Under Tamera’s leadership, the Pottawattamie County Chapter Board is much more than just an administrator of the Care Abounds in Community funding. The board developed its own motto: Touching People’s Hearts Through our Helping Hands.

In order to make the board’s activities meaningful and relevant for each board member, Tamera started the practice of having each leader write goals for the coming year, as well as to review previous goals, accomplishments, and challenges, emphasizing how to make improvements. Tamera also asks each member of the board to designate one issue or nonprofit organization that the board members should help directly. Chapter leaders are reminded of these goals each month before voting on Cares in Communities Applications.

Tamera and her husband made a custom solid oak display board for the Thrivent Financial Office in Council Bluffs to show the activities and programs taking place in the congregational and community caring programs. When customers come to the office they leave knowing that their investments directly touch people’s hearts and lives. Additionally, Tamera maintains a chapter scrapbook; the scrapbook from the former year is displayed on a table in the reception area.

With the board’s sponsorship, in April of 2006 Tamera organized and coordinated a Thrivent service team which raised $21,909 for a police officer’s family, all of whom were injured in a car accident. The dinner and bake sale drew a crowd of 1200, which included 356 members of Thrivent. The Pottawattamie County Board supplemented the fundraiser with $4200.

This past fall Tamera worked with each town in Pottawattamie County and the churches to identify a community to welcome a Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity home. In doing this she went to many City Council Meetings to explain the Thrivent grant and how it could impact and help their community. In this process, the community of Carson worked with Tamera to donate land to the project. With Tamera’s guidance to complete the Thrivent Builds application for both the chapter and the Habitat affiliate, the Thrivent Builds Home was awarded for Carson.

Upon Tamera’s initiative and leadership, the board decided to recognize volunteerism in the churches, as well as among individuals. The board created a local volunteerism award, for which the winner receives a plaque and gift certificate to a local religious book store.

Every year before Join Hand Day Tamera goes to the churches and community meetings to promote the program and hand out applications. Whether for 4-H, Boy Scouts, LSI clients, or another church, Tamera can come up with ideas how to help out people for Join Hands Day. Not only does she help them fill out the applications, she makes phone calls to get supplies donated or services performed at cost.

With the assistance of the chapter’s congregational service team director, Tamera led a training session for fifty people who represented each church in the county.

When Tamera realized that the only Lutheran Preschool in the county was not participating in the GivingPlus Program, she helped them enroll in the program and suggest ways to promote it to their families.

Tamera works for Lutheran Services in Iowa (LSI) and promotes Thrivent through her volunteerism, such as taking Thrivent brochures to the State Capitol on Kids for Disability Day, and attending a Poverty Simulation that was funded through Thrivent. In April Tamera and three volunteer Fire Departments conducted a drunk driving seminar at the AHST School that was attended by the State Senator, State Representative, County Attorney, Local Police Department and Sheriff’s Department.

Tamera knows how to get organizations to work together for a common good. She worked the entirety of 2006 with three local churches, Boy Scouts, Junior Federated Woman, Fire Department, Police Department and the public library on a community-wide Halloween celebration. Planning for the event started in May, when Tamera got Earl May Greenhouses to donate the seeds for pumpkins, corn and gourds. Then the Boy Scouts planted them in a lot that was donated by an elderly man that Tamera works with (each Scout earned his Garden Patch.). When the day came to plant Tamera got the local implement dealer to plow the lot and the local fertilizer plant to spray for weeds. The fire department watered the pumpkins all summer long Each business participated in trick or treating, which was followed by a soup supper that fed 1200 people.

Tamera fills-in for Sunday school teachers and is currently working with her church and school to write a grant to create a Lutheran Wellness/ Youth Center at an elementary school building that will soon be vacant.

In February Tamera, with the chapter youth advisor and vice president, met with youth representatives from each church in the county. The result of the meeting was a two-day retreat at Mahoney State Park for 58 youths from area churches. All board members helped at the retreat. The youth planned and coordinated the event, which included swimming, horseback riding, attended a Melodrama and a Christian Concert, and planted trees for the park.

Through Thrivent Tamera has worked with the City of Avoca, Boy Scouts, Iowa Telecom, and the AHST School to promote and initiate a Crime Stoppers program. When the school conducted a contest for the children of the school to create a new city motto, Thrivent sponsored the new sign.

With each project throughout the county whether it’s working with the Sheriff’s Department for Bicycle Helmets for younger kids or working on landscaping with the High School (AHST, TRI-CENTER or RIVERSIDE) it’s with much surprise how many children know Tamera and are always willing to help with their own hearts and hands to make any project a success.

Since the Thrivent Chapter has touched many people throughout the projects in Pottawattamie County, the chapter board was honored to have its own program advertised on an interstate sign seen by 10,000 people each day in the town of Avoca, Iowa. In the words of Tamera’s fellow board members, “We know that it’s more than just handing out money each month, it’s about being there as Christians too. Our motto is to ‘touch people through their hearts by our helping hands.’ This is why we believe that Tamera is more than words can say. She’s a person who takes the Thrivent Vision to the outer banks of this County, Region, State and World to see that God’s work can be done.”