boyle is a Jesuit priest and the founder and executive director of Homeboy Industries. He makes approximately two hundred speaking appearances per year and has received numerous humanitarian awards, among them the California Peace Prize. He lives in Los Angeles.

---

From "Dying Well"

"The profoundly personal experience of dying ranges from agony to bliss; for most of us it will fall somewhere in between. Without adequate medical care, dying can be horrible. With skillful medical care and attention to the personal experience of the patient and the person's family, dying can be made bearable. When the human dimension of dying is nurtured, for many the transition from life can be as profound, intimate and precious as the miracle of birth."

About the Author:
Ira Byock, M.D., has specialized for the past eighteen years in caring for the dying, and is director of a Robert Wood Foundation national program to improve end-of-life care. Dr. Byock also served as president of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. 

---

"Our true home is the present moment; the miracle is not to walk on water.
The miracle is to walk on the green earth in the present moment." Thich Nhat Hahn