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Thrivent |
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THRIVENT NEWS - ARLINGTON CHAPTER
OSLC has supported Thrivent Financial for Lutheran benevolent activities – as well as benefiting from them. A special thanks to the members of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans – whose ownership of Thrivent financial products make it possible for Thrivent to provide financing for these activities. Key to this entire process are the Congregational Coordinators and those from the congregation who serve on the board of the Arlington Chapter of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. See Arlington Chapter web site for information on those who serve you in these important functions
Here is how you can participate. If you are not already a Thrivent member we urge you to be in touch with Greg Roemer our Thrivent Financial Representative.
Care in Communities and Care in Congregations Programs:
Each year, Thrivent provides around $1500 (including Care in Congregations and Arlington Chapter operating funds) for our congregation to use for activities of the congregation's choosing. From supporting the youth group's Super Sunday sub sales to helping the Cotta Guild in its annual Advent wreath evening, these monies represent an important contribution to congregation-based activities. If you have an idea for a project that Care in Congregations matching funds might support, please see one of our congregational coordinators – Lori Bodling, John Ohashi, and Gwyn Powers.
The four congregations – OSLC, Faith, Advent and Resurrection -- in the Arlington Chapter of Thrivent share about $12,000 in Care in Communities money from Thrivent to support congregation projects in the community -- near and far. Part of this money went to match a door offering to aid a family undergoing extraordinary medical costs. We also used some of that funding to match monies raised in connection with the Relay for Life discussed below. Please consider applying for matching Care in Communities funds from the Chapter to supplement fund-raising for projects you might organize.
Join Hands Day
Thanks to Teresa Powell’s hard work, we had a successful Join Hands Day project on May 30 at Faith Lutheran involving youth and adults from the four churches in the Arlington Chapter. What is Join Hands Day? It is a national volunteer effort that brings youth and adults together to improve communities and have fun while helping others.
What did we do? This was a modification of last year’s two-part project involving the Mid-Atlantic Gleaning Network (MAGNET) and the Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC). MAGNET organizes the harvesting of fresh fruits and vegetables for low-income communities in need. AFAC helps distribute the food in Arlington County. MAGNET delivered thousands of pounds of sweet potatoes to Faith for sorting. AFAC picked up the load. Over 40 adults and youth from all four congregations sorted the produce and helped load the AFAC truck.
Relay for Life:
We had perfect weather and great fellowship at the June 20-21 2009 Relay for Life at Wakefield High School! Thanks to Marianne Hetzer for organizing the Chapter’s involvement. Irene Piper was the point of contact for OSLC and senior OSSM youth joined in as part of their annual summer all night event. This is such a popular and successful event that we plan to do this again next June so see Irene or visit Relay for Life for details on how to join the Arlington Chapter Thrivent team.
Thrivent Builds/Habitat for Humanity
On July 25 about 15 volunteers – a special thanks to Sharon Tope and Karen Harwoood for feeding the work crew -- from Our Savior Lutheran Church participated in a build day for a Habitat for Humanity townhouse in Southeast DC. We partnered with the DC Chapter of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans to support this project which is funded through Thrivent Financial grant (65%); Habitat for Humanity funding (25%) and financial support from local Lutheran congregations (10%) including Our Savior Lutheran Church. This is the fourth Thrivent builds/Habitat for Humanity project that we have supported through financial contributions and volunteer labor in the last five years. If you missed out on the opportunity in July, there are opportunities in August to help complete this project. For details see the DC Habitat for Humanity web site www.dchabitat.org.
AFAC Progressive Dinner and Cereal Challenge:
As we did last year, the Arlington Chapter will sponsor an Oktoberfest involving the four Churches in the Arlington Chapter on October 4. Thanks to Chris Johnston’s extraordinary efforts this has become a significant additional support effort for AFAC. In addition, we are conducting a cereal drive for AFAC from May through August. The four congregations in the Arlington Chapter of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans are in a “friendly” competition as we use this opportunity to meet one of AFAC’s greatest needs. Debbie Hambridge led a collection drive connected with the June VBS at Our Savior Lutheran Church. Last year the four churches contributed about 800 boxes of cereal for AFAC.
Crop Walk:
Karen Harwood will coordinate the Chapter’s participation in the Arlington Country Crop Walk on October 17. We hope to organize Chapter participation in the event that again will involve both youth and adults. Watch for more details.
Next Chapter Meeting:
The next meeting of the Arlington Chapter of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans will be on September 21 at OSLC at 7:30 PM. Visit the Arlington Chapter web site to learn more about Thrivent’s local activities.
GivingPlus for OSL School and the Lutheran Hour:
Thrivent members have used the Thrivent GivingPlus program to help "build" our kids at OSL School! Over the past five years we have raised $10,000 each year in GivingPlus matching funds for the school’s scholarship fund. There are few easier ways to support our school than through the Thrivent Financial for Lutherans GivingPlus program. If you are an adult Thrivent member (16 and up), you can give up to $600 to OSL School and Thrivent will match up to $300. Instructions and forms for the GivingPlus Program are in the narthex or online. We will need every Thrivent benefit member to participate in the GivingPlus program for OSL School.
You can also use GivingPlus to match you contributions to the Lutheran Hour.
SimplyGiving Program:
Do not forget the SimplyGiving program as a way of using pre-authorized withdrawal (EFT) from your bank account to make your contributions to OSLC, or pay tuition at OSL School. Did you know that in 2005, 67% of consumers paid their bills online? It would be great if we could have that percentage of contributors and tuition payers at Our Savior Lutheran Church and School use SimplyGiving.
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