Christus Victor Lutheran Church

Ever wonder what it would feel like to be a superhero?  Now is your chance!  It’s Minnesota FoodShare month and the need is greater than ever.  There was a 24 percent increase in Minnesota food shelf visits from 2008 to 2009 — the largest recorded increase in 28 years.  With the numbers of hungry friends and neighbors increasing and the ranks of those able to help meet that need dwindling, our challenge to keep the food shelves stocked is large indeed!

Christus Victor, are you up for the challenge?  After last year’s incredibly successful food drive we believe you are!  What makes March Minnesota FoodShare such a terrific opportunity to make a difference is the fact that our donations are matched dollar for dollar and pound for pound by businesses and other organizations in our area.  Considering there were approximately 3 million food shelf visits in Minnesota last year with 61 MILLION pounds of food distributed, the March matched donations will play a significant role in helping feed those in need.

Social Ministries is enlisting all those ready, willing, and able to join the ranks of the superheroes in making this year’s food drive another fantastic success in fighting hunger.  Once again, we are offering two ways for you to participate: by bringing in non-perishable food items OR by making a monetary donation.  The food shelf is able to get more bang for the buck than we can at local stores, so monetary gifts are always welcome.  We will have our shopping cart in the Narthex to collect food items and you will find envelopes for monetary donations on the front of the cart.  Checks should be made to Christus Victor.  Be sure to write “food drive” in the memo. 

You can make a difference in the lives of others by the simple yet profound gift of helping put food on someone’s table.  You can help make sure families don’t have to skip meals to make ends meet.  You, in short, can be a superhero to those who need help and hope for a better tomorrow.  So, don your mask, throw on that cape, and let’s fill those food shelves to overflowing! (Spandex optional)

On behalf of the Social Ministries Committee, I would like to thank the congregation for their generous support of Armful of Love.  This year we helped 10 families enjoy Christmas.  This was the largest number of families we have ever helped.  I want to extend a special thank you to Mariah Glinski, Sarah Gwin, Julie Manning, Megan Hanson, Hannah and Andrea Perendy for their assistance in sorting and packing the gifts.  There were tons of presents to pack up!  I also want to thank the Glinski’s and the Iaria’s for helping deliver the gifts to the warehouse.

Thanks again for supporting this mission.

Merry Christmas,

Jaclyn Brandes

Social Ministries Committee

Feed My Starving Children is making great strides in the fight against world hunger. Thank you to Christus Victor Lutheran Church for your part in what the Lord has done through FMSC in 2009! This year more than 400,000 volunteers will pack more than 91 million meals to feed God’s precious starving children. In recent weeks, FMSC has shipped food to Haiti, Nicaragua, Honduras, the Philippines, Moldova, El Salvador, Somalia, Liberia, Tanzania and Guatemala. Feed My Starving Children is blessed by your partnership in our mission of feeding bodies and spirits. He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and He will reward him for what he has done. Proverbs 19:17 

May you be especially blessed this holiday season!

When the members of the Social Ministries Committee look back and count our blessings from Thanksgiving, we have much to be thankful for.  Most notably, we are so thankful to the members of Christus Victor and our partner, Thrivent Financial, for helping us make our annual Thanksgiving basket ministry a huge success again this year, despite a challenging economy.  Your overwhelming generosity toward those who could most benefit from caring hearts and outstretched hands made all the difference in enabling us to serve just as many families as last year, with a total of 200 baskets!

The morning we spent together making and distributing our Thanksgiving baskets went by so smoothly and quickly that one might not realize all the different pieces and people that fit together in order to help make this ministry the success it has been.  Thrivent Financial plays a big part every year in giving us a very generous donation to get things rolling.  Your wonderful donations and/or purchases from the garage sale concession stand and to the Adopt-A-Family Thanksgiving basket fund make up the bulk of the rest of the funds needed to purchase all supplies for the baskets.  Once funds were secured, people-power did the rest in making it all come together.  We had volunteers that supplied a delivery truck complete with volunteer drivers.  We had Cub Foods of Apple Valley help get us the best possible prices and make sure we had everything needed.  Last, but far from least, we had tireless volunteers unloading the delivery truck, making boxes, filling baskets, coloring pictures for the baskets, carrying baskets (they’re heavy!), and giving out/delivering baskets to thankful recipients.  

From the beginning fund drive to the last basket given out, we were blessed with volunteers of all kinds.   Kids of all ages, including a Confirmation group, families, adults younger and older, members of Christus Victor, Lily of the Valley, and Casa de Oracion, all came together to serve the Lord, to share each other’s company and to serve others.   Looking down the church hallway at all the baskets lined up, no one could pass without saying, “Wow!”   Wow indeed.  Many heartfelt thanks from the members of Social Ministries for your generous hearts and helping hands in making this ministry such a success this year.  You are all truly awesome!

Every member of the church is a servant, gifted by God through the Holy Spirit to build up the whole Church.  On Sunday, January 10 and Sunday, January 17 we will be focusing in worship on our gifts, talents, and passions that God has given to us; how and where we can serve; and making a commitment to serve in some ministry in the church.

Happy Hearts + Helping Hands = Healthy Babies!

Many thanks from Social Ministries for helping make our annual Midwife Kit ministry project such a great success. This was our 9th year putting together these live saving gifts and we feel blessed that this project continues to have such a special place in the hearts of so many of you.

Our cradle was filled each week with your generous donations, which enabled us to assemble 310 kits this year. A sincere and heartfelt thank you to Andrea Robens and her mother, Karen Wilson for their nearly year-round involvement in this ministry as garage sale mega-shoppers, hat makers, and for serging hundreds of onesies into t-shirts for the project. We simply would not be able to assemble as many kits as we do every year without their invaluable involvement. Many thanks also to Dawn Glewwe and Susan Edmans confirmation group who not only made beautiful handmade blankets for the project, but enthusiastically joined us to assemble the kits.

Thanks so much to everyone from Christus Victor and Lily of the Valley that came to celebrate Mothers Day a little early by helping assemble kits. We had a total of 28 volunteers cheerfully buzzing around from table to table collecting the items needed for each kit and then boxing them up. This year at the last minute we found ourselves unexpectedly short of approximately 30 blankets needed for kits that were otherwise ready to go. Members of Lily of the Valley saved the day by running out to purchase the needed blankets- ladies, you are awesome and much
appreciated!

Hard to believe that just a few simple supplies zipped into a plastic bag can have such a powerful impact in saving lives of both mothers and babies half-way around the world. This simplicity and the beauty of helping usher in new life continues to draw us together in ministry and love, and for that, we from Social Ministries are so very grateful!

The Social Ministries Committee is excited to announce our new upcoming project slated for September – PACK IT UP – sending care packages for service people.

We are in the beginning stages of planning for this project. Do you have any relatives and/or friends currently serving our country overseas? We are compiling names and addresses of those servicemen and servicewomen and plan to send care packages to as many of them as we can. Has anyone been involved in this type of program? If so, the Social Ministries Committee would love to hear your ideas and suggestions. Please send names, addresses, ideas and suggestions to Michele Iaria at miaria@charter.net or 952-891-1303 or speak to anyone on the Social Ministries Committee.