News You Can Use - January 2015

For Your Church Newsletter - Prepared by Steve Tindall
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.

LCS Helps Smokers Quit

The New Year is a great time to make resolutions. A wonderful resolution for smokers is: Quit! LCS helps people do that by providing pharmacy vouchers for low income Delaware clients who want to be free of tobacco addiction. Income-qualified participants get help with smoking cessation aids like gum and the patch. But even if smokers don’t qualify because their incomes are too high, the state still wants them to quit and will provide individualized quit plans tailored to each individual’s need.

Blessing From One of Our Clients

A few days ago, one of our clients, after receiving utility assistance (to prevent her homelessness), took a minute to jot us a note: “May God bless all the people who donate to LCS, because I was in need and God provided. May they experience God’s rich blessings for Christmas!”

New Building Update

The New Year is also a great time to take stock of one’s accomplishments. LCS has kept all of its services operating during a time of great need. At the same time, it managed the financing and began renovation of a new much-needed headquarters building on Baynard Boulevard in Wilmington. The budget and fundraising goal for the project has been established at $1.8 million. Already, we have raised nearly two-thirds of its goal. We still have a number of important grant applications to hear responses from, plus a broader request for funds when the campaign goes public in January. We expect the building to be completed by May 2015.

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News You Can Use - December 2014

For Your Church Newsletter

From Lutheran Community Services  - Prepared by Steve Tindall                 

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.

LCS Works to Help Vets

LCS recently received a grant from Home Depot that is to be used to help veterans with home repairs. Our first job is to build steps for a disabled veteran. The work will be done by two of our home repair specialists working under our Home Oriented Repairs for the Elderly (HOME) program. The Home Depot grant is for materials only, so we partnered with several other agencies that donated labor costs:  Paralyzed Veterans of America, Thrivent Financial, and Vitas Home Health Care. Plus the Town of Elsmere waived the building permit and license fees. What a partnership! Contact Sandy Betley at 654 8886 x108 for more information about the program.

New Report Says Only the Rich Are Thriving

 

A comprehensive report by the Federal Reserve finds that most American’s incomes have fallen since 2007, and the recovery hasn’t brought them back up. The only Americans who have recovered are wealthy ones. In 1989, the richest 3 percent of the population controlled 45% of the nation’s wealth. By the end of 2013, that number had grown to over 54%. By contrast, the majority of American families cannot even handle an unexpected expense of $400, and would have to sell something, borrow or not pay, according to the report. What’s more, the median net worth of the bottom 20% of US households was only $6,400. Statistics like these demonstrate why many Delawareans need LCS’s help.

LCS to Needs Your Votes for Walmart Holiday Campaign

LCS has been named as a finalist in Walmart’s “Food Pantry Holiday Makeover” Campaign! A total of 150 food pantries from across the country will compete for a share of $1.5 million. The purpose of the campaign is to provide founding for infrastructure or equipment improvements to make it easier for agencies like LCS to help hungry families. The 75 pantries with the most votes at the end of the voting period (Dec. 2 through Dec. 12) will receive a $20,000 grant. The voting site is . This is a great opportunity for LCS, but we need your votes! You can vote every 24 hours using your Facebook account, and you can steer people to vote anytime! Links to vote will also be available on our website (www.lcsde.org) and Facebook page (www.facebook.com/lcsde).

www.walmart.com/holidaymakeover

Receptionist Volunteer Opportunities Available Now...

NEW!  Receptionist - Main Office We are currently looking for a volunteer receptionist for the front desk at our main office in Wilmington on N. Rodney Street. Candidates need to posses excellent communication, phone  and basic computer skills, some experience with office machines such as printers and fax machine a plus. Ability to be flexible and willing to learn new things. This opening is for Mondays and Thursdays from 8:30 am until 3:30 pm.  Free parking is provided.


NEW!  Receptionist - Office at Zion Lutheran Church
Our pantry at Zion Lutheran Church on Rt.48 in Wilmington is in immediate need of a receptionist during their pantry hours. (Tue/Wed/Thur) from 9am to 11:am. Duties include answering phone, greeting clients, taking messages, communicating with the pantry coordinator and doing some paperwork. Training and free parking is provided.

These positions will fill quickly, so if you are interested contact us ASAP! These are perfect positions for a retired individual who may want to keep their professional skills polished, or for an individual looking for some job experience and skill building for a future job. Interested candidates should send resume (if available) to Cher Frampton at cframpton@lcsde.org or 302-654-8886, x 107.  Openings are available immediately. 

Important Produce and Pantry Schedule Info

http://www.lcsde.org

LCS Videos in the News

Check out a few  recent videos about LCS either in the news or produced by our Marketing Director Heather Teig and others. You can visit our YouTube channel to see more by clicking here.

"Big Picture" Lutheran Community Service New Wilmington Headquarters Groundbreaking 

2014 Hunger Walk/Run - Rockford Park, Wilmington Delaware

Over $52,000 raised!

Learn about how LCS is changing and growing while continuing to help the
people of Delaware with basic needs.

News You Can Use - November 2014

For Your Church Newsletter

From Lutheran Community Services   - By Steve Tindall               

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.

Best Ever Walk Run Results - $52,129.00!!!

5....4...3...2...1.... GO!

What an outstanding Walk Run. The weather and crowd were wonderful; and the money raised surpassed all previous records -- $52,129! The previous high was last year’s $46,172.  Why such good results? Because of the excellent effort put forward by all 277 participants, combined with record-breaking fundraising by some real pros. The person who raised the most was perennial favorite Jan Hufnal, with $5,405, a record. The second place adult was James Nichols who raised $3,000. Third was Fred Melton who raised $2,150. The best story about fundraising, however, belongs to a youth fundraiser – Dan Luettgen from Grace who raised $4,625 another record. Other youthful fund-raisers are Hope Munson in second place with $422, followed by Rachel Ierien, who raised $370 for third place. But remember, the real winners are all the thousands of hungry families that receive LCS food as a result of the funds raised at this event!

St. Marks - Winner for the Most People and
Highest Percentage of their Congregation

Now for the churches. Given the performances of Hufnal and Luettgen, Grace was an easy first place in the fundraising department with $15, 378. St. Mark’s was second in that race with $12,934. St. Mark’s with 70 participants was a shoo-in for winning the largest turnout trophy. They also took home the trophy for having the highest percentage of congregational participation with a hefty 13.78% participating.

DuPont came out in force and to Live United.

The most exciting part of the event was the 2014 Youth Run Against Hunger. Among the boys, first place was taken by Nathan Hawk who finished the 5k in 21:11. He was followed by Dan Luettgen (23:35) and Ben Swift (25:59). The first place girl finisher was Phoebe Swanson who handled the course in 28:19. Second place among the girls was claimed by Megen Derrickson who finished in 33:46 with Riley Keller close on her heels to take third in 33:47.

Thank You to All of the Volunteers who came out to help that day!

Financial Literacy Update

LCS refers all its homelessness prevention clients to Clarifi, a nonprofit provider of financial literacy training. Last year only about 10% of our clients were taking advantage of this option. But virtually all need it, so LCS strengthened its partnership with Clarifi and changed how the program was administered. The result? So far in 2014, 78% of homeless prevention clients have had financial literacy training under the program.

Volunteer Opportunities Available for September

We currently have the following volunteering opportunities at LCS...

NEW! Receptionist - Main Office - We are currently looking for a volunteer receptionist for the front desk at our main office in Wilmington on N. Rodney Street. Candidates need to posses excellent communication skills, phone skills, basic computer skills, some experience with office machines such as printers and fax machine a plus. Ability to be flexible and willing to learn new things. This opening is for Thursdays from 8:30 am until 3:30 pm.  This is the perfect position for a retired individual who may want to keep their professional skills polished, or for an individual looking for some job experience and skill building for a future job. Interested candidates should send resume (if available) to Cher Frampton at cframpton@lcsde.org.  Opening is available immediately. 

 
NEW!Photographer Needed for day of the 23rd Annual Hunger Walk Run - We are in need for one or even two additional photographers for the morning of the walk/run being held on Saturday, September 20 in Rockford park. Hours are from 7am until about 11:30am -12pm.  If you are passionate about photography and would like to help out the morning of, give us a call! 302-654-8886, x 107. Ask for Cher Frampton or email cframpton@lcsde.org.

LCS Walk/Run September 20, 2014
in Rockford Park.  Click Here to Register!

Deadline! Walk/Run Teams  - There is still plenty of time to register on-line!  Be part of the largest Lutheran Fundraising and Annual Celebration in Delaware! Lot's of fun and for a great cause and hosted at gorgeous Rockford Park in Wilmington. Prizes, snacks, music...don't miss out! Click below to register, it's fast, it's easy and makes fundraising a breeze!Deadline for online registration - 4pm, Thursday, September 18. You may register the day of the event, registration opens at 8am.



Pantry Workers - St. Stephen's - We are in need of some good reliable pantry volunteers at St. Stephen's pantry on Broom Street in Wilmington. Duties include stocking shelves, packing bags, taking client referrals and getting their grocery orders to them, opening and closing the pantry, receiving food deliveries, keeping in good communications with the pantry coordinator and the volunteer coordinator.

Pantry is open from Monday to Friday from 9am to 12pm. We are especially in need of people on Thursday and Fridays. But we take people any days. 10 Openings.
You can work 1 day a month, 1 day a week, all week,  2 days a week...it's entirely up to you. All we ask is that you are reliable and show up when you are scheduled unless there are circumstances beyond your control.  The work at St. Stephen's is vital to the community feeding over 25,000 people a year and the volunteer staff is critical to keep the day to day operations running.
If you are unable to work the 9 to 12 shift we are also in need  of after hour stockers who can work with some special need populations. The shift is from 12 to 2 or until  you are finished (which is often before 2pm)  4 Openings

Pantry Workers - Zion Lutheran Church - Our pantry in Zion Lutheran Church on Lancaster Ave in Wilmington is also in search of similar workers for their pantry. Their hours of operation vary slightly. They are open from 9am till 11:30am on Tues, Wed and Thurs.
If you would like to work at this location, please let us know, they are also in need! 5 Openings.



Volunteer Mentors: We are looking for experienced mature volunteers who are interested in mentoring younger or special needs individuals who need one on one coaching at our St. Stephen's pantry on Broom Street in Wilmington. We try to give everyone the opportunity to volunteer despite age or ability and we are currently in need of some extra help to work with these special individuals. This is an special job that requires a person with patience, maturity, who is open to diversity in the work place and willing to give individualized attention to one of our volunteers to help them grow and develop in the work place. Up to the challenge? Than this is the position for you!  3 Openings.


If any of these positions are of interest to you contact the LCS Volunteer Coordinator, Cher Frampton at cframpton@lcsde.org or 302-654-8886 x 107.

Volunteer to Your Health!

Older Adults Who Volunteer are Happier and Healthier, Study

 

A new study reveals that older adults who remain active by volunteering are much happier and healthier. 

Researchers at the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest Health Sciences looked at the data available on the psychological health benefits older adults receive from formal volunteering. They evaluated 73 studies that were published over 45 years and involved adults aged 50 years and above. All these adults were in formal volunteering roles.

They found that adults involved in volunteering received more... Read More.

News You Can Use - September 2014

For Your Church Newsletter  - Prepared by: Steve Tindall

From Lutheran Community Services      September 2014

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.

Register Yourself and Your Dog for the Walk Run Online

No, the Annual Hunger Walk Run has not “gone to the dogs,” but we are making accommodations this year so that owners can register their dogs for the first time. This should prove to add some entertainment to the event and at the same offer dog owners an opportunity to raise more money in sponsorships, because sponsorships for the dog are attributed to the human owner that registered it. The best way to register is to do it online at our website:  www.lcsde.org.  Make sure that when you are registering you click the box that indicates the registration is for a “Canine.” This year’s Walk Run will be held at Rockford Park on Saturday September 20, 2014.  Registration starts at 8:00 for the 9:00 start.

Capital Campaign for New Building

LCS’s home of 30-plus years on Rodney Street has been sold, and LCS is going to be moving across town to a new location at 2809 Baynard Boulevard. The building we have acquired, with financing through the Lutheran Church Extension Fund, is two stories high, built of brick, with a total of 6,000 square feet. Renovations are set to start in September and should be finished by March. Until then, we will continue to be located at 1304 Rodney Street. Benefits of the new building are many, and they should take LCS to new levels of service and commitment to the community.

New advantages include a “choice” pantry, where people needing food can have a role in deciding what they get. We also plan to construct a community garden to create a seasonal source of fresh produce for our low income clients. Additional space will be devoted to client interview rooms where they can discuss their needs in private, and to a volunteer center to help manage the many volunteers that support us. To make this all happen, LCS has recruited a Capital Campaign Committee composed of 17 talented community leaders. The committee meets monthly and has been charting strategies to raise the $1.6 million needed to complete this project. While we are in the quiet phase of the campaign now, concentrating on leadership donors, a broader community-based campaign will begin in early 2015.