Four page newsletter: August 2008| Four page newsletter: August 2008 | | |
| Central Blue Ridge NC Chapter, Summer 2008 |
| Do You Know Your Chapter Leaders? |
If you have any questions about Thrivent Financial or the Care in Congregations or Care in Communities funding programs, help is just a phone call or e-mail away! Your questions may be directed to any of the chapter leaders or financial representative advisors. Some questions can be answered better by certain board members as noted, but feel free to contact any board member or representative advisor with your questions or comments.
President - John Hodan, 828-684-8961, jahodan@charter.net
(Receives all requests for Care in Communities funding)
Vice President - Steve Stanfield-Switzer, 828-693-6961, stanfieldswitzer@aol.com
Financial Director - Margo Rabon, 828-697-5494, margorabon@aol.com
(Receives results of Care in Communities projects, including funds raised and receipts)
Assistant Financial Director - Linda Licht, 828-699-4443, lindamlicht@yahoo.com
Congregational Service Team Director - Paula Lindsay, 828-252-3248, lindsaypb@bellsouth.net
(Answers Care in Congregation questions)
Financial Representative Advisors - John Baylor, 828-692-5151, John.Baylor@thrivent.com
Glenn Deal, 828-684-2900, Glenn.Deal@thrivent.com
Tom Kasischke, 828-692-5015, Tom.Kasischke@thrivent.com
Stuart Thorp, 828-684-2900, Stuart.Thorp@thrivent.com
Tom and Stuart have been long-time financial representatives in our chapter, but we are excited to announce that each of them has recently added to their team. In fact, Thrivent Financial is encouraging it's 3,400 Financial Associates across the country to team up to better serve their members.
Financial Associate John Baylor has recently joined the Western Carolina team with Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. He is working with Financial Consultant Tom Kasischke out of the Hendersonville office. John’s wife, Laura Wilson Baylor, is a physical education teacher at Blue Ridge Community College in Flat Rock and has been a camper, counselor and care leader at Lutheridge for the past 30 plus years. John and Laura have been married since 2002 and have a daughter, Isabella Grace, 19 months old. They live in Mills River and are members at Lutheran Church of the Nativity in Arden. John enjoys the outdoors, hiking and spending time with the family and can usually be found somewhere listening to music or playing bluegrass on his mandolin. He is a graduate of North Carolina State University in Raleigh. John worked in the mortgage and real estate industry before coming to Thrivent, and is very excited to be a part of a company and industry that is so focused on helping others and giving back to the community.
Tom and John look forward to teaming together to provide continued services through Thrivent Financial's advisory process to their clients. They welcome opportunities to introduce others to Thrivent Financial as their practice builds upon the relationships established with Lutherans and others in their communities. The Western Carolina Team office address is 318 N Main Street Hendersonville, NC 28792
Stuart Thorp and Glenn Deal have partnered to form the Blue Ridge Associates of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. In addition, Lisa Causer plans to join the team as a Financial Associate when she finishes her licensing exams later this year. Glenn is a Financial Consultant with over 20 years with Thrivent and AAL and specializes in investments and estate planning. He and his wife Amy live in Taylorsville, where Amy is a hospital administrator. Glenn will split his time between the Taylorsville office and the Blue Ridge Associates in Arden, NC. Stuart has been with AAL and Thrivent for 14 years. The Blue Ridge Associates will have approximately 2,000 Thrivent members assigned to their team. The team is excited to be planning several educational seminars and Thrivent sponsored activities in the Lutheran churches that they serve.
Contact Stuart Thorp at 828-684-2900, if you have any questions about Thrivent Financial for Lutherans or the Blue Ridge Associates team.
| Hendersonville Thrivent Builds House Dedicated |
On August 24, 2008, the dedication of the Lutheran Thrivent Builds Habitat House in the Shuey Knolls Subdivision, took place and the keys were presented to Candy Lane Bounds and her two children, Halee and Coleman, ages 11 and 9. Candy is a single parent and is employed by Blue Ridge Mountain Water; she also serves as a leader of Halee’s Girl Scout Troop and Coleman's Cub Scout Pack. The lead congregation for this build was Grace Lutheran of Hendersonville which provided the majority of the congregational funding and volunteers. Special thanks are due to Pastor Greg Williams for his leadership and participation and to the following members of his congregation for the many volunteer hours they contributed: Dale Beardsley, Harry Steiner, and Tom and Layne Kasischke. Other participating congregations were Mt. Pisgah, Nativity, and St. Mark’s.
If you have any questions or would like to participate in the Thrivent Builds program, contact Ed Hauser, our Chapter Builds Specialist at 236-1992.
| Asheville Area Thrivent Builds News |
Our chapter and the Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity are now in the final stages of the application process to receive a grant for a 2009 Thrivent Builds home. Thrivent will announce the awarding of grants in early November. The Lutheran Church of the Nativity would be the lead congregation for a Lutheran Habitat House in 2009. St. Mark's Lutheran Church was the lead congregation for the 2007 Thrivent Builds Habitat House and it was agreed by the four participating congregations that Emmanuel Lutheran Church would be the lead congregation for a 2011 build. The other participating church was Abiding Savior. All four congregations have committed funds and volunteers for a 2009 build. At our recent application meeting, Lew Kraus, indicated that our Lutheran congregations on a per church basis provide more funding and volunteers than any other faith group. We can all be proud of our participation in this outreach ministry.
It should be noted that for the 2007 build, the Asheville Affiliate and our Chapter ranked first in the Southeast Region (GA, NC, and SC), and our region was ranked Number 1 in six major categories Thrivent Builds established for assessment purposes. Our region continues to rank #1 for our 2008 builds. Thus, we are in good position to receive a 2009 grant. We owe much of this success to Ed Hauser for his stellar leadership and guidance as our Chapter Builds Specialist. Thank you, Ed!
| Care in Congregations Can Help Your Congregation |
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. Congregations in our chapter have used this funding to landscape and maintain church grounds, fund youth programs, provide batting to church quilters, and much more.
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 noted earlier in this newsletter, and he/she will help you get in touch with a coordinator.
| Looking for a Way to Make a Difference? |
Imagine yourself as part of a group of caring people with the opportunity to decide how best to use funding that benefits people in need and your community. Imagine being able to increase the impact that money has through community involvement, awareness, additional funds raised and the caring work of many hands.
Chapter leaders with the Central Blue Ridge-NC Chapter of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans do just that with the Care Abounds in Communities® program! And with chapter leader elections just around the corner, the time to get involved is NOW! Our chapter will have several leadership opportunities for 2009, including Records Director, Financial Director, Communications Director, Events Director, Youth Director, and Community Service Team Director. The only requirements are: being a Thrivent Financial member; a desire to help people; and five to 15 hours per month volunteer time (depending on the position). For a description of the position responsibilities, go to www.thrivent.com, and click on "Members/Chapters" > "Ask CHIP" > "Leadership" > "Leadership Board Required Elected Positions" or "Leadership Board Optional Elected Positions."
We very much need you on the chapter leadership board--without a full board, our chapter will not qualify for the funding that helps people and our community. In addition, Thrivent Builds looks at congregational participation on the chapter board as a deciding factor when awarding build grants. We need a variety of people from many congregations, especially churches providing leadership for a Thrivent Builds home. Help us take full advantage of this unique opportunity to significantly impact our community and contact any of the current board members listed in this newsletter today to find out more or add your name to the election ballot.
If serving on the chapter leadership board does not work for you but you'd like to be involved or volunteer in some capacity, there are many other volunteer opportunities, both short-term and longer-term, available as well. Please contact us and we'll describe how you can make a difference through the Thrivent chapter system in a way that fits into your schedule.
| Lutherans at the Tourists Baseball Game |
Thanks go to our Thrivent financial representatives and consultants for sponsoring an evening of fun and fellowship at an Asheville Tourists baseball game on August 31. 283 Thrivent members and their families from all over western North Carolina watched the Tourists game and a wonderful fireworks display after the game. Everybody also received Tourist Bucks to spend at the ballpark, many door prizes were given out, and our Thrivent Financial for Lutherans section was recognized during the 7th inning stretch! The response was so great that we are hoping that this will become an annual event.
| Care Abounds in Communities Funding Available |
Our chapter still has funding available for 2008 Care Abounds in Communities projects. These funds can be used for someone in your community that is suffering from health problems and high medical expenses, a family in financial need that could use help maintaining their home, or a school or park that could use new equipment, to name a few. For guidelines and easy step by step instructions for forming a community service team to conduct fund-raising or hands-on service activities to help individuals, families and /or qualified not-for-profit organizations, go to www.thrivent.com/ABC.
We encourage you to apply early, as all projects need to be completed and reported by mid December.
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