By Chava Redonnet (right), from the most recent bulletin of Oscar Romero Inclusive Catholic Church.

In July of 2017, when we were trying to buy the house that is now Serenity, the man who came to inspect it had good news for us. Although there were some holes in the roof at the back of the house, and some water damage, his opinion was that if we could get those holes mended we could wait five years to replace the roof. Yay! That was good news. Chuck and Mike did a lot of work that first year and got those holes fixed and the water damage repaired. It was one of our many miracles, that getting the house useable happened without a huge expenditure of funds, thanks both to the volunteer work of Chuck and Mike, and to the damage being fixable.

When we hit the two year mark this summer, realizing that we were just three years away from replacing the roof, we talked about starting a roof fund for the $10-15,000 it is likely to cost.

One day about a month ago, my daughter Bridget and I were pulling out of the driveway when we noticed the roof looked funny. “Does it look to you like it’s… well… caving in a bit?” I asked Bridget. We both looked at the spot. Is it different than it was? Or is it just the angle? I tried to take a photo of what I thought I was seeing but… maybe it was my imagination. Chuck and Mike looked at it and thought maybe it had always looked that way, but we stepped up our interest in the roof. A tricky part is that we can’t see the underside at the front of the house because there is a ceiling in the way, and no attic.

No one has stayed in hospitality these past couple of weeks. On Sunday we walked in the room and discovered one of the dressers was wet. Not a flood, just… a leak. If it hadn’t been over the dresser – if it had been absorbed by one of the beds, or the carpet, we wouldn’t have noticed. There’s been a leak in the caretaker’s room, too. Chuck and Mike say it could be a funny wind, blowing rain up under the eaves… but putting all those things together it seems we need to plan on replacing the roof this spring.

So, in a few weeks when our fundraising letter goes out, we’ll be trying to raise $30,000, instead of the $15,000 we had planned to try to raise for our yearly expenses. ($15K for the year, plus $15K for the roof).

If you didn’t get a fundraising letter last year and would like one this year, kindly send me your address and we’ll add you to the list.

Now that the weather is too cold to finish the outside painting, I’m turning my attention to tasks in the house, like sorting through winter things that have been donated. We have lots of coats, and women’s hats and scarves. We lack men’s hats (just those stretchy knitted caps) and one-size-fits-all gloves. I’ve added them to our amazon wish list. (Clean, gently used hats and gloves are most welcome!) Thanks so much to Kathleen for the thermal drapes that will make the office a warmer place this winter!

No Mass this Thursday, as Librada and I will be at the Rural and Migrant Ministries dinner, celebrating the passage of the Farmworker Fair Labor Practices Act. May it bear lots of good fruit!

Folks are working hard, getting crops in before the snow we’re supposed to get this week. Please pray for everybody that’s working hard out in the cold!

Love and light – stay warm!

Blessings and love to all, Chava

Here’s our wish list.

If you would like to send us a donation, kindly make checks out to Oscar Romero Inclusive Catholic Church, and mail them to: PO Box 10602, Rochester NY 14610