Tell Your Story

Cliff: The ECS-ness of things.

Going back about 30 years ago, I was invited to volunteer with the ECS Development Committee. In 1995 I joined the board where I served for 13 years. For three of those years, I served as president of the board.

Over the course of our history, ECS has always sought out the toughest cases. This was true in the 80’s when AIDS was raging through Philadelphia. ECS was the agency seeking out this group. Where others looked away, we turned toward those who were suffering.

The same was true of our foster care work in the 90’s. We didn’t just provide foster care. We specialized in the care of medically disabled children—those for whom finding foster care was extremely challenging. Yet we did it.

And the same is true today. Our programs are a model for other agencies. It is such a blessing to me personally, and I feel to every person in Philly, that we have ECS. It is very, very special.
Planned giving is that whole biblical notion of tithing. If you are in a position where you can do it financially, yes, it is certainly through hard work and careful personal, financial management, but there is always an element of good fortune and blessings that come with that. You can have that notion of giving back throughout your life, and even after your life, into perpetuity.

Jean: We need to appreciate more, the people who are receiving our assistance.

It was Christmas Day, 1949 when I walked several blocks over to my friend Betty’s house to deliver her a small gift for the holiday. Betty was a classmate living in a home with an older foster care provider, a woman she called grandmother. This was Betty’s fourth or fifth foster home in her young life. I was disheartened when I found Betty, on this special day, not celebrating at all, but scrubbing the bathroom floor. “It’s what I have to do,” Betty told me. “It isn’t right,” I exclaimed to my parents when I returned home. That spring, Betty’s “grandmother” passed away at which point Betty was sent to stay at the Burd School, an orphanage for girls on Baltimore Avenue that would eventually be folded into the ECS family.

I petitioned to my parents to let Betty come live with us. I must have been very convincing, because my parents went through the process of contacting the Burd School to become foster parents. In the summer of 1950 Betty came to stay with us for good.

We need to appreciate more, the people who are receiving our assistance. There is an expectation that people in poverty ought to be grateful for anything they receive. But I feel differently about that. Having witnessed firsthand my foster sister’s experiences I believe we need to continually challenge ourselves to be more thoughtful about how we serve those in need.

Larry and Marianne: We are all Interconnected. We are… Community.

Once I had children, I knew it would be important for me to be able to provide them the same beginning that I had. We began attending Good Shepherd Episcopal Church of Hilltown in the late 80s. Our adopted son, Philip, joined us in 1988 when he was 3 years old. Philip was well known in the congregation for roaring out ‘and God be with you!’ to Reverend Frank Toia’s utter delight.”

One day, Reverend Toia invited Virginia (Ginger) Goodrich to speak. She was serving as a member of Bishop Bartlett’s staff at the time and is a parishioner of St. Thomas’ Church, Whitemarsh. I recall her presenting on the topic of tithing and how ECS was a charity close to her heart. When she came in, her story was so powerful. We had so much that had gone well for us—so much had gone right in our lives. We thought …we can’t ignore poverty anymore. We need to respond.