Arlington County Chapter

Four page newsletter: May 2009 Newsletter

Four page newsletter: May 2009 Newsletter

Arlington County Chapter, Spring 2009 Newsletter

Cereal Drive for Arlington Food Assistance Center

From May through August, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans will team with Arlington's four Lutheran Churches to collect cereal for the Arlington Food Assistance Center located in Shirlington. AFAC serves over 900 households per week with supplemental food. Each Arlington Lutheran Church will participate in Thrivent's cereal drive for a month, as follows:

May - Advent Lutheran Church

June - Our Savior Lutheran Church

July - Faith Lutheran Church

August - Resurrection Lutheran Church

This is a "friendly" competition among the four Lutheran churches in Arlington. Please bring your boxes of cereal to your congregation during your designated month. Of course, you may always bring cereal for AFAC, as it is one of their greatest needs! This is our third annual competition, and we are privileged to continue our support of AFAC.

Join Hands Day

The tenth annual JOIN HANDS DAY is Saturday, May 30. Sponsored by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, this day is designed to generate awareness about the impact of grassroots volunteerism. Last year, 93 percent of Thrivent chapters conducted JOIN HANDS DAY activities—resulting in nearly 3,000 activities and 590,000 volunteer hours of service.

This year the Arlington Chapter of Thrivent (Faith, Resurrection, Advent, and Our Savior) will participate in a GLEANING project involving the Mid-Atlantic Gleaning Network (MAGNET) www.midatlanticgleaningnetwork.org and the Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC) www.afacinfo.org/index.html. Gleaning is the act of collecting leftover crops from farmers' fields after they have been commercially harvested or on fields where it is not economically profitable to harvest. Over 70 billion pounds of food is lost each year. A large quantity of edible food never leaves the fields. MAGNET organizes the harvesting of fresh fruits and vegetables for DC metro area, low-income families in need and AFAC helps distribute food. The Arlington County Chapter coordinated this event last year and we had a wonderful time sorting 10,000 pounds of sweet potatoes for AFAC.

This year’s event will be held at Faith Lutheran Church (3313 N. Arlington Blvd. Arlington, VA 22201). MAGNET will deliver a load of fresh produce to the Faith parking lot for sorting. We need adults (and youth if supervised by a parent) to help sort the produce and reload the truck. We will meet at Faith at 9:30am to begin sorting produce.

We will conclude our Join Hands day with a picnic for all the participants and plan to complete our day by 1 pm. Please consider “joining hands” in service with other Lutherans in Arlington. For more information contact your Congregational Coordinator.

Relay for Life

The Arlington County Chapter of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans is sponsoring a team in the Arlington Relay For Life event for the fourth year in a row! Relay For Life is the signature fundraising/ celebration event of the American Cancer Society. Through Relay For Life, we can all “Celebrate. Remember. Fight Back.” This year’s event begins on Saturday, June 20 and ends about 15 hours later, on Sunday morning. You can support the team in several ways. Here is how:

- Join the Team! Visit www.relayarlington.org to sign up. Our team name is Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. You DO NOT have to be a Thrivent member (or even Lutheran) to join the team!
- Make a donation! Visit www.relayarlington.org to donate to the team – Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. Off-line donation forms are available on the website, too, if you would rather send a check.
- Purchase luminaria. Honor a loved one who has battled cancer. Luminaria (paper bags containing a candle placed in sand) will be marked with names (specify in honor of or in memory of), placed in a ring around the track, and lit during a special ceremony at sunset. The luminaria continue to glow, guiding and inspiring the walkers, through the night. Luminaria are $10 each. You may order on-line at www.relayarlington.org.
- Contact Team Captain! If you have questions or would like more information, contact Marianne Hetzer at mwhetzer@comcast.net or 703-823-3367.

Thrivent Builds/Habitat for Humanity

Our Savior Lutheran Church and Faith Lutheran Church are partnering with the DC Chapter of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans to help construct a Habitat for Humanity townhouse in Southeast DC. Located at 307 54th St NE Washington DC 20019. It will be a 1600 sq ft, 2-story home with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.

Cost: The cost of the 2009 Thrivent Builds Home Project is $ 192,007. The Thrivent Financial Grant is for $ 124,805 (65%), Habitat will raise $ 48,002 (25%), and the local Lutheran Congregations will collectively raise $ 19,201 (10%).

Volunteers: As in the past, the 2009 Thrivent Builds Home Grant requires that 50% of the volunteers building the home be Lutherans and 25% of the Lutherans be Thrivent members. You must be 16 years old to participate on site (under 18 not allowed on roofs or to operate power tools.)

Volunteer Schedule:

Framing Blitz May 2-9

May 2 – Saturday – 20 volunteers needed

May 5 – Tuesday -20 volunteers needed

May 6 – Wed – 20 volunteers needed

May 7 – Thurs – 20 volunteers needed

May 8 – Friday – 15 volunteers needed

May 9 – Saturday – 15 volunteers needed

(THE PROPOSED DATES BELOW MIGHT CHANGE)

Vinyl siding – May 16th – Saturday – 15 volunteers needed

Vinyl siding – May 23rd – Saturday – 15 volunteers needed

Insulation – July 25th- Saturday –15 volunteers needed

Drywall – August 1st- Saturday --20 volunteers needed

Several more days will be added for painting and landscaping

RESOURCES:

The DC Habitat for Humanity 843 Upshur St NW Washington DC 20011, Telephone: 202-882-4600 website: dchabitat.org.

DC Thrivent Chapter Contact: Annette Schoonover - Thrivent Builds Chapter Specialist Telephone 202-797-1149; e-mail: schoonoverak@aol.com

Our Savior Lutheran Contact: Rich Kauzlarich, Telephone 703-536-3486; e-mail rdkauzlarich@cox.net

The Arlington County Chapter of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans has designated July 25, 2009 as its "work" day. We will need volunteers from throughout the chapter (all four churches) to help prepare lunches and to work onsite.

Looking for a Place of Worship? Check Out the Four Arlington County Lutheran Churches

Looking for a church home? New to the area and haven't had a chance to find a church yet? Looking to get involved? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, the four Lutheran churches in Arlington invite you to worship with them. Church addresses and service times are listed below.

Advent Lutheran Church
Sunday Worship: 9:30 a.m.
2222 S Arlington Ridge Rd, 703-521-7010, http://www.adventlc.us/Site_5/Home.html

Faith Lutheran Church
Sunday Worship: 8:00 a.m., 9:30 a.m. (Contemporary), 11:00 a.m.
3313 Arlington Blvd, 703-525-9283, http://faithlutheranarlington.org

Our Savior Lutheran Church
Sunday Worship: 8:15 a.m., 9:30 a.m. (Eritrean Service), 11:00 a.m.
825 S. Taylor Street, 703-892-4846, www.osva.org

Resurrection Lutheran Church
Sunday Worship: 8:30 a.m., 11:00 a.m.
6201 Washington Blvd, 703-532-5991, www.relcarlington.org

Upcoming Fall Chapter Events

Mark your calendars now:

Oktoberfest - Sunday, October 4
Crop Walk - Saturday, October 17

More information will be included in the next newsletter mailing.