Support Samantha & Dustin Fire Recovery Fund

On May 22, 2025, our friends Samantha and her husband Dustin lost their home to an electrical fire. Thankfully they are safe, as are their very loved dogs and horses. In this fire they lost everything they own and we are asking for your generosity to help them rebuild.

We first met Samantha over 15 years ago at The Ohio State University. In the years since graduation, we have supported each other through the ups, downs and twists of life. Despite living in three different states (Wyoming, Ohio and Massachusetts), our commitment to lifting each other up has never wavered.

Samantha is one of the most patient, thoughtful, and generous people you could ever meet. Her empathy and compassion for others knows no bounds. Samantha's desire to support others is at the core of who she is. Her chosen profession of social work and therapist lead her to work with families that have suffered from addiction, abuse and other hardships. Her faith in God drives her to serve those she works with and her community. She and her husband Dustin are active members in their church community, with Samantha even leading sermons like the one below.

As two of her oldest friends, we, with the support of their family are asking for your support to help our friends rebuild their life and make it through this trying time. Your donations will go toward furniture and other household items.

We thank you for your generosity.

Samantha Schick and Betsy Gibbons

Joy Comes in the Morning

By Samantha Satchell-Smith

“For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” Psalm 30:5

I was recently using a set of Soularium Cards to prompt meaningful discussion with a group of people I was with. Soularium Cards: A Dialogue in Pictures is described as this, “Just as sunlight illuminates a solarium, Soularium opens a window to the soul…because images connect deeply with our experiences, they enable us to engage in meaningful conversations about life & God.” One of the questions we were posed with was this, “When you think about your spiritual life or journey, which image best represents what you wish were true…what does that image represent?” Out of the collection of images of city streets, flowers, sunsets, mangled wire, and the like - the image that I connected with was that of a set of weathered, heavy wooden doors.

When I reflect on what I wish to be true about my faith, my spiritual life, and my journey, it is that at the end of my life, my faith, regardless of the mountain tops and the valley lows, that my faith stands firm. Weathered. Worn. But firm and tried. True. So that when I am overwhelmed with anxiety and frustrations of day-to-day life, and peace seems like a distant friend, that over time, I remember time and again that JOY comes in the morning. As Cain writes in their song I’m So Blessed, I remember that though: “Worry wanna steal my joy away…I ain’t gonna let it win… ‘Cause on my best day, I’m a child of God. On my worst day, I’m a child of God”. Indestructible Joy is formed over time and through grounding ourselves in the Truth that even though we may be in a difficult season today, a dark day that may not feel like it will ever end - JOY comes in the morning.

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