by Social Ministry Team | Oct 31, 2019 | Social Ministry
CHRISTMAS IS COMING!!
The Social Ministry team is sharing some important input as you prepare for the season of giving. Over the years, we have helped the congregation consider the option of doing “alternative giving,” donating to a cause or organization in honor of the person who normally receives a gift from you. In the more recent years, we have provided the ELCA Good Gifts catalog in the Welcome Center, to help you shop for your family and friends. Those catalogs are there now and ready for your use. Please take one, or you can go to ELCA.org/goodgifts and place your order there.
Also in the past few years, we have shared about a distinctive opportunity in Colorado to support the non-profits you may support throughout the year on one special day. This program is called ColoradoGives and will happen on one day only: December 10th. The Community First Foundation and First Bank each donated $500K to this effort in order to celebrate and increase philanthropy throughout the state. The non-profits who are approved to be a part of this program receive a pro-rata share of the $1 million incentive fund, based on the total donations for that day across the state. Some of the organizations who are in the mix for this year are: Manna, Rainbow Trail, Boys and Girls Club, La Plata Family Centers, KSUT, San Juan Symphony, for example. You can browse the local and statewide organizations and schedule your donation to happen automatically 12/10. The website is: coloradogives.org
We hope you may consider these opportunities to honor family and friends in this way at Christmas . Blessings to you as you prepare for the birth of our Lord.
OFFERING OF LETTERS UPDATE
Hello everyone,
First, we would like to thank everyone who wrote letters to congress for Bread for the World. We took them to Washington, where they were graciously received. Between emails and letters, we sent 113 messages to Congress in support of hunger legislation.
Second, we are moving into a busy season for all of us, so the Social Ministry Committee would like to remind you of the things we always do in November and December so you can have them on your calendars.
- Tuesday, November 26 (the Tuesday before Thanksgiving for John Condie), we will have our annual Stuffing Making Party to produce enough stuffing for more than a thousand people at the Durango Community Thanksgiving Dinner. We need a few onion and celery choppers at 4:00 and then hordes of bread rippers at 5:00. It will take place a Manna Soup Kitchen.
- December 9-15, we will be ringing the bell for Salvation Army at the North Door of Wal-Mart. Sign-up sheets will be out mid-November, so be looking for them.
- Finally, as always, we will be doing our Angel Tree in conjunction with Project Merry Christmas. We hope to have the Angels up on the board by Sunday, December 1 (the Sunday after Thanksgiving).
Thanks for reading to the end. As always, we exist to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”
The Social Ministry Committee.
by Social Ministry Team | Sep 30, 2019 | Social Ministry
Rally Day Feedback
Thanks to all for stopping by the Ministry table at Rally Day on September 8th. We had some folks sign up for various activities, including a new member of our Social Ministry Committee, and coordinators for our Thanksgiving stuffing making and for organizing our Salvation Army bell ringing week.
We have one more important opportunity: Angel Tree coordinator–effort at the end of November and early December to get the families information from Project Merry Christmas and make up the Angels for the board. Then in the third week of December, the gifts need to be organized for delivery. Occasionally, the organizer needs to purchase (with CtK funds) requested items on the Angel tags not taken. If you can help out this year, please contact John Condie at johnandwanda@bresnan.net by November 1st.
Also, on Rally Day, we tried to catch current Thrivent members to help plan for the use of Action Team dollars for 2020. If you are a member and didn’t connect with Jigger Staby, please contact her at jpstaby@msn.com.
Thanks for your continued support and involvement!
Bread for the World–Offering of Letters
As many of you know, CtK is a covenant church with Bread for the World, an ecumenical organization lobbying to reduce hunger in this country and the world. October 20th is Bread for the World Sunday. That day, we will do our annual Offering of Letters, an effort to have members of CtK write letters to our congressman and senators advocating for hunger legislation. This year we will be asking them to cosponsor House Resolution 189/Senate Resolution 260, “A resolution recognizing the importance of sustained United States leadership to accelerating global progress against maternal and child malnutrition and supporting the commitment of the United States Agency for International Development to global nutrition through the Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Strategy.” The resolution acknowledges the improvement in mother and child health that has been accomplished with the leadership of the U.S. It currently has 114 sponsors in the house (none from Colorado) and 34 in the Senate (including Cory Gardner from Colorado). The bills were introduced in March and were referred to committee, where they will be taken up soon. So the timing is perfect. Please be in church that Sunday to pick up materials and instructions for writing letters.
Thank you from all of us on the Social Ministry Committee.
by Social Ministry Team | Aug 31, 2019 | Social Ministry
Bread for the World Offering of Letters—September 20th
We will be doing our annual Offering of Letters on Sunday, October 20th. This year’s focus is on global nutrition. Here is a synopsis of the current situation:
“Today, nearly 821 million people in the world—11 percent of the world’s population—remain hungry. One in 4 of the world’s children are affected by stunting, resulting in irreversible life consequences. Countries in Central America, South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa are disproportionately affected. Almost half of all child deaths worldwide are linked to malnutrition.”
We delayed our weekend of lifting up our voices so we can have members back from summer vacations and have more information on the current efforts underway which affect this issue.
We will be writing letters (or sending e-mails) to our three Members of Congress supporting H. Resolution 189 and increasing global nutrition funding to $250 million in the Fiscal Year 2020 appropriations bill.
So bring your pen or your device and lift your voice in support of those across the world suffering from hunger and poverty.
by Social Ministry Team | Jun 30, 2019 | Social Ministry
Love Out Loud
A huge, heartfelt THANK YOU to all those who participated in the 2019 Love Out Loud event. What an amazing demonstration of God’s love as we served individuals and organizations on dozens of community service projects. We prepared 40 meals as part of the Meal Ministry held in our CtK kitchen. CtK also hosted a Blood Drive and appreciated the 19 donors who participated in that project. Thanks for spreading the Love!
Habitat Update
Many thanks to our 12 CtK volunteers who worked on the Habitat duplex and helped with lunch. John Condie, Larry Fry, Jim Shadell, Dominique Holling, Larry Rardin, Tom Gray, Clark Lagow, Paul and Matt Pane all turned out to do some framing, painting, laying mulch, and building scaffolding…at least I think that’s what it was. Barb Hawxhurst, Carroll Groeger, and Rap Fairley provided lunch for all the workers, which included not only CtK, but 2 groups of Americore volunteers, one of the partnership families, the construction manager, and a Hammer’s Club volunteer. Habitat gives people “A hand up, not a hand out”.
Those of you wishing to volunteer more, Habitat for Humanity has a Hammer’s Club volunteer group which works during the week. Contact Habitat Volunteer Coordinator, Taylor Irwin, at 970-382-2215 if you are interested or talk to Tom Gray.
~ Rap Fairley, CtK’s Habitat Coordinator
by Social Ministry Team | Mar 30, 2019 | Social Ministry
The world provides enough food for all, but more than 800 million people around the world face chronic hunger. We believe in a God of abundance, so as a church, we live out our call in baptism to strive for a just world where all are fed. ELCA World Hunger is our church’s ministry to end hunger and poverty. We walk alongside our partners and companions in the US and more than 60 other countries. Your gifts to ELCA World Hunger address hunger and poverty around the world with creative and courageous action.
This Lent, you are invited to join together with fellow supporters to study, reflect, and give during ELCA World Hunger’s 40 Days of Giving. Experience how the grace of Christ moves us to engage in transformative works of love around the world as God calls us into the ministry of hope, liberation, and restoration for our world.
Give Today: Mail — Make your check payable to “ELCA World Hunger” and write “40 Days of Giving” on the memo line. Place your check in the offering plate or mail to: ELCA, P. O. Box 1809, Merrifield, VA 22116-8009.
Online — Give online with a credit card at: ELCA.org/40Days
Phone — 1-800-638-3522
Palms for Palm Sunday
The palms we will use on Palm Sunday (April 14th) are brought to you by Eco-Palms, a Lutheran World Relief partner. Eco-Palms communities use harvesting methods that protect the land they so greatly depend on for their livelihood; methods which also aid substantially in the community’s investment in forest fire protection. What’s more, their harvesting process provides jobs and income to growing communities instead of middlemen reaping the benefits. See the story at: https://lwr.org/story-hub/how-lutheran-congregations-helped-transform-business-palms
Habitat Update
SAVE THE DATE!! The CtK Habitat Work Day will be Saturday, June 1st this year. If all goes according to plan, we will be FRAMING per request. Keep in mind, there was a lot of snow this winter—could be a late start. Either way, thanks! ~ Rap Fairley for CtK Habitat
