Growing Together

Watch our new video "Growing Together" and learn how LCS has grown and changed over the years to meet the needs of residents in Delaware.

News You Can Use

For Your Church Newsletter      - Prepared by Steve Tindall

From Lutheran Community Services      June 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.

Financial Counseling Helps Housing Clients

An LCS housing client is someone who comes to us looking for rent, mortgage, security deposit or utility assistance. Nowadays, after a housing client makes an appointment, we explain to them about Clarifi – our premier provider of financial literacy counseling for low income people. We tell them that before their LCS appointment, they must first make an appointment with Clarifi and show up for it. At that meeting the client and the counselor work out a reasonable personal budget. In this way, when clients arrive for their LCS appointment, they have a plan in hand and a realization about the importance of financial planning. Most clients are agreeable. According to an LCS housing assistance specialist, “I met with a housing client today who shared with me that he found the budgeting assistance from Clarifi very helpful. He said he is looking forward to returning in July when he starts a part-time job that will augment his fixed income, because his Clarifi counselor is going to help him figure out how to set up a savings account so his extra money can grow.”

Success at 10^th Annual LCS Room at the Table Breakfast

This year’s Room at the Table Breakfast held on May 7, 2014, was our tenth. And it was successful. It started with the challenge gifts, which we asked for before the breakfast. 94 people responded with gifts that totaled $88,958! Then came the breakfast. It was a beautiful morning when 320 guests packed the Crystal Ballroom at the Dupont Country Club for a continental breakfast and presentations. Clients Richard Porto and Nola Shockley offered testimonials about the huge impact LCS assistance had on their lives.  At the end of the one-hour breakfast, 189 of those present made gifts totaling $89,055. The total raised for the day through pledges and one-time gifts was a record of sorts -- $178,013. It was the most the breakfast ever raised, except for our first, which was our largest raising over $200,000. But we urge you to keep this in perspective and understand that we are not rolling in money. Much of what was raised is pledged for payment in future years. Our annual operating budget is well over a million dollars, and the money raised by the breakfast is fantastic, essential and already budgeted for our day-to-day operations.

Bank On It! Ground Breaking Begins - Thanks to BofA!

We will save this Dogwood!

Finally winter has subsided and we had a chance to go out with our friends from Bank of America to start work at the future site of our new office building. A picture perfect day was presented to us and we wasted no time once our volunteers arrived with a truck and trailer, shovels, pitchforks, rakes and hedge clippers in-hand!

Within minutes of everyone's arrival the Bank of America team descended down on their mission like a well trained military operation. Of course our volunteer leads Chuck Landry and Dick Hartman are retired from the military, so that may have had some bearing on the mission.

Large debris was removed from the grounds

Much work was to be done! Old tires, garbage, and surprisingly, a complete living room set (old couch, chairs etc.) were removed; as well as branches, small trees, shrubs, one huge tree trunk, and a dogwood tree one group was determined to save from overgrown bushes crowding it out of play.

That old saying "Many hands make light work" was taken seriously by Bank of America. In just under 3 hours, they filled and sent off to the land fill three huge trailer loads of debris from the site.

Team BofA cleared the field in no time!

Bank of America was thrilled to come out and be the trailblazers for this project and we are ever so thankful for their time, talent and tools!

Where we may have had some difficulty providing opportunities for a large group (10 or more) in the past, we can now start to think about projects over at the new property, especially that better weather is here. This is also providing us with some unique volunteer opportunities that we didn't have available at our current location, which is very exciting! 

Tree roots stuck? No problem!

This was the first day out of many to come that LCS will be planning. We are making plans to have gardens of various types in different locations on the property. As we begin to make plans and move forward with our gardens, various types of volunteer help will be needed, including "time, talents and tools."  Time being how much you spend with us. Talents can vary greatly depending on the planning phase we are currently in, and we do welcome anyone who wishes to jump on board with the planning.

Discussion about the front gardens.

We will need people to dig, rake, haul and mow. But we also need talent in garden design, pruning basics and determining which plants should be planted, at what time, and in which location for the best yield.

Tools, yes we will need gardening tools, but we also needs the tools of the mind. Since this is a start up project, we need lots of help in the "How To" area.   Tools can also be donations of goods and services needed to help make the project happen. Mulch, seeds, plants, etc. 

Third load to landfill.

Thank you Team BofA!!!

This is a community effort and we welcome everyone to join us in creating this special place to be used for the benefit of many.
We want to send out an enormous THANK YOU to Bank of America for giving so generously of themselves and we invite you to participate and  help LCS cultivate something truly extraordinary!

It has come to our attention that the grass is rather healthy and in need of a mowing and will  need to be maintained. Since we are not yet residing at the new building yet, it is hard to keep up with everything that needs to be done.

In order to keep from having any issues with city codes, we need to have the grass cut. If anyone would be willing to step forward and give our grass a trim every two weeks, please let us know! You can contact me at (302) 654-8886, ext 107.

We are always grateful for any help we can get.
Thank you again to everyone for all of your help!