To Bob White, Durkan’s
gratitude for FISH’s warehouse mirrors the happiness he and most others feel regarding the church merger. “I love the Lutheran church and am probably more conservative than liberal, but we’re all in this together,” he said. “Christianity is alive and well; being welcoming is pretty much a big part of it.” Kris White added, “I’m sad for
people who couldn’t accept it or see the positives, but our hope has always been that somewhere along the line they’ll be drawn back to what’s here.”
Lundeberg is a writer and editor for the Oregon State University College of Business in Corvallis.
Thomas Ramsey picks up food from the FISH food bank, a community program housed on Asbury Our Redeemer’s property. The food bank project helped unite the two merging congregations.
Siekkinen also credits a community food bank project for helping
unite the congregations. The project, which began in December 2011, included raising
money for a 6,500-square-foot warehouse on church property for a food bank operated by a community group known as FISH (Friendly, Instant, Sympathetic Help). “Being able to focus on the food bank was helpful as we worked
through some of our more difficult stretches,” Siekkinen said. “The food bank is a great resource for our community, and it was the Lutherans who initiated the project.” Our Redeemer members knew FISH, a 40-year-old nonprofit,
was making do in a small, insufficient facility and decided their comparatively large lot could support the kind of warehouse the food bank needed. It took four years of grass-roots efforts—mailings, presentations to community groups, a variety of fundraising events— and grant proposals to generate the necessary cash. “That as our goal held us together through some hard times,”
Chenoweth said. “[The congregation and FISH volunteers] needed to raise a million dollars. [The warehouse] opened last June and has a walk-in cooler and freezer, solar panels on the roof, a huge garden and a meeting room for community use.” In Hood River, FISH provides emergency food for 400 families;
each can come once a month and receive up to five days’ worth of food staples. Marianne Durkan, president of the community food bank board, said, “We couldn’t have done it without that church.”
Acclaimed historian, James Reston, Jr., paints a brilliant portrait of Martin Luther during the most dangerous, creative, and intense part of the Great Reformer’s life: his imprisonment at the Wartburg Castle.
“An engaging study of a short but explosive period in the life of the Great Refomer ... a swift moving narrative ... an intensive journey into Luther’s thinking... ”—Kirkus Reviews
martinlutherbook.com Basic Books
LIVINGLUTHERAN.ORG 29
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