May 27 2010
Food shelf items for the month of June are canned fruit, juices, raisins and apple sauce. Remember the number of hungry families in our community is on the rise. Let’s see if we can all add one of these items to our cart on our next trip to the grocery store. Every donation counts!
Mar 28 2010
We need your help to create Midwife Kits for distribution in village areas where 70 percent of women deliver their babies at home using a midwife. By supplying midwife kits, Christus Victor helps to reduce the risk of infection by 50 percent to mothers and newborns. Unsanitary birthing conditions contribute to the 940 deaths per 100,000 live births annually in Tanzania.
Through your help and donations, we can vastly improve the lives of the community where incidence of infection are high without adequate and accessible supplies. We have the power to make a profound and lasting difference through the generous ongoing support of our congregation.
Donations Most Needed This Year:
Bath Towels
Receiving Blankets
2-1/2 gallon Ziploc Bags (available at Target)
Bath Size Ivory Soap
Even if you can’t donate one of these items, there is a way for you to help! Help us assemble midwife kits on Saturday, May 8 in the Fellowship Hall.
Mar 28 2010
The 2010 Baskets of Love auction on Sunday, March 21 raised nearly $3,800 and we are still counting our blessings!
For four years, the Mission Committee has asked for basket donations and we have asked that you come to Baskets of Love and bid on these amazing creations — AND YOU HAVE!
Here’s what we accomplished:
* The women of Mlowa who weave these baskets will receive $10 per basket to fund their ministry in Mlowa.
* The Mlowa parish will receive an additional gift of money to help them weather the famine and ensure they have food to last until the next harvest.
* The Mission Fund will receive funds to help our Ambassadors journey from Christus Victor to Tanzania in August 2010. Our 2010 ambassadors are Pastor Kent Claussen Gubrud, Barb Damlo, Malisa Kreutzmann and Paula Nierengarten.
NEW in 2011:Baskets of Love will raise funds for Kids Alive in the Dominican Republic AND send a Mission Team there in March 2011. For more information about the 2011 Mission Trip, contact Jody McDermott-Baty.
Gracias and Asante Sana Basket Donors! It all starts with you. Thank you for creatively and generously filling 58 baskets.
Gracias and Asante Sana Bidders! Thank you for raising each and every bid. You make this event fun. You make this event successful!
Gracias and Asante Sana Members of Christus Victor for supporting this ministry!
Feb 27 2010
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)
Jan 05 2010
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
Jan 05 2010
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!
Jan 05 2010
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!
