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A friend of mine has often remarked that “There’s a lot of sadness in this world.” It is usually been in response to a sad story told.
I’ve never felt that it was meant as a cop-out or a way of avoiding responsibility, but rather an observation that in many instances, there is indeed nothing we can do about many a sad situation.
We cannot fix everything.
But that doesn’t mean we are totally powerless.
Which sums up why I have had an appreciation for one local effort, and a newfound appreciation for another.
I have often felt that what Pam Durdahl has put together on Clark Street is not much, if any, short of a miracle. She has managed to offer a place and a program to help young women in a variety of difficult situations.
Hence I was so pleased last week when one of the A Friend’s House “graduates” volunteered to tell her story. It put a face, a name and a story to what Pam and her staff are doing that helps young women recover from abuse, depression, or unwanted pregnancy.
Meanwhile this past week, I was fortunate to have been in the right place to get a brief update on Loving Shepherd Ministries. And hence, our story on page one today.
These are stories we like to tell.
This small start-up agency begun eight years ago by Ed Schwartz and his son-in-law Doug Isch, has grown into much more than “just” an effort to facilitate adoptions of children from Third World countries.
Now with over 50 employees around the world, the two oversee a truly phenomenal — and probably sometimes daunting — task of getting Haitian, Indonesian and Indian orphaned and exploited children into loving homes, out of abusive situations, avoiding cultural hells. They’ve done it primarily by mobilizing churches, empowering the “natives,” so to speak, to care for their own.
Perhaps because I’m a preacher’s kid — “PK’s” we used to call ourselves — I seem to have developed a special appreciation for people who have answered a call. Have a chat with Pam Durdahl and you’ll quickly get that undeniable sense of purpose. Same with Ed Schwartz, who remembers the day: January 16, 2002.
“We really don’t know how it’s happened,” replies Schwartz to a question about how his small two-person mission has grown to have an annual budget of over $1 million. “We’re constantly looking at God’s tail lights.”
That pretty much sums up what these two seemingly nondescript Bluffton-based organizations are doing. Making a difference. Eliminating some sadness.
“To God be the glory,” they will say.
Amen. But they deserve at least a little as well.
by MARK MILLERmiller@news-banner.com
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