New you can use - July 2016

Community Garden Harvest LCS staff have completed the first harvest of the season. Our community garden yielded over 45 pounds of onions, 8.25 pounds of collard greens, 6.6 pounds of green beans, and 5.5 pounds of herbs, which were subsequently distributed at the pantry at Hanover Presbyterian Church and our own Choice Pantry. More vegetables continue to grow and we look forward to future harvests, including tomatoes and chard.  If you're interested in volunteering in our Community Garden, please contact our volunteer coordinator, Cher Frampton. We'll also happily accept donations of excess produce from home gardens! Smoking Cessation Program Participant Excited for Future Assistant Program Director, Kathy Swanson spoke with John, a longtime Lutheran who had been smoking three packs a day. He was excited about how much money quitting was going to save him. When Kathy asked him what he was going to do with the extra, he immediately answered, "Pay my bills!" After a short pause, and with a smile she could hear over the phone, he added, "I'm going to buy more stuff for my kids." Quilters Needed LCS is looking for one or more quilters to help us with a special project for this year's 25th Annual Walk Run. If you, or someone you know, is interested in helping put together a special anniversary prize, please contact Assistant Marketing Director Heather Teig. Quilt squares and notions will be provided.

Gardening Help Wanted...

News You Can Use - May 2016

For Your Church Newsletter

From Lutheran Community Services                         

Editors: 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 timing or content are welcome. Contact Steve Tindall (stindall@lcsde.org). 302 654 8886.

Big Plans for LCS Garden

LCS has an urban garden at its headquarters location at 2809 Boulevard in Wilmington. With spring in the air, volunteers have turned to the garden with big plans. Last year, the garden raised over 200 lbs. of produce. This year, we can expect at least twice that much since the garden size is being

doubled, with most of the energy coming from volunteers. The produce yield will be divided between LCS for its choice pantry, and Hanover Presbyterian, which helped to secure last year’s start-up grant from the Speer Trust of the New Castle Presbytery. Lead volunteer in this effort is Spencer Hoernes, a student at the University of Delaware’s Ag School. In addition to doubling the garden’s size, Spencer is working hard to make it handicapped accessible. We’ve have also been approached by an Eagle Scout who is exploring the possibility of building steps to the garden which is about 8 feet higher than the parking lot it overlooks.

Plant a Row for the Pantry

Supply problems have made it difficult for LCS and its food distribution partners to obtain fresh produce for their regular distributions. One way regular folks can play a helpful, meaningful role in this is to plant an extra row or two in their gardens. It doesn’t matter too much what they plant and bring to the pantry, as long as it is fresh and ready to be distributed to hungry low income people when it arrives. Gardeners can bring produce to LCS headquarters, or if they are closer to another of our pantry or distribution sites, they can bring it there.

Women Helping Women

About 98% of the clients for our senior home repair program are women, and the majority of them are widows. So it was great to get a $1000 donation for the program from a woman who has a special place in her heart for those in need of a home repair – a broken window, a  new lock, grab bars, or whatever we can do to make them feel safe and secure in their homes..

New Format for LCS News Coming In June 2016! Watch for It!

News You Can Use November 2015

For Your Church Newsletter

From Lutheran Community Services                

Editors: 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 timing or content are welcome. Contact Steve Tindall (stindall@lcsde.org). 302 654 8886

Additional Resources for Long-Term Help

Our core services here at LCS are food and homelessness prevention assistance for low income people.  But many times interested folks want to know what steps we are taking to help people in need so that they won't need to come and see us again.  For homelessness prevention clients (those we help with back rent, mortgage, security deposits, or utilities), we do this by providing referrals to Clarifi for one-on-one financial literacy help before they come to our offices for their first appointment.  Clarifi is a nonprofit focused on financial literacy education.  Food clients can also attend classroom style financial literacy presentations when they visit LCS's food distributions.  This service is offered through $tand by Me, which is a state initiative.  So far this year, we have made two such presentations, to about 15 people each, and a third is planned.  Presentations begin with a discussion of attitudes about money before moving to traditional topics like credit repair and saving.

 

Another thing we provide for the long-term betterment of our clients is nutrition assistance.  With it, we reason, clients can fuel their bodies so they can do well in school, at home, or on the job.  We provide nutrition education literature at all food sites and classes at selected food sites.  This year we have held three nutrition classes (at Shiloh Baptist and St. Stephen's and Hope Lutheran) with the UD Cooperative Extension program.  Each program attracted 30 participants who are interested in nutrition for their families.  Topics include helpful information like shopping on a budget or making cost-effective nutritional dishes.

 

 LCS Garden Keeps Going

LCS planted a community pantry garden at its new site at 2809 Baynard Boulevard in Wilmington as a result of a grant from the Speer Trust.  So for this year , we have harvested over 200 pounds of fresh vegetables from the garden that we directed to Hanover Presbyterian's food pantry, which is a close and good partner.  We have extended our growing season as much as we could, and replanted (lettuce, carrots, and broccoli) in early October with a final harvest set for early November.  Tools and supplies for the garden were provided at cost by Fairfax Hardware- who we heartily thank.  Just as we want to thank Coverdale Farms for all the seedlings! 

 

News You Can Use - August 2015

For Your Church Newsletter

From Lutheran Community Services                         

On Saturday, September 19th LCS will host the 24thAnnual Hunger Walk Run in Wilmington’s Rockford Park. Registration opens at 8 a.m., and the walkers and runners leave the starting line an hour later, at 9. Last year’s event set a record by raising over $50,000, and this year organizers are shooting for $60,000. All the money raised goes toward LCS’s emergency food pantry system for low income people. Each year, LCS responds to over 76,000 requests for emergency food, which it provides at 14 separate locations. The Walk Run is the single largest source of funding for its food programs, and without it LCS would be hard pressed to continue to serve as many people as it does.  The cost to enter the event remains the same – Register by 9/17 and it’s only $15. On the day of the eventit will be an additional $5 for adults. To get a free Champion Fundraiser T-shirtand registration, adult entrants need to raise $60 in sponsorships, and youthentrants need to raise $30 in sponsorships. Keep in mind, however, that youth who enter the Youth Run Against Hunger will get a free T-shirt that way. To registeronline or get more info, visit www.lcsde.org.

LCS Offers Tours

The new LCS Building at 2809 Baynard Boulevard was dedicated in early June. If you are interested in seeing the new building, LCS has organized tours twice a month for the rest of the year:

11:00 a.m.                   4:30 p.m.­

August 6               August 18

September 15       September 3 

October 13           October 1 

November 17        November 12

December 15         December 3

Tours last one hour or less and provide a glimpse of what LCS does to help low income people in our community who are hungry or homeless. Visitors leave it with a new appreciation for LCS.  Contact Steve Tindall to schedule a tour – stindall@lcsde.org or 302 654 8886, extension 105.

News You Can Use - June 2015

For Your Church Newsletter

From Lutheran Community Services          

Editors: 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 timing or content are welcome. Contact Steve Tindall (stindall@lcsde.org). 302 654 8886.

We’ve Moved!

LCS New Headquarters at 2809 Baynard Blvd.

At the end of April, LCS moved its headquarters from Rodney Street where it has been for over 30 years to its new home at 2809 Baynard Boulevard in Wilmington. The capital campaign organized to help facilitate funding for the purchase and renovation of the new building has raised almost $1.5 million, but there is still some work to be done to reach our $2.2 million goal. We have a number of fundraising strategies at work, and we are following up on all of them. The list of great things about our new building is a long one and includes more space, upgraded computer systems, a 25-car parking lot, community pantry garden, an elevator, a volunteer center and lots more. If you miss the June 4
Dedication, contact us and we will schedule you a tour.

Garden boxes are built and scheduled for
first planting by end of May.

New Community Pantry Garden

The new community pantry garden at our new headquarters is designed to provide fresh produce to supplement what we provide in our pantries and those of our partner, Hanover Presbyterian Church. Funding was provided by the Speer Trust of the New Castle Presbytery. We’ve had all kinds of volunteers helping with the garden including a group from Bank of America who helped clear the garden spot. Chuck Landry, from St. Stephen’s has been a mainstay helping to supervise volunteers and design the garden.  Six Lutheran Campus Ministry students from the University of Delaware provided the much needed energy and muscle to build and fill the first four raised garden boxes with a luscious mix of topsoil and compost.  Each garden box is 4 foot by 8 foot so can accommodate many delicious vegetables.  The boxes are raised a foot above the soil and have a liner of geotextile fabric so that any potential pollutants in the ground will not be able to have contact with the roots of the vegetables that will be grown in them.  The Delaware Center for Horticulture has been instrumental in providing guidance regarding the design of these garden boxes.