Dear editor,

Sometimes we do not realize the power of the press to do good in our community.

I have experienced this on two occasions over the last month.

First, we had an emergency at the Garden of Gethsemane Homeless Shelter. The air conditioners in the buildings had been there since 1989. And four of the six units broke in one week.

Since the shelter gets no money from the state or the federal governments to operate, it depends on individuals and churches in the local area for support.

When the article about this situation appeared in the Covington News and the need made known, over $11,000 was collected in less than one week from the good people of Newton County and the units were replaced.

The second event was the 186th Salem camp meeting. The Covington News gave us front page coverage, put notices on all their newsstands and ran the Sunday morning at Salem service on YouTube.

As a result, we had great attendance the entire week, and a very successful camp meeting in every respect. The hotel fed a record number of people, the youth program was outstanding, and the Gospel of Christ was preached in a powerful way and many lives were changed!

Thanks to the Covington News, your support is deeply appreciated.

Sincerely,

Sam Ramsey, Chairman Salem Board of Trustees