Chaplain Kiel felt that the younger, enlisted, men and women serving in our Nations military, many of who would be away from home for the first time during the Christmas season and were without the financial means to purchase many of the personal comfort items needed in a wartime environment, needed special attention!  Throught her connections with many of the Lutheran congregations back home, she made arrangements to have "Christmas Care Packages" sent from American homes in the US directly to these American military men and women serving in Afghanistan.  Some 600 names were distributed and packages sent from families from the Olympic Pennisula in Washington state, the Rocky Mountains of Utah, the corn fields of Iowa and the eastern shore of Virginia, along with the unwritten message that "We Care about you!".  One lady in Washington state was explaining the program to her daughter-in-law who said, "I'd also like one of those names!".  She got some more names and was explaining the program to her Bible study group, who also wanted some names.  This lady was directly responsible for giving out more than a dozen individual names where packages were sent to Americans serving their country in far away places during the Christmas season!

Realizing that we Americans have so much and the Afghan people have so little, Chaplain Kiel made arrangements for clean, used clothing, children's toys and school supplies to be donated and then sent to the American military Foreward Operating Bases, where the American military units could distribute these donated items directly to the Afghan people.  This made the American military jobs of connecting with the local population so much easier and has probably helped save American lives in Afghanistan!

Some $3,300, along with THRIVENT supplemental funds, were donated to purchase school supplies and pay for postage to send 1,300 pounds of clean, used, donated clothing and childrens school supplies to Afghanistan to give to the Afghan people.  Four Lutheran Churches in northern Utah collected and sent some 31 boxes of clothing and school supplies.  A local soft drink distributor donated some 27 pair of men's trousers and one lady, upon hearing the story in a super marker check out line, handed the story teller $20 and said she also wanted to be part of this program.

Without the unquestioned support of THRIVENT Financial For Lutherans and their Care Abounds In Community program of giving, tax free, corporate profits back to the communities across America, these and other programs would not be possible.  In northern Utah each year we receive some $11,000 of THRIVENT money that is available for assistance in non-profit, community assistance programs.

This is American generosity regardless of the circumstance, where you can be justly proud of what THRIVENT Financial For Lutherans has to offer to American communities.