Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service 7th Annual Hope for the Holidays
Today Mary Wennes and I joined a Zoom meeting with LIRS staff, and Pastor Sandra Carlson Alexis from First Lutheran in Baltimore, and Pastor David Glesne from St. John’s Lutheran in Bloomington, IL.
Ascension, with these two congregations, will serve as Regional Partner Hubs with LIRS this fall for the ministry “Hope for the Holidays,” one that we participated in last year with letter writing and Christmas greetings to children and families in immigrant detention centers.
We will do the same this year but in addition, we will be a Regional Partner Hub to receive the thousands of cards/letters that come from other congregations.
It is the work of LIRS to get the word out across our country for how to do these cards, and for the addresses of the three receiving congregations.
Our job as a Hub is to do four things:
Receive the cards;
Screen the cards (no envelopes, check messages);
Repackage the cards in packs of 50 (according to the directions given to us, for how many to….);
Send the cards (to one of the area immigration detention centers).
This year LIRS expects to receive a total of about 50,000 cards! Who knows, Ascension could be receiving/screening/repackaging/sending upwards of 20,000!
The deadline for us to send the cards to the centers is Dec. 11. If we receive cards after that, they will probably need to wait to be delivered next year.
Most of the cards will be in English or Spanish. Some, but not many, will be in French, Arabic, or Portuguese. Specific instructions will help us handle the cards in other languages.
To pay for our expenses here (packaging, postage) we will receive a $500 Visa card from LIRS. We will keep track of every expense. If more money is needed for supplies and shipping, LIRS will give us more as needed. Everything that we do needs to be listed on the LIRS Excel spreadsheets.
Besides this tangible way of serving, we will also be given the opportunity to donate financially to LIRS for LIRS to buy gifts for the children.
Last year thousands of children received a gift to open on Christmas morning. This ministry is one of a number of Outreach Ministries that LIRS sponsors throughout each year. “Stand Up, Speak Up” and “External Emergency Response” are two others. For each of these outreach ministries they use the acronym, A-D-A-P-T. Act, Donate, Advocate, Pray, Teach.
I complimented them on this excellent acronym for these ministries.
We do not expect the GMT to take on this large amount of work, nor our office staff, so we will be recruiting new volunteers to help us in the office/Bethlehem Room.
Thank you for helping us spread the good word about this outstanding ministry to bring hope and joy, in Jesus’ name, to the children and families in our country’s immigrant detention centers.
Volunteers are asked to sign up with Pastor Steve,
Approximate time frame for this ministry will be the seven weeks, October 25 through December 11.
We will need people to:
Sort and open the mail.
Screen the letters.
Bundle them in packages of 50.
Purchase shipping supplies with the VISA gift card.
Mail the packages with the VISA gift card.
Input the data into Excel spreadsheets.
Share the stories and photos through newsletters and social media.
LIRS will take care of all the thank you notes to the donors.
And Thank You for your prayers and participation,
It’s that season when the leaves start changing color, the evenings are getting darker earlier, and the crisp cool night reminds us it’s time to bring our sweaters out. It’s the little things that remind us how blessed we all are. What are you thankful for and what is your legacy?
For 
With the cooler temperatures, many of us have transitioned from iced tea to hot tea. A cup of hot cocoa can be just the thing to have close by when enjoying that book you just can’t put down. As we gather during the holidays with friends and family, a tasty snack of cheese & crackers goes well with good conversation and laughter. Everyone is invited to “Stop & Shop” with us outside on the Patio.
And, our order of delicious Red Barn Family Farms Heritage Cheddar Cheese (aged 1 yr) from Wisconsin arrived and is ready for purchase by all – no worries if you didn’t add cheese to your October order.
It’s that season when the leaves start changing color, the evenings are getting darker earlier, and the crisp cool night reminds us it’s time to bring our sweaters out. It’s the little things that remind us how blessed we all are. What are you thankful for and what is your legacy?
Each November for the last fifteen years our Global Ministries Team has offered us alternative Christmas giving, ways for us to support local and global ministries. Over these years Ascension has given over one million dollars away to these ministries!
