“And a little child shall lead them…”

For about a year we at St. James’ have been praying for a little girl named Cassidy McCarthy, the niece of parishioners Ed McCarthy and José Zambrana. When she was four she was diagnosed with cancer. This brave little girl underwent rigorous and debilitating chemotherapy for an extended period of time this past year. She is now six and happily the doctors have told her she is cancer free. They continue to monitor her health closely and are cautiously optimistic that this good news will continue into Cassidy’s future. Our prayers of petition have turned into prayers of thanksgiving!

This is a wonderful story just as it is, but wait! There’s more!

Cassidy says that when she was undergoing treatment and had to deal with all the needles by which various treatments and tests were administered, the thing that cheered her up and made her feel better were the colorful kids’ Band-aids® that the nurses would put on the spot. But very often, the hospital ran out of them.

Cassidy wanted to reach out and help other children in that situation, so she started a work of charity to collect children’s band-aids to donate to the hospital so that other children might be cheered as she was but without fear the hospital would run out.

If you follow this link you can see and hear Cassidy herself. (She and her family live on the East Coast.)

November 12th is our stewardship ingathering, when all who wish to support St. James’ financially make a pledge of giving for the coming year in support of our continuing as a Community of Hope in a tumultuous world.

We think Cassidy is a symbol of that hope and of generosity, so we are also inviting all children to contribute a box of fun bandages on that same Sunday, November 12, which we will collect in a big box and happily send to Cassidy to help her meet her yearly goal of 1,000 boxes for hospitalized children.

Let us all be inspired by Cassidy’s courage, hope and generosity for she is an inspiration indeed!

Faithfully, +Catherine