WHY GET INVOLVED WITH THRIVENT’S FRATERNAL OPPORTUNITIES?

Hi! My name is Carolyn Schoenborn; and I presently have the privilege of finishing up my second year as President of the North Oregon Coast Chapter of Thrivent for Lutherans. These have been two fantastic years for me. May I share a little of why I love working with Thrivent?

1. What I feel Thrivent Fraternal has to offer to individuals, congregations, and communities:

• An opportunity to make a significant difference in someone else’s life through personal involvement, as well as the ability to leverage and compound resources.
• An opportunity to meet and work with other people who care about their communities and the needs of others.
• An opportunity to have a lot of fun!
• An opportunity to live-out in real ways my faith in Jesus Christ and my commitment to His mission and ministry.

2. Those times and activities that I experienced or participated in that in some way convinced me that Thrivent was worth being involved in as an organization:

• Join Hands Day where our congregation partnered with our community’s elementary school, the various school parents and students, and teens from the High School to clean up and groom the school yard. It was the extra funding that Thrivent made available to encourage this kind of involvement that provided me with both the motivation and the means to make this project happen. It was exhausting work, but getting to know and work with the teens and kids was absolutely priceless! Every time I drive by the school I feel both a real sense of pride in what we did, and also a real sense of pride in our community!
• Serving on the chapter board and having first hand exposure to the needs here in the North Oregon Coast. And then having the wonderful privilege of voting some level of matching support to those dedicated community members who were not willing to look the other way; but who wanted to get involved and make a difference! The list of people whose lives were touched in some significant way because of Thrivent is very personal to me.

3. The different levels of involvement available to anyone wanting to get involved in this great organization:

• attending a congregational event;
• working on a congregational project;
• organizing a congregational project;
• serving as a congregational coordinator;
• participating in a community event;
• organizing a community event;
• serving on the chapter.

It really is worth being an active participant in some way with Thrivent for Lutheran’s fraternal program. If you would like to find out more about Thrivent for Lutherans and how to get involved, contact one of your Congregational Coordinators or any North Oregon Coast Chapter Leader. (Leader contact information is listed on this web site.) I truly hope you will take the plunge! You will never regret it!