The Tea house family gathers together ...

Morley and Donna hosted "An evening in support of Andy" on Wednesday, November 12.

Andy, one of the three founding members of Nilgiris, had a stroke at the beginning of October and -- of course -- with no supplemental insurance coverage and no way to work in the aftermath, his medical expenses had started to mount.

Over 40 people participated in the evening, which featured a dessert buffet, Holly Cole crooning on the sound system, Bernard Callebaut chocolates, lots of conversation interspersed with bursts of laughter ... and Andy himself, who was strong enough that day to be able to attend, visiting with each of the friends who came to wish him well.

People came from the Prairie Bible College community and also from the town community. And the lovely, magical thing about the evening is that -- for that evening -- we were all one community in support of someone we all care for.














Andy had wanted to make a speech that night; but he was too tired to be able to do so.



However, this week he emailed the gist of what he had planned on saying.


I am posting it under its own entry, called Andy's Speech.

Thanks to your generosity, Andy was able to cover all the medical bills he had incurred plus have enough to purchase refills of prescriptions.

And it also showed how people in our small community can pull together selflessly to impact someone's life. It took no legislation, no lobbying, no petitions. Just people who care and want to make a difference.