MISSION The Rich in Mercy Mission Institute (RIM) is inspired by the Christian Gospel and exists to promote a “culture of solidarity” especially with the poor by uniting people of the developed world with the poor and powerless of the underdeveloped world as brothers and sisters through “reverse mission” pilgrimages and education for justice, by building “people to people” and “community to community” relationships, and by providing opportunities and inspiring initiatives to meet the material and spiritual needs of the poorest populations of the Americas.   Taking the Gospel as its starting point, a culture of solidarity needs to be promoted, capable of inspiring timely initiatives in support of the poor and the outcast” John Paul II, Ecclesia in America, 52 The Rich in Mercy Mission Institute works “shoulder to shoulder” with various Church communities and other faith-based institutions to meet the basic needs and increase human capacity for living with dignity among the poor majority of Haiti. “Reverse mission” pilgrimages provide a window through which one can see what the conditions of life are for most of the world’s population as well as a mirror in which one can see oneself and one’s own society in relationship to them. Stewardship programs provide support in the form of medicines, medical and school supplies and other needed goods to various clinics, schools, and orphanages in Haiti as well as grants for educational scholarships and sustainable development projects. Educational workshops, seminars, and slide presentations focus on the principles that underlie just social and economic orders.   WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR? Throughout the 1980s and ‘90s Richard and Daneen Gosser experienced frequent and extended exposure to conditions of extreme poverty and social injustice by traveling, studying, and working in Haiti, Honduras, Bolivia, and the Dominican Republic.  These experiences had a profound and permanent impact on their lives. A brief but pivotal friendship with Ivan Telemaque, a young Haitian man, who died in 1991 at the age of 29 from AIDS related tuberculosis, solidified their resolve to respond to the needs of their global neighbors and to invite others to experience similar life-changing encounters with the poor especially in Haiti.  The Rich in Mercy Mission Institute is the natural outgrowth and consequence of these experiences.  Authentic encounter with the suffering poor leads, through communion, to “solidarity” which is an habitual response to the needs of others and a firm commitment to the common good that arises out of an awareness of the interdependence of our world and a recognition that every person is “my neighbor”.  Effective solidarity is both the root and fruit, the cause and effect, of a just social order.  The Rich in Mercy Mission Institute exists to promote effective solidarity throughout the Americas and, in the end, to bring about a more just world.   RICH IN MERCY BOARD OF DIRECTORS? Dr. Richard A. Gosser, Ligonier, PA E. Daneen Gosser, RNC, Ligonier, PA Dorothy Miller, Connellsville, PA Fr. Edward Roberts, Peoria, IL Mary Ellen Stilwell, Harrison City, PA Vera Swiergol, Lower Burrell, PA Sr. Ann Infanger, SC, Greensburg, PA