Save Lori's House

A friend of mine, writer and one-time parishioner D.C. Stanfa just informed me of an effort being spearheaded by freelance writers and journalists from around the country to help Traverse City freelancer Lori Hall Steele with her mortgage payments and medical bills. They're taking online contributions via PayPal to help this single mom, currently totally bed-ridden, the victim of both Lou Gehrig's Disease and Lyme Disease.

To learn more and, if you choose, to make a donation, go here. (You'll also find lots of links to more information about Hall Steele's situation there.)

Whatever else you do, please pray for Lori. Pray for her health. Pray for her child.

Please pray too, that doctors will be guided in finding treatments and cures not only for the diseases afflicting her, but other fatal diseases as well.

Also, take some time to inform yourself on the positions of all candidates in the 2008 elections for President, the U.S. House of Representatives, and, if a seat is up for grabs this year in your state, the U.S. Senate. It seems to me that there is a growing national consensus on health care, at the very least a common emerging belief that the issue needs addressing. Here is The New York Times' excellent summary of the two presidential candidates' positions and proposals on health.