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!
