For many of us, Christmas is a wonderful reminder of all of the gifts we already have. Family, stability, support, and vocation. We can rejoice in these things and feel the well of strength rising within us. For many of the Clinic’s clients, many of these blessings may be in jeopardy or simply absent. For isolated ex-offenders, beleaguered immigrants, domestic violence survivors, and homeless teens, it is difficult to even conceptualize joy. But, many do. Many focus on those things that they do have: family, children, their relationship with Jesus, whatever modicum of stability they do have. They hold on to these things and it gives them strength to carry on.

November was busy for all, but despite everything going on, the Clinic staff had multiple opportunities to stop and give thanks for our many, many blessings! This month, we celebrated our amazing volunteers with two different Volunteer Appreciation Luncheons, catered by Panera, and with a fun photo booth for lasting memories! And we highlighted one of our most committed volunteers and Board Member Fatima Johnson in a recent post.

This October was a huge month for the Clinic, with our Justice for All Gala and its main speaker, Bob Goff, kicking things off! We celebrated our amazing clients, as well as all of our incredible supporters! If you were unable to attend, you can watch the video we premiered during the event featuring three of our clients here.

This September was a flurry of preparations for our Justice for All gala on Thursday, Oct. 6th featuring guest speaker Bob Goff, best-selling author of Love Does. To everyone already planning on attending, we can't wait to see you! And if you haven't purchased your ticket yet, there's still a little bit of time left! We also released Episode 3, Part 2 of our podcast Courting Justice this month, in which we learn more about the community found by refugees who are resettled in Indianapolis. And we met Stephen, a veteran who suffered from PTSD and came to the Clinic seeking assistance with his mortgage.

Do you know any “Yes!” people in your life? You know what I’m talking about—the kind of person that’s up for anything, always ready to jump on an opportunity at a moment’s notice. Their idiomatic lexicon is replete with sayings like, “Let’s do it!” and “I’ll try anything once!” and “No regrets!” If you don’t think you have anyone like that in your life, it’s you. For sure.

This August, we contemplated the idea of sacrifice with the help of Executive Director Chris Purnell's musings on sacrifice's hope for a better future. We also learned more about Volunteer Coordinator Kathleen Bloxsome and her role at the Clinic. We were introduced to two committed donors of the Clinic and their reasons for regular giving. And we celebrated both the success of our Naturalization Day, when Clinic staff and volunteers helped 62 clients on their path to citizenship, as well as the success of a Project Grace client who got his life back on track again.