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The East King County Chapter of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans has been recognized as a Chapter of Excellence for 2006! What does it mean to be a Chapter of Excellence? There are twelve different criteria that are outlined for a Chapter of Excellence. To be awarded the title, the chapter must meet 10 or more of the 12. The criteria includes: 1) Conduct and report a minimum of 6 meetings. The East King County meets the second Wednesday of each month, generally at the same location (Gateway II Conference Room 120, 915 118th Avenue SE in Bellevue), beginning at noon. Meeting minutes are posted soon after each meeting on the chapter website (lutheransonline.com) and on the Thrivent page as well. 2) Conduct Coordinator orientation update with an LCS team member. The Congregational Coordinator Training for 2007 is scheduled for 3 different dates this year: Thursday, February 1 from 7-8 PM at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church on Mercer Island; Thursday, February 8 from 7-8 PM at First Lutheran in Bothell; and Saturday, February 10 from 9:30-10:30 AM at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church on Mercer Island. All congregational coordinators who come to training will receive a special gift from your East King County Thrivent Board of Fair Trade Coffee as well as a happy face next to your name. If you have recently become a Congregational Coordinator we STRONGLY recommend training. Bring your church calendar, church roster of groups and your laptop. We hope to have everyone walk out with at least one project submitted for 2007. Contact Jeff Brady at 206-362-1330 or e-mail eastkingcochapter@yahoo.com to register. 3) Hold a minimum of one "high visibility" event for chapter members. The Golf Tournament of 2006 was such a success that we are doing it again! Save the date of Monday, May 21, 2007 for your first golf event of the season. And remember to plan in the evening dinner and auction as well. This is one of our most successful fundraisers for Habitat for Humanity. Contact Mark Simon or Brendan Rorem (206-232-3270 or www.htlcmi.org) for more information. 4) Hold one Habitat for Humanity event. The East King Chapter of Thrivent has been a major sponsor of Habitat for Humanity in the area, sponsoring the dinner and auction at the Golf Tournament as well as participating in various Thrivent Builds days. In addition, our Join Hands Day youth project last year focused on landscaping recently completed Habitat projects. 5) Request 95% Care Abounds in Communities® funding. In 2006 we had distributed most of our funding by October. Great job! You asked for lots of money in 2006. We hope to do the same again this year. Project requests (Form #1 on the chapter website) need to be submitted for approval by October 10, 2007. All project paperwork (Form #3 on the chapter website) needs to be completed by November 12. This does not mean that the event has to be completed by that date, just the receipts that might contribute to the event have to be submitted. For clarification, please attend our Congregational Coordinator Training either February 1, 8, or 10. 6) Congregations have 3 coordinators registered. If you have recently become a Congregational Coordinator, or you have had a change in your Congregational Coordinators, please be sure to e-mail Jeff Brady at eastkingcochapter@yahoo.com the name, address, e-mail AND Thrivent number of each Congregational Coordinator. 7) Care in Congregation® funds distributed by November. Schedule those fundraisers or hands-on-work activities and request that funding! 8) Report 90% of all activities as completed by November. Don't wait until Christmas to have your fundraiser activities. Consider "Christmas in August." There are lots of things to consider for Thrivent funding! 9) Use the Chapter Mailing Service for four chapter mailings. This is one! 10) Conduct a Join Hands Day project and use 95% of the $1,000 allocated. Not only did EKC help landscape the Habitat for Humanity building projects in the EKC area, individual congregations sponsored events as well. 11) Have nominees for the five required Chapter positions identified by September. Your East King County Chapter officers for 2007 are Kathy Fisher, President (Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Mercer Island); Dan Selmann, Vice President; Joe Hart, Treasurer (Pilgrim Lutheran Church, Bellevue); Leslie Urie, Records Director (Redeemer Lutheran Church, Mercer Island); Jeff Brady, Congregational Coordinator Director (Wooden Cross Lutheran Church, Woodinville). 12) Conduct elections between September and November and enter leaders online by December. You can see pictures of your leaders by going to the chapter website via lutheransonline.com. We are proud to be a Thrivent Chapter of Excellence and promise to work hard to maintain that distinction.
We want to help you to use your Care in Congregation funds! Congregational Coodinators are invited to attend one of three Congregational Coordinator Training sessions to be held in February 2007. Two of the training events will be held at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church on Mercer Island. The first is an evening event on Thursday, February 1. Registration will begin at 6:30. The program will begin at 7 and run for one hour, concluding at 8 PM. Individual questions will be addressed after 8. The second training session will be offered the following Thursday, February 8, this time at First Lutheran in Bothell. The hours are the same as above. The third and final training session will be offered again at Holy Trinity on Mercer Island, this time on Saturday morning, February 10. Registration will begin at 9, with the program running from 9:30 to 10:30. Again, individual questions will be addressed after 10:30. Bring your church calendar, your church directory and your laptop. We hope to walk you through "How to use the Forms" online. We also hope to encourage each church to have one project ready for submission at the end of the training. All coordinators attending will receive a special gift of a pound Fair Trade Coffee and a coffee mug from the East King County Board.
February 1, 8, and 10 Congregational Coordinator Training May 5 Join Hands Day May 21 Golf Tournament and Auction June 14 Quilters Luncheon October 10 Final Day to submit project requests November 12 Final Day to complete project paperwork
If you like working with others and have a desire to reach out to those in need, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans can help. Funding is available for members to purchase materials for hands-on service activities benefiting individuals, families or communities. So, if you are handy with a hammer, love landscaping, notice that sewing or knitting makes you smile, or you have another talent to share with others, why not partner with other Thrivent Financial members to make an impact in your community? For example, a wheelchair ramp is so much more than wood and nails. For a wheelchair user, a ramp represents accessibility to life outside the house — to community, friends and family — and even to living independently. Building a wheelchair ramp is only one example of the impact a little teamwork can have on someone's life. Can you think of other needs in your community and other ways you might be able to make an impact? Last year some of the projects sponsored by the East King County Chapter included Crisis Pregnancy Center fundraiser, serving homeless men and women lunches, knitting prayer shawls and hats for those with serious illnesses, and providing quilting materials for Lutheran World Relief quilters. Call your chapter leadership board for more information.
Through Care Abounds in Communities®, anyone in our chapter can organize a community service team and help others. It doesn't take a lot of time or a long-term commitment! Contact a member of our chapter leadership board as noted in this newsletter for assistance in getting started. Last year the East King County chapter of Thrivent sponsored the following Care Abounds projects: Wooden Cross had a Bake Sale to benefit a leading anti-hunger organization, Share Our Strength. Members also volunteered to host and serve lunch with the Community Lunch Program. A third project sponsored a Garage Sale to benefit a variet of Lutheran ministries. Foss Home and Village Annual Spring Luncheon raised money to help residents on Medicaid to supplement basic care. The Auxiliary of Foss Home had a rummage sale in the spring and a bazaar in November, both events raising money to buy equipment for the home. Another Foss Home activity, the Extra Touch Gala and Auction, honored seniors doing work within the community raising money to supplemente activities at Foss. Christ the King hosted a Souper Bowl Sunday raising money for the local food bank. Quilters from Christ the King produced 60 quilts for Lutheran World Relief. CTK was also one of the host churches for the Congregations for the Homeless, sponsoring the month of June. Valley Camp Ministries had a hands-on service project repairing the roundhouse. LATCH ministries hosted a travel seminar about Italy, the proceeds benefiting affordable housing programs. Maritime Ministries of Puget Sound hosted a fund raising dinner to support mission work to ship crews calling on the ports of Seattle, Everett and Anacortes. Cross of Christ hosted Congregations for the Homeless Shelter for the month of May. A rummage sale sponsored by the church Boy Scout troop raised money for camping equipment. The quilters made quilts for LATCH and Eastside Baby Corner. Lutheran Ministry Services Northwest raised money for jail and hospital ministry through their Stuff Sale in September and Auction in November. The Sno Valley Senior Activity Center in Carnation had 6 Thrivent member households who helped raise money for programming and awareness of the Activity Center and Thrivent. Community Church of Joy sponsored an Amazing Race with proceeds to buy supplies for the youth mission trip. Our Savior in Issaquah sponsored several holiday food basket distributions, backpack and school supply event for children in need, prayer shawl ministry and Toyland Express for families in need. St. Lukes hosed a Taco Feed to help with expenses for a mssion trip to Mexico. Epiphany Lutheran sponsored a coffee hour to help raise money for a church members mission trip to China as an English teacher. Epiphany and Hope Lutheran together took a joint mission trip to Mexico and donated sleepng bags and pillows to a homeless shelter on the US border. A third activity was a German Mai Dinner raising money for Ethiopian Immigrant Ministry. For Mother's and Father's Day, church members raised money by filling baby bottles with loose change for Life Choices. Young Life Eastside sponsored Fiddlin for Funds, a musical fundraiser. Mt Si youth provided an Easter Brunch in which proceeds collected went toward supplies for the summer mission trip. Living Hope Lutheran youth members sponsored an Easter Brunch to raise money for Evergreen Lutheran High School. Members also had a one-day fundraiser to benefit their pastor after complications arose from a routine surgery. Pilgrim Lutheran members took a freewill offering at their Easter Breakfast to benefit the Cascade Compass Center Shelter for Women. Holy Spirit Lutheran held a Silent Auction and Bingo Night to raise funds for the youth mission trip supplies. Holy Trinity Lutheran confirmation students provided breakfast on Easter Sunday and took a freewill offering to benefit three ministries: Teen Hope, Compass Center and Hammond House. The 4th & 5th graders had a Dog and Car Wash to raise money for the Angel Tree Chrismas project. Another car wash helped buy books to send with the youth to the National Youth Gathering. All Saints Lutheran Church raised money through a coffee sale to buy software for Lutheran Hour Ministry in Mexico. Lord of Life memers held a one-day community fundraiser to help with dental care costs of self-employed member. Grace Lutheran partnered with Saint Lukes in sponsoring Tent City 4. Northlake Lutheran Knitters purchased yarn and supplies for prayer shawls and caps for terminally ill patients. All these AND MORE were ways that Thrivent helped benefit the communities in East King County in 2006. What will we do in 2007?
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