Join Hands Day! May 3" published in "The Weekender"
by Kathy Kopp Director of Platteville Chamber of Commerce
JOIN HANDS DAY is a national volunteer day sponsored by America's fraternal benefit societies. This special day generates awareness about the powerful impact grassroots volunteerism has on communities across the nation while bringing youth and adults together to build lasting friendships across generations.

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans and its members have supported this event for a number of years. The national JOIN HANDS DAY is Saturday, May 3 and more than 3,000 JOIN HANDS DAY events are held across the country.

For the second time, the local Thrivent Financial Chapter is participating in this event by volunteering in the spring cleanup of Katie's Garden on Saturday, May 3. Members of Thrivent will be assisting in the garden by raking, mulching and just getting Katie's Garden ready for another beautiful summer. As a part of their commitment to this special day, Thrivent will be making a donation of $150 to Katie's Garden as well. If you are interested in knowing more about JOIN HANDS DAY activities, please check out their website at www.joinhandsday.org.

Everyone is welcome to come and help in the cleanup on Saturday, May 3. As you know, Katie's Garden is truly a centerpiece of beauty fo this community. The flower beds are really becoming established and we are very excited to anounce that a number of the beds have been "adopted" in an effort to help with the growing maintenance.


Chapter of Excellence award recognizes Grant County Chapter for efforts to improve community and address area needs

Grant County Chapter has earned a Chapter of Excellence award for its volunteer contributions to the local community in 2007. The award acknowledges the chapter’s leadership and members for organizing and implementing fund-raisers and service projects to address area needs.

74 Chapter activities were conducted by the Grant County Chapter, resulting in 29,196 volunteer hours. Funds raised by these local teams totaled $81,465, which were combined with $32,399 from Thrivent Financial for a total of $113,864 that went to assist people in need in Grant County.

In order to earn the Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ Chapter of Excellence status in 2007, a chapter had to meet ten key hallmarks including conducting youth-adult volunteer programs and using 100 percent of the funding available to support service projects through the chapter’s programs.

Grant County Chapter President Rev. Jeff Pedersen receives National Fraternal Congress Award

Rev. Jeff Pedersen, our Grant County Wisconsin Chapter President, is a 2007 National Fraternal Congress Award Recipient. This September, Jeff represented Thrivent Financial for Lutherans and all fraternal organizations by visiting Washington D.C. While there, he spoke with several political leaders about fraternal organizations and the benefits that the not-for-profit organizations provide.