— Spiritual Perspectives —
Lessons in Faith and Hope

Sanjay Choudhrie

By Sanjay Choudhrie
Special to the Independent

Tom Richtsmeier, the chairman of the board for CARE 66, is leaving us. He retires from the Gallup Indian Medical Center at the end of this month. He has served as chairman of the board since CARE 66 began. He has lead CARE 66 through hopelessness and despair into hope. Because he is also a deacon in the Catholic Church and a cardiologist at GIMC, many of you have learned from, been healed by, and been inspired by Tom. He will be sorely missed by many. I want to share some of the things that he and I have learned along this journey that have deepened my spiritual life.

As you know, fund raising is a traditional activity for most non-profits. It provides us with the community support we need and enables us to operate. Fund raising is not very different from begging, and I don’t know anyone who actually enjoys begging. But it has its spiritual roots. Begging is a traditional form of mendicant activity that is intended to reinforce humility and trust that God will provide for our needs.We have learned humility by asking for money from many of you and we have practiced this mendicant discipline these last few years. And we have become experts in humility through rejection. Rejection is painful. It is painful because the word “no” hurts. It hurts to have our hopes and dreams rejected. It hurts also because we are aware that there are staff dependent upon us for their income. It hurts because we won’t be able to pay utilities and rent. And it hurts because we are thwarted in our efforts to enable people to get out of homelessness. And no one dislikes asking for money more than Tom, but he did it, again and again and again because he believes so deeply that being a servant of God means taking care of God’s people.

And then there is the joy when somebody gives expectedly or unexpectedly and generously to us of their money, time, food, and labor (incidentally there is a new report out that states that people who give away money are happier). These gifts of generosity make our hopes possible for this community. Many times we have been blessed by the unexpected gift simply because we talked about what we are trying to do.

So apart from learning to trust God more deeply for the daily needs of my life and for the life of CARE 66, I have learnt that hope and faith are central to living life to the fullest. Faith is the act of living in hope. Faith is what sustains us in when there is no light at the end of the tunnel. It enables us to make it to where we can see the light. And just like everything else, faith and hope are gifts from God to sustain us.

The example of CARE 66 might shed some light on these core components of life. When a group of people start a non-profit, they are expressing the yearnings, longings and vision for their community. They are stepping out in faith that the community will support their efforts to make hope real in the lives of the people they seek to serve. Last year CARE 66 provided transitional housing and services to almost 100 men. About 45 of these men moved into permanent housing.

As humans we make assumptions. CARE 66 under Tom’s leadership dared to make the assumption that homeless people want a decent life, a home of their own and a job. Citizenship, as Tom would say it. And because we assume that our clients want to be citizens with dignity, we have been able to work with them towards these goals. And work, as you know means getting your hands dirty, which could be the topic of another article.

It hasn’t always been easy for us, but we have persevered. And from Tom, I have learned that it is possible and imperative to hope despite crisis staring us in the face. The man just doesn’t give up. And I thought I was stub... I mean, persistent.

It is critical to live in hope and faith despite the rejection, humiliation, pain and fear of life. And the only way to do this is to live in love. I encourage you to take small steps away from fear toward living these core attributes of our faiths.

May God be with you.

Sanjay Choudhrie is executive director of CARE 66 and can be reached at sanjay@care66.org.

This column is written by area residents, representing different faith communities, who share their ideas about bringing a spiritual perspective into our daily lives and community issues. For information about contributing a guest column, contact Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola at The Independent: (505) 863-6811 ext. 218 or lizreligion01@yahoo.com.