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From Lutheran Community Services November 2007

Editors: Following is some information about LCS that you might want to include in your newsletter. This information is prepared for church newsletter editors, secretaries and pastors. Your help in getting the word out is appreciated and will help LCS achieve its mission of “Sharing God’s blessings by helping others in need.” Comments about format, timing or content are welcome. Contact Steve Tindall (stindall@lcsde.org). 302 654 8886.

2007 Hunger Walk Run Results

Over 320 people registered and helped raise $42,500 at the annual Hunger Walk Run on September 22 in Wilmington’s Rockford Park. All of this goes directly to support the LIFE Food distribution points operated by Lutheran Community Services at 10 different locations in New Castle County. LIFE stands for Lutherans Involved in Food Emergencies, and the role of the local Lutheran community in raising that much money cannot be underestimated.

Grace was the number one fundraiser, with 47 participants raising over $9,000, followed by St. Marks with 67 participants raising $7,000. While Grace took home the trophy for raising the most, St. Marks received a trophy for the greatest turnout. Tree of Life in Middletown claimed the trophy for greatest level of participation. They had 15 participants compared to a confirmed membership of 87 (17%).

Jan Hufnal from Grace was the leading fundraiser with $3,787. Pastor Fred Melton from St. Marks was second with $2,935. The leading youth fundraiser was Jonathan Luettgen from Grace with $1,555, which was a record for youth fundraisers, who took home a DVD player and trophy. Second place fundraiser was Johnathan Freida from Hope who claimed a trophy and mini-fridge. Third place youth fundraiser was Jessica Shepp from Concordia. Six medals were awarded to the top runners (3 boys and 3 girls) in the 2nd Annual High School Cross Country Hunger Classic. Concord was the top fundraising school.

Lutheran Community Services was blessed to have had good weather for almost all of the 16 Walk Runs. This year the weather man promised a gorgeous morning.  What happened? From 8:00 a.m. until 9:00 a.m. – the critical time for registration – it rained cats and dogs! This caused some huge challenges for the paper-based registration process and the wonderful volunteers who did their best to hold up under their umbrellas. Then (miraculously) the rain ceased a few minutes before the nine o’clock start. But calculating the results was a soggy experience!

Coats for Kids and Clothing Programs Gearing Up

As cooler weather approaches Lutheran Community Services is rolling out its free clothing distribution schedule and its plans to distribute free brand new kids’ coats in cooperation with Operation Warm.

This is the fifth year LCS has worked with Operation Warm. This year, we have received 360 coats from them, ranging in size from 12 months to 14/16 in both boys and girls styles. Operation Warm was created to help kids keep warm but more than that to provide them with positive self esteem. Coat recipients will be identified among our housing client base and participants in grocery clubs at St. Philips, St. Pauls, New Calvary Baptist, and Tree of Life, in addition to our 1304 Rodney St. headquarters. Folks can volunteer to help out with the distribution the first week of November by calling Sandy Betley at 654 8886.

Regular free clothing distributions also take place in cooperation with the Clothing Bank of Delaware at:

· St. Philips before the 10 a.m. produce distribution on the first Monday of the month

· Hope before the 3 p.m. Mobile Pantry the third Thursday of the month

· St. Stephens at about 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday 11/7, 12/5, 1/16, 2/6, 3/5, 4/16, 5/7, 6/18

Home Repair “Scholarship” Appreciated

We recently added a “scholarship” component to our Home Oriented Maintenance for the Elderly (HOME) program so that clients will be charged according to their ability to pay. In response, we recently got this note from a client who paid zero labor costs:

“Thank you for your help and kindness with my home repairs. Special thanks to Mr. Howdie Scott for doing the much needed repairs on the outside of my front porch, which he did very professional, neat and looks wonderful. Mr. Scott was courteous and respectful at all times.

An appreciative senior citizen,”

[name withheld]