Four page newsletter: East King County Chapter Winter/Spring 2006| Four page newsletter: East King County Chapter Winter/Spring 2006 | | |
| East King County Chapter, News for 2006 |
The following people have accepted "the call" to volunteer for the East King County Chapter of Thrivent Financial. Each one comes from a different location and is dedicated to their church communities and how Thrivent Financial can enhance programs in and out of churches.
Kathy Fisher, chapter president, is the Director of Youth and Family Ministry at Holy Trinity Luthern Church on Mercer Island. She has been an active community volunteer through scouting, PTA, fundraising and as the Class of 2006 advisor at Bellevue High School. This is her second year on the board.
Dan Selman, chapter vice-president, is retired clergy. His wife is the fund development director of Foss Home and he has served on chapter boards in other locations.
Leslie Urie, Records Director, is new to the area. She and her husband, Richard, are actively involved with the World Mission Prayer League. We feel fortunate that they heard of the needs on our Board and jumped right in! Richard has volunteered to work with our communications needs for the chapter.
Joe Hart, Financial Director, got a promotion this year. Joe came onto the board last year in the assistant financial position and took over ! He and his wife, Ginger, share their gifts of hospitality with us all and he is happy to write the checks that make your programs sing.
Janet Broadus, assistant financial director, resides in Bothell with her husband Chuck; and attends Epiphany Lutheran Church in Kenmore. She has a B.S. in Accounting in 1991 from Weber State University in Ogden, Utah.Janet has been treasurer of AAL branches in Idaho Falls, Idaho and Ogden, Utah for a combined 18 years. Church and school treasurer at St. Paul Lutheran in Ogden, Utah. Financial Director of East King County Chapter of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans from the chapter’s onset. Janet is currenctly serving as, Financial Secretary for Good Shepherd Homes Auxiliary WA/AK Unit and Assistant Financial Director of East King County Chapter of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans
Rebecca Beard, Youth Director, joins us from Pilgrim Lutheran Church in Bellevue. She has youth and enthusiasm on her side and will coordinate our Join Hands Day activities!
Woody Carlson, Thrivent Builds Chapter Specialist, has been an advocate of Habitat for Humanity for decades. Woody served as Pastor to congregations on Mercer Island, then Colorado and has now returned to the area. He has been instrumental in five Habitat builds with his congregations, and has a great love for the program. He is stepping in to make sure that the Thrivent Builds! program is successful. We are so fortunate to have been granted money for two building projects…Woody will make sure that our required "Lutheran hours" will get us all the money pledged.
| THRIVENT BUILDS! ON THE EASTSIDE |
By now you may have heard about the new partnership between Habitat for Humanity and Thrivent Financial called Thrivent Builds! Thrivent Builds! is donating $105 million dollars to build new Habitat homes around the country, including two homes with our chapter and Habitat for Humanity of East King County. Here is how the program works: Thrivent Builds will donate 70% of the costs of the houses and all we need to come up with is $20,000 and lots of volunteers (you can learn more about this program at www.ThriventBuilds.com)
Believe it or not, raising money will be the easy part. We hope to raise most of the $20,000 at a fund raising golf tournament at Bear Creek Country Club planned for Monday, May 15th. This will be a great event for both golfers as well as those who would like to attend only the banquet and silent auction. Of course, any other donations and in kind gifts will be greatly appreciated. Other fund raising possibilities might be a special Easter offering or a designated project chosen by the congregation.
Thrivent Builds! also requires that fifty percent of the volunteers be Lutheran (or eat Jello at least three times a week). We would like you to find a person in your church that is excited about Habitat and the Thrivent Builds Program (Congregational Champion) and have that person sign up volunteers. We would also like each congregation to pick at least two Saturdays to work on the site (15 to 20 people is a good number of people for each of those days). You can also find volunteers to bring coffee and donuts and lunch making it a very fun outing for your church. If you are a small church, you may want to partner with another church and do a combined day. Those with flexible schedules can also work during the week on Tuesday – Friday.
I am including a calendar of available days to work. Please call me with your selection, and I will coordinate those days with Habitat. If I don't hear from you soon, I will contact you by phone. Saturdays available for volunteers: April 1, 8, 15, 22, 29; May 6, 13, 20, 27; June 3, 10, 17, 24; July 1, 8, 15, 22, 29; August 5, 12, 19, 26; Sept. 2, 9, 16, 23, 30; October 7, 14, 21, 28; November 4, 11, 18, 25; December 2, 9, 16
| GOLF TOURNAMENT AT BEAR CREEK |
Raise money to build houses. Have fun. What do these two have in common?? It’s what will happen to raise money for Habitat for Humanity in the East King County Chapter! Holy Trinity Lutheran Church has decided to expand their annual golf tournament to benfit Habitat. For the 40th Annual Event, people from all over the chapter are invited to participate … get a foursome together; come to the dinner and silent auction; sponsor some part of the event – from a hole to the banquet.
Monday, May 15, 2006 the place to be is Bear Creek Country Club in Redmond. Cost is $125 per player ( $500 per foursome); scramble, shotgun, best-ball format makes all skill levels able to join in. Invite friends from church, neighbors, co-workers to join the fun!!
To register or for more information go to: www.htlcmi.org/golf2006.html and look for the Golf Tournament information and registration. This is one event you won’t want to miss!!
Experience an opportunity to improve our community while involving youth and having fun! The seventh annual JOIN HANDS DAY is on Saturday, May 6, 2006. This national day of volunteering sparks friendships among people of all generations as youth and adults come together to plan and conduct activities to improve their communities. We encourage you to participate in this special day, which is sponsored by America’s Fraternal Benefit Societies, including Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans and our members strongly support the purpose of this special day and the impact it has on communities nationwide. Last year, youth and adult members had a ball conducting more than 3,000 activities across the country. The ideas were limited only by the imagination.
In 2005 the EKCC sponsored a Join Hands Day event to help the Adele Maxwell Child Care Center, operated through Hopelink. We had students and adults spreading bark chips and cleaning outdoor play equipement, planting an 'edible' garden for the preschoolers and plants to brighten up the facility for everyone. It was well attended and lots of fun.
Plans are under way for this year -- keep your eyes open for details! If you know you have a group that would love to participate, contact Rebecca Beard at the chapter email address: eastkingcochapter@yahoo.com
| HOW TO GET FUNDS FOR YOUR PROJECT |
Show you care for your community through an exciting Thrivent Financial program called Care Abounds in Communities®. Through this program, Thrivent Financial provides funding to support members like you who want to make a difference. Accessing supplemental funds for fund-raising efforts or funds to purchase supplies for hands-on service activities is easy through our chapter leadership board. Your first step is to form a community service team—a team of volunteers that conducts an activity to help individuals, families and/or qualified not-for-profit organizations. Then you can contact our chapter leadership board for more information and help. All forms are available at the chapter webpage or contact the chapter board for help at eastkingcochapter@yahoo.com.
Please note that our board meets the second Wednesday of each month. All funding requests must be made PRIOR to the event, and we prefer to receive the requests via email at least 24 ahead of time to print and review them.
| THERE IS CASH TO HELP IN YOUR CONGREGATION, TOO |
Did you know that Thrivent Financial for Lutherans has a program called Care in Congregations® where funding is provided to Thrivent Financial members to conduct fund-raising and/or hands-on service activities to benefit your congregation or its related Lutheran institutions? In fact, Thrivent Financial members are encouraged to use the funds to help the congregation in its ministry to the community.
If you see a need in your congregation that could be helped through this funding, please contact a Thrivent Financial congregational coordinator in your congregation. If you don't know who your three congregational coordinators are, please contact a member of our chapter leadership board as noted in this newsletter, and he/she will help you get in touch with a coordinator.
The Care in Congregations® program gives you a unique opportunity to make a meaningful difference in your congregation and its associated Lutheran institutions through fund-raising and hands-on service activities, such as painting the church hall or raising funds for new choir robes.
| GO TO THE WEB FOR MORE INFORMATION |
Did you know that our chapter has its own Web site? The next time you're online, check it out at www.lutheransonline.com/eastkingcochapter. You will find what projects were funded in 2005, so you can get other ideas from other churches; who your chapter leaders are; minutes from meetings; downloadable forms to meet all your requests! Check us out.
You can always email the chapter at eastkingcochapter@yahoo.com for information also.
| GIVING PLUS INCREASES YOUR DONATION DOLLARS!! |
Are you aware that as a member of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, financial gifts you make to a Lutheran organization might be able to be supplemented by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans?
Through Thrivent Financial's GivingPlus program, members can donate financial gifts to two different Lutheran organizations enrolled in the program each year, and Thrivent Financial will contribute $1 for every $2, up to $300 per year for each organization. For example, if you donate gifts of $600 or more to two eligible Lutheran organizations each, Thrivent Financial will contribute an additional $600 ($300 for each organization). In addition, Thrivent Financial will contribute an additional $25 for members who volunteer 25 hours or more at the organization receiving their gift.
All you need to do is complete a GivingPlus Member Gift form (available online or from the Lutheran organization) and submit it with your donation to the Lutheran organization. It's a very simple process.
For complete details and guidelines about this one-of-a-kind member benefit program and for copies of the Member Gift form, go to www.thrivent.com/fraternal/churchcommunity/givingplus.html. If you used the program in the past, please review the site for excellent enhancements made to the 2005 program, which allow even more members to make an even greater impact to the organizations they support through their gifts.
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