​November 15, 2022

DEAR FRIENDS,

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The Thanksgiving Day is coming soon, so following our tradition it’s time to look back and gratefully celebrate the Lord’s goodness and His blessings showered upon the Hermitage throughout this year: please click here or on the photo to read and see more. I will also give an update on the end of the year fundraiser dedicated to the next year’s projects.​
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  • The largest project – the construction of the garage/workshop/storage building – was at last finished! It is truly a great gift to have all the expensive RCH equipment safely sheltered from the harsh winter weather. I particularly would like to thank an entire team of dedicated volunteers – Dan Muldoon, Dave Lowrey, Dave Wilt, Paul Glaser, Tony Knepp and Tom Kaiser – who put so much of their time and effort into this project, and which now allows me to look forward to the upcoming winter with much serenity.
  • The Wellhouse got a new roof: now it’s both safer firewise, and better protected from the bad weather.
  • The patio next to the Dome House was extended: it is now much more spacious and comfortable for welcoming groups on it during the summertime. Many thanks to the architect Jerry Jeter for having made and donated its plan!
  • A new parking lot next to the garage was built, which allows to compensate the space lost by the garage building.
  • More improvements at the Dome House: the new floor was finished in the dining room and kitchen (thank you, St. Thomas More parish’s Knights of Columbus!); the windows and screens were repaired (thank you to Tony Knepp!).
  • The propane tanks were rearranged: thus next year we will be able to hide them with a climbing plants structure.
  • The dirt road was graded: many thanks to Leon Dautrel, the RCH neighbor, and Sergio Villalobos!
I'd like also to thank all those who attended the Spring and the Fall Volunteer Work and Prayer Days. This year instead of just two VWPDs, we had four! There were not only the good old RCH friends coming, but also my fellow compatriots, the Colorado Lithuanians, establishing a tradition of helping for the entire day both in the spring and in the fall, sharing on the occasion good Lithuanian food and fellowship.
​Next year’s projects:
  • If the Providence blesses the RCH with generous donations and/or grants, laying of all the infrastructure (water pipes, electric conduits, and sewage; installing a new electric transformer and septic tank/leach field; upgrading the well) for the 3 future cabins on the Good Mother’s Path (towards the “Faithfulness” cabin). This is an “invisible” and very expensive project, but critical for the construction of the long-awaited new cabins-hermitages. I already would like to thank particularly Dan Muldoon and Paul Glaser, who started the demarches with the JeffCo for all the necessary permits and planning, and Tony Knepp, for helping me with the fundraising. We need to find some $75,000…
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  • Building the stairs from the DH library deck to the new patio: we already have the funds for this project, but the DH busyness and early cold didn’t allow us to accomplish it this year.
  • We will of course continue cleaning the grounds from fallen trees turning them into firewood, building retaining rock walls where necessary, and clearing the old trails on the property, mainly during our traditional Volunteer Work and Prayer Days in the spring and in the fall. 

Your help and time with volunteer labor are critical and most appreciated; however, it’s not enough… That is why the end of the year fundraiser is dedicated to covering all these upcoming expenses.
 
Instead of scattering our efforts over the Giving Tuesday on Facebook and the Colorado Gives Day in December, this year we will focus only on One Day, and it’s the Colorado Gives Day!

Even though it is on Tuesday, December 6th, any donations from November 1st through December 6th count for the share in the $1.4+ million Incentive Fund: all participating Colorado Gives Day nonprofits earn a percentage of the fund, so the more we raise, the more we get!
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Please click on the image below to get to our Colorado Gives profile and share the link with those who may be willing to support us. You can even start your own fundraiser to the benefit of the RCH on that page – right now (it’s easy)!​
Besides earning a share in the Incentive Fund, you can help the RCH to win many additional prizes (please click here to see them all) – and you don’t even need to give: for example, you can simply participate in the Colorado Gives Day Facebook Trivia Contest on Nov 28th – Dec 2nd and win for the RCH a $1,000 prize daily!
 
Above and beyond this big fundraising effort, there is another, all year-round opportunity to help the RCH: it is shopping on AmazonSmile (you don’t need a new account, simply log into your regular Amazon account, but on smile.amazon.com): please choose the Congregation of Saint John in Littleton, CO as the recipient of the donations; 0.5% of your purchase price will go then to the RCH. Thank you so much!

Lastly, please also check out our Wishlist. If you have and no longer need the tools or equipment listed there, we would be glad to put them to use! For the gifts in kind, the Donors will also get a Tax Receipt Letter. 

Once again, my heartfelt thanks to all of you, and most of all - to our Good Lord and His Mother, the Queen of Heaven!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your loved ones,

Br. Francis of the Child Jesus,
Steward

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