Ministries at LCC

Social and Fellowship Ministry

ABOUT THE FELLOWSHIP MINISTRY: The purpose of this Fellowship Team ministry is to develop and plan social events to promote Christian fellowship for church members, their families, friends and neighbors. We attempt to grow our church membership by including anyone who would like to participate. Financial goals have been to just break even, unless we hold a fundraiser event.

Examples of past Fellowship Team events have been: Bunco and other game nights (Food pantry fund raisers), Dinner & theater, Bowling & pizza, Chinatown dinner outing & shopping, Family movie nights, Road rally Scavenger hunts, and Fund raising theme dinners and entertainment.

ABOUT THE SOCIAL MINISTRY: Lutheran Church of the Cross’ Social Ministry, is an involved, hands on Ministry, serving the LCC Family and reaching out to the local community and global missions.

Social Ministry, for the community, is active with the Jewel Shop & Share Days program, which in turn helps provide for the LCC Food Pantry. The Food Pantry reaches out to the community as the largest pantry in the area serving for over thirty years to all in need, as an open boundary pantry. The LCC Food Pantry has always been very busy and continues to provide even though the numbers for those in need have been increasing.

Social Ministry, globally, recently participated in a program hosted by a local church to package food for an organization called "Feed My Starving Children." This food is then sent to those in need around the world.

Social Ministry, for the LCC Family is accomplished in the following ways: participation in the Sunday Fellowship Hour and hosting the Pancake Breakfasts, sponsors two Annual Bunco Parties that support mission opportunities, assists WELCA with the annual Giant Rummage Sale, is active with the Property Committee maintaining the Churches property, manages the annual Postman's Food Drive and provides other services as requested.

SOCIAL AND FELLOWSHIP MINISTRY REPORT FOR 2009

Good-by to another busy year…another decade. That’s three and a half decades, thirty-five years, of our LCC Food Pantry serving the needy of our community. Joan Wuerffel Steinbart started a day-care program in 1975 in our church. Realizing some of the children attending had not received breakfast; she provided them a morning meal. Through the years, the LCC Food Pantry evolved to the community ministry we know today serving and sharing God’s love with those in need of our five-town community.

Early in 2007 we became an agency of the Greater Chicago Food Depository. Growth was evident and we needed to purchase larger quantities of food at the best possible price. Other opportunities were offered. Classes on how operate the food pantry, how to develop workers, how to work with the needy and how to raise funds for the pantry. Grant opportunities were also offered and we are now committed to the GCFD Annual Hunger Walk held every June at Montrose Harbor on Chicago’s lakefront.

In June of 2008, we changed our hours from two days, two hours each, to one day, four hours. This cut our travel time by a day and we were able to better schedule volunteer workers. Our number of needy families continued to grow. In 2009, our numbers continued to grow rapidly. We had always been an open boundary pantry, serving all who came. Many were coming from other counties. The GCFD serves Cook County only and using this policy as a basis, we changed ours. March, we told all registering recipients, “Starting in April, we would serve only those living in our immediate five town community of Arlington Heights, Des Plaines, Elk Grove, Mount Prospect and Rolling Meadows”. Even with these changes, 2009 over 2008, we had an increase of 52% more needy families served.

Social Ministry and Fellowship have partnered with the ladies of WELCA in many events the past several years. We have served each other’s projects successfully for their missions.

The first event of every year is the St. Mathews Bingo Party for those residents with January birthdays. We are “so good”, that we are now invited to host the August Bingo party.

The LCC Annual Rummage Sale in April is our largest shared event. After expenses we share the proceeds 50/50 with WELCA. We receive Thrivent Funds for this project and again WELCA has donated their share to the food pantry.

The final event of the year is the WELCA Smorgasbord. A great fellowship evening and plenty of good food.

Social Ministry/ Fellowship hosts the monthly Pancake Breakfasts eight months out of the year.

After expenses, the remaining funds go to the food pantry. Fellowship, the informal gathering of our LCC Family, is the main event. Bunco Parties in the spring and fall, the Annual Postal Workers Food Drive was our largest yet, 17,000 pounds. The GCFD Hunger Walk was our first this year, netting our pantry $620 from unspecified funds. This event has great potential for us.

The community Global Crop Walk also contributed about $500 to us this year. Additionally, the Mama Mia movie and sing along hosted by Pam Harris and Tanya Haak was a great event.

Jack and Virginia Lloyd celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary and requested any gifts be food or cash for our LCC Food Pantry. Sadly, we lost a long time volunteer of the food pantry and a friend to all of us, Helen Ahlgren. The family contributed all memorials to the food pantry. Thank you for remembering Helen this way.

Finally, we want to thank our five-town community for their continued support of our LCC Food Pantry. As we enter our fifth decade of serving the needy of our community, the contributions of cash, food, personal need items, winter coats and surly for our volunteers…WE THANK YOU. Individuals, churches, businesses, schools, youth groups, social groups have all contributed to our mission to serve and to share. We are also thankful for the opportunities for Grants we received this year from GCFD Hunger Relief program, Enterprise Trucking and Jewel-Osco. Also to Jewel-Osco for their ongoing store events namely, Shop & Share Days and Turkey Bucks Dinners. We also received a $1000 check for the re-grand opening of the Vail street store.

Bags of food given out….           

2006, 2100            2007, 2500            2008, 3332            2009, 5125

Thank You for helping us to Share God’s Love

Respectfully submitted by Walker R. Reach.

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