When did you first get involved with FAW?
When did you first get involved with FAW?
At 23, I moved to New York City where I began attending Marble Collegiate Church. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale was the minister. His good friend Dr. Sam Shoemaker was the founder of FAW. He often spoke at our young adult group. It was there that I became a part of FAW.
It was in that 300-strong group at Marble that I began giving. A guy in our group challenged us to give 10% of our income during Lent. He was going to do so himself for the first time. I was working for Pan Am and not making a lot of money. But his challenge intrigued me. I decided to try, and I have been giving a percentage of my income ever since.
I know you were instrumental in starting FAW’s Women’s Ministry. How did that begin?
One summer evening, Nancy Boyle and I were sitting on the back porch of her beach house. Both of us were concerned about the number of women who had attended the LTI’s (Leadership Training Institutes) who had not been able to act on their newly discovered gifts and talents. We decided to call the women to a retreat in Chicago. Nell Martin and Marjory Bankson helped us put the program together. About 50 women attended, and the women’s ministry was born.
Why do you support FAW now?
It is pretty simple: FAW is a place where people’s lives are changed, especially on the retreats. I want to see more of them, and we are going to need more staff to do it.
How did you choose to give to FAW this year?
I had already decided that my IRA was going to FAW someday. Then recently my broker told me that I could give my mandatory annual disbursement to a nonprofit tax-free. I don’t need the money right now, so I said, “Of course I am going to do that.” It is easy to do, and it fills me with joy.
Call and Response features diverse ways that people choose to financially support the ministry of FAW. Florence Pert recently gave a generous gift through her IRA disbursement. If you have questions about this or other ways of contributing to FAW, please contact us at 1-800-245-7378.