Congregational Coordinators will soon receive a card in the mail, reminding them of the annual Congregational Coordinator training at St. John in Robstown on March 14th.  This training shows you how to go about applying for the funds for your congregation, through Care In Congregations® activities, or how you can help a non-profit organization or needy individual through Care Abounds In Communities® projects.

FIRST:
Request for funding must be submitted to the Chapter Board for approval at a regularly scheduled board meeting prior to the event.  There are eight or more meetings scheduled during a 12 month period. (Exception may be made for emergency request.  An emergency is defined as an event that has a sudden and unexpected result causing hardship, sorrow, injury or damage.  Only the chapter board president is authorized to canvass the board for approval of emergency funding.)

SECOND:
All events are to be promoted as being provided additional funding provided by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.  Posters and bulletin inserts are available, plus a Thrivent banner for this use.

THIRD:
The amount of the funds raised must be included with the Report for Funding Activity Results, made payable to “Gulf Coast Chapter of Thrivent” upon completion of the activity.  In return, the recipient, organization, etc., will receive a check for the amount approved by the board for the activity, plus the local funds raised.  If the recipient is a person or minor child a “Permission to Disclose Information” form is also required. This information is kept on file for 7 years.  Any incomplete forms will be returned.  Chapter Board Members are available to make check presentations at a time and place agreed upon.

FOURTH:
ANY FUNDING APPROVED BY THE CHAPTER BOARD MUST BE USED FOR THE PURPOSE STATED IN THE ORIGINAL REQUEST. THE COMMUNITY SERVICE TEAM IS TO SUBMIT THE REPORT FOR FUNDING ACTIVITY RESULTS FORM WITHIN *60 DAYS FOLLOWING THE EVENT DATE TO THE CHAPTER FINANCIAL DIRECTOR.  IF NOT, FUNDING WILL BE WITHDRAWN OR WITHHELD.  FUNDS GIVEN TO CHAPTER MUST BE USED WITHIN THE CURRENT CALENDAR YEAR (JANUARY THROUGH DECEMBER). FUNDS CANNOT BE CARRIED OVER TO ANOTHER YEAR.

FIFTH:
Approved activities or projects will be funded at an amount approved by the chapter board.  In determining the amount of funding a project receives, the board considers the leverage of funds raised to the amount requested.  Thrivent strives for a goal of $1.00 of funding for every $3.00 raised. Also considered will be the number of people participating (members and non-members) and the number of volunteer hours required to conduct the activity.

Phone number for Events Director Kenneth Malek should be (361) 729-5242

Email address for Congregational Service Team Director Ida Hansen should be jbhansen@gtek.biz

DATE                    EVENT                                                               TIME

3/14                      Congreational Coordinator Training                   11:00 am - 3:00pm
                            St. John Lutheran Church, Robstown (See Gulf Coast Chapter website to get a map)
                            (Chapter Board meets following training)
4/20                      Chapter Board meets at Chicken Shack             6:30pm
5/18                      Chapter Board meets at Chicken Shack             6:30pm
7/20                      Chapter Board meets at Chicken Shack             6:30pm
9/15                      Chapter Board meets at Chicken Shack             6:30pm
10/27                    Chapter Board meets at Back Street Cafe          6:30pm
11/14*ANNUAL MEETING AND ELECTION OF CHAPTER BOARD 11:00am
12/7                      Chapter Board meets at Chicken Shack             6:30pm
                           
*subject to Back Street Cafe availability

Each of the above events, dates and times are subject to change.

Check often at www.lutheransonline.com/gulfcoastchapter/

NOTE: The chapter board considers all requests for funding applications at the meetings listed above, except for the December 7th meeting. The chapter board asks that your requests be submitted as early as possible, otherwise funds may not be available.

In church activites alone you put in 14,842 hours of volunteer work.  You raised over $66,900.00 for your congregations and their fund raising projects.  When you add in the additional dollars from Thrivent, that amount grows to $102,300.00. Peace Lutheran in Rockport and Fishers of Family in Portland had the most activities with five each.  Messiah Lutheran in Corpus Christi raised the most money with $9,577.00, and Faith Lutheran in Beeville volunteered the most manhours with 4,595.  Over forty-nine activites were conducted by the twenty-seven congregations that completed activities in 2008.  

What a great job by all.  Give yourself and your congregational coordinators a BIG PAT on the back, and shout out, "Atta Boy!"

who administer the Care in Congregations® program.

Through these programs, fund-raisers and service activities are conducted by chapter service teams, made up of a group of Thrivent Financial members who come together to help an individual or family in need, a not-for-profit organization, or a congregation.