Friends --
After all we have been through over the past few years, including the Global Pandemic, increased police brutality, economic turbulence, and political calamity, there has never been a time to take greater risks because at the end of the day, we do not know what the next minute will bring.
Today, I am taking one of those risks in penning this letter to you all, perhaps my first-ever letter sent exclusively to Friends, like you, who give selflessly to our work.
Day in and day out, I do the best I can to spread the love of Jesus Christ and weave His love throughout all I do. I lead with that to say the work we do in Rdevia is no exception. I labor fervently to approach our mission with the same care and intention to spread, to show, and to mobilize love.
Today, when we think of charity, we think of nonprofits, fundraising, and giving to the needy. However, charity goes so much deeper than that. In Christian thought, charity is "the highest form of love, signifying the reciprocal love between God and man that is made manifest in unselfish love of one’s fellow men." When you give to us, you are not just giving to charity but you are becoming charity, a living epitome of what it means to express unselfish love to your fellow men. When you give to Rdevia, you are putting love into action, in the most literal of senses.
Know that, we do not -- I do not -- take your donations lightly. In such unprecedented times as these, to give away even a cent of your hard earned money to fund a scholarship, care package, or other education opportunity for someone you might never even meet is huge and for that, I am thankful.
Thank you for caring enough to give and trusting us enough to steward over your gift. On this Valentine's Day, a day all about love, I pause to thank you for choosing to join us in sharing perhaps the greatest love we can show one another: charity; love in action.
Love,
Marquise.