“Protestants at Brooksby Village have strongly supported community projects in the past, and buying the ark gave them the chance to make a major contribution,” says Rev. Ann Abernethy, Brooksby’s Protestant pastoral associate. “This donation says the council not only seeks to provide for those who live at Brooksby, but also wishes to do good things for humanity outside the campus.”

According to Stewart, the council raised a substantial amount of funds through annual pledges from Protestant community members at Brooksby during the past two years. While the bulk of collected monies was devoted to the ark, the group has additional funds on hand to extend its outreach efforts and a sub-committee is currently researching other potential opportunities.

‘Universal purposes’
Abernethy says members of the Protestant Council, who include both denominational and non-denominational Protestants, seek “universal purposes for their donations.”

“They want to contribute to outreach programs that fulfill many needs,” Abernethy says. “It’s easy to understand the mission of Heifer International, which is to give and share, and we had broad support to buy the ark. A special appeal of Heifer International is they ask those who receive animals and breed them to give the first-born offspring to others who need them.”

Rich Byrne, Brooksby’s pastoral ministries manager, wholeheartedly endorses the Ark. “I was thoroughly impressed with the vision and generosity of Brooksby’s residents who raised thousands of dollars to help these impoverished people,” he says. “One of our Erickson values in Pastoral Ministries for each pastoral community is to give money to those in need. In this case, the Protestant Council has gone above and beyond.”

To properly acknowledge the generosity of the Council, a Heifer International representative attended the group’s on-campus service last month and presented a plaque in appreciation of its support.

Heifer International’s reach
According to Jo Luck, Heifer International’s president and CEO, the organization has helped over seven million families in more than 125 countries since its inception in 1944. While purchases of arks are obviously desirable, the organization also solicits contributions of smaller amounts for purchases of individual or smaller groups of animals.

“It’s a wonderful organization and I have contributed to it for many years,” Abernethy says. “They were very appreciative of the gift from Brooksby and considered it to be a major gift.”

Stewart stresses the work of the Protestant Council is far from finished.

“We’re a fairly new entity, but we’re gradually increasing our membership,” she says. “Our members are very generous and we plan to make charitable contributions every year. We’ve been so richly blessed in life that we want to pass on those blessings to others.”

And that’s no bull.