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News You Can Use - April 2016

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.

Gimme Shelter Golf Tourney May 20!

This year’s Gimme Shelter Golf Tournament is set for May 20, and 100 golfers are being sought. The 2016 event takes place at Ed Oliver’s Golf Course in Wilmington on May 20, and will feature a shotgun start. If you are interested, contact tournament director Larry Friday at

302 438 1290 or fridayla@msn.com. Many registrants are from area Lutheran and non-Lutheran churches, but you don’t need a church to register. All Are Welcome! Go to www.lcsde.org to download a form. The golf tournament benefits LCS’s homelessness prevention programs.

Walk Run Plans Begin for September 17

The annual LCS Walk Run Against Hunger will take place in Rockford Park on Saturday September 17. Lutheran and non-Lutheran teams alike will participate and vie for fundraising honors, prizes, and free T-shirts. If you are interested in getting involved or helping to organize this year’s event, contact Steve Tindall – stindall@lcsde.org or 302 654 8886 x105. Again, all are welcome. The Walk Run Against Hunger benefits LCS’s emergency food programs.

And Don’t Forget This Year’s Breakfast – May 4

Each year over 300 people gather at the Dupont Country Club for LCS’s annual Room at the Table Free Fundraising Breakfast. Each Lutheran Church should have a Table Captain. If you are interested in attending, contact your Table Captain, or Steve Tindall at stindall@lcsde.org, or 302 654 8886 x105. The breakfast raises money for LCS’s general/operating funds.

Home Repair Program Lauded

In a recent letter to Program Director Aaron Ballett, one of our home repair clients said it was “difficult to adequately express my gratitude and appreciation” for LCS’s assistance with her plumbing repairs. What’s more, she gave a thank you and a nod to the repair specialist “for his pleasant professionalism and awesome plumbing skills.” What an endorsement! This program is designed for senior homeowners most of whom are low income and definitely in need.

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.

On your mark, get set....GO!

And...get posters out into the community!!  We are currently asking for volunteers to put posters out for our 23rd Annual 5k Walk/Run being held on September 20th. If you ever wanted to volunteer for LCS but was not sure what you could do, this is an easy and important opportunity that can make a difference and the time is now! If you already volunteer for LCS, we need your help right now!

Here is what the poster looks like. You can also take an electronic copy of this poster from this blog (Just click on photo, then right click, copy, save to directory of your choosing on your computer.) Promote the walk/run on your twitter account, Facebook, Instagram..wherever you use social media on the web and do so liberally!  If you would like a printable version of  our poster, just contact me at cframpton@lcsde.org.

We also have these posters at our office and need them taken out into the community and put into local churches, schools, store fronts, anywhere there is foot traffic. We cannot do this one alone and the more people who participate, the wider our scope of distribution.

We would also like to announce that on-line registration is now live. On-line registration is easy and fun and will increase your fund raising capacity. So hop on line and get registered today, its easy and you will love how much easier it is to do. If you need assistance contact Heather at hteig@lcsde.org after July 7.

WALK RUN REGISTRATION - CLICK HERE!

Missing a Friend...

This year when we began gathering the walk/run committee to start planning for this years event, a face was missing. A very important face...Joseph Lange. His wife Linda was and she had the sad task of informing us that Joe was not feeling so good and probably would not be working on the walk/run this year. We all said our prayers for Joe and hoped for the best. 

He was hard shoes to fill with everything he did for that event. He would show up around 6am in the morning with a large truck filled with tables and chair, signage, hammers and I am pretty sure duct tape. (It fixes everything you know!) He made sure everything was set up, signs were hung up, including on the tower in Rockford park, so that the next wave of volunteers coming in could set up their stations. Without him, we couldn't get started. Years before he did a lot of hands on work with the money and registration. Linda, his wife, would pick up much of the food and bring it in and help set that up. The Langes have just been such an important part of that event.  Until the unthinkable.

On November 3rd we lost Joseph to his illness. It was a bit of a shock, and it will take some time for our group to recover from such a loss. I often wonder how people can think that volunteers are not that valuable, or so easily replaceable. They obviously have never worked at LCS. Or worked with volunteers at all or anywhere who has them for that matter. It is at such times as these that we sit and reflect on how blessed we are and have been as an organization to have such wonderful volunteers such as Joseph and Linda Lange. So thank you, thank you so much for all both of you gave to us for so many years!

Below is Joseph's obituary and I followed it up with Greater Power, November's monthly prayer we will be handing out.


Joseph B. Lange

AGE: 68 • Wilmington

Joseph B. Lange, age 68, of Wilmington, DE, passed away on November 3, 2013 at home surrounded by his family.

Joe was born and raised in Wilmington, to the late Joseph and Winona Lange. He was a graduate of Mt. Pleasant High School. Joe served two tours of duty in Vietnam with the Seabees and was a certified diver with MCB-7. He owned and operated Lange Construction, Inc. for 31 years. Joe was a Scout Leader for Troop 62. He was a Master Mason and belonged to Brandywine Lodge, #33 A.F. & A.M., where he served as president of the Hall Company. Joe was an active member of St. Mark's Lutheran Church. He volunteered at Sojourner's Place and Lutheran Community Service in Wilmington. Joe enjoyed spending time with his family and friends. He also loved to travel, enjoyed hunting, woodworking and doing projects with his sons.

Joe is survived by his wife of 45 years, Linda L. Lange, his children, Michael Lange (Pamela) Stephen Lange (Jennifer) Sharon Gaskill (Jason), his sister Jeannette August (Ronald), his grandchildren, Ashley MacLeish, Skyler Elizabeth Lange and Jaxon Gaskill.


Greater Power 

Every month we have a pastor/reverend from a different church write us a new and inspirational prayer to offer the recipients of our food services.  We place a copy of this prayer into each of the grocery bags we hand out. We feel that most who come to us are having a pretty rough time and could use some comforting words to help them through...every little bit helps. 

Here is November's...

Merciful Jesus,

For your death on the cross which forgives my sins, for your resurrection into a glorified body which promises I too will be made perfect on the Day of the Lord, and for your promise that you will make all things new on that day, I THANK YOU! In the meantime, keep me faithful amidst the trials and struggles of life, and help me to be thankful for the love of other people. 
Amen.

Pastor David Kummer
Concordia Evangelical Lutheran Church
11/13

Joseph B. Lange

AGE: 68 • Wilmington

Age 68, of Wilmington, DE, passed away on November 3, 2013 at home surrounded by his family.

Joe was born and raised in Wilmington, to the late Joseph and Winona Lange. He was a graduate of Mt. Pleasant High School. Joe served two tours of duty in Vietnam with the Seabees and was a certified diver with MCB-7. He owned and operated Lange Construction, Inc. for 31 years. Joe was a Scout Leader for Troop 62. He was a Master Mason and belonged to Brandywine Lodge, #33 A.F. & A.M., where he served as president of the Hall Company. Joe was an active member of St. Mark's Lutheran Church. He volunteered at Sojourner's Place and Lutheran Community Service in Wilmington. Joe enjoyed spending time with his family and friends. He also loved to travel, enjoyed hunting, woodworking and doing projects with his sons.
Joe is survived by his wife of 45 years, Linda L. Lange, his children, Michael Lange (Pamela) Stephen Lange (Jennifer) Sharon Gaskill (Jason), his sister Jeannette August (Ronald), his grandchildren, Ashley MacLeish, Skyler Elizabeth Lange and Jaxon Gaskill.

News You Can Use

For Your Church Newsletter             September 2013

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.

Home Repairs for Seniors

LCS provides modest home repairs for seniors and disabled people, paid for on a sliding scale. Recently, program director Sandy Betley received a lengthy message from a home repair recipient who had her kitchen faucet replaced, her bathroom vanity repaired, her bathroom sink unclogged, her toilet repaired so it stopped running, her bedroom door replaced and her closet door hinges replaced.  She said that home repair specialist Ray had taken “a million pounds off her back,” that he was so nice, and that she really appreciated everything we had done for her.  This client has recently come through a year of illness and is now getting back on her feet. We are glad to have helped. Support for the program is provided by Laffey-McHugh Foundation.

Hunger Walk Run Set for September 21, Rockford Park

The 22^nd Annual LCS Hunger Walk Run actually involves three events: 5k fun run, 1 mile walk in the park, and the competitive 5k Youth Run Against Hunger. It’s a lot of fun; it’s also responsible for feeding thousands of hungry people in our area. As a matter of fact, it is the largest single source of funding for the LCS pantry system that served 85,000 last year. Demand has been strong for food help this year, and we are hoping for a big turnout for the Walk Run to help fund it. Pre-registration, especially if it is done electronically, helps LCS by cutting down on paperwork. Electronic registration also helps you, the registrants, raise funds because you can gather sponsors with email, Facebook, and Twitter. Register online at www.lcsde.org.

Walk Run Challenge.  The LCS Walk Run Committee is concerned, based on last year’s results which were down by 20%, that our goals for the Walk Run may not be reached. To stir up some enthusiasm, the committee issued two challenges. Number one is to the LCS board. The committee challenged the 15 member board to 100% participation. That is a mighty goal, but one that would make a difference, and it’s worth a try! Challenge number two is to the churches who participate. Understandably, participation by churches varies from year to year. Unfortunately, the majority saw falling rates of participation in 2012. To help counteract that, the Walk Run Committee challenges each church to match or exceed participation levels of its best year of the last three. If everyone did the “best of three” this year’s event will be a major success. For  your church’s goal, or for info, call Heather at 302 654 8886 x 100 or email at hteig@lcsde.org