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Two months out


schoolwork and to provide a snack from the food bank—another church-community partnership.


Dow’s tip: If you think this is something your community can do, talk to your local or regional food bank. Maybe all they need is to have someone come and ask. For more information, contact Dow at pastor@ faithlcrochelle.org. 


DESIGN PICS DESIGN PICS


Feeding the community’s kids


S


teve Dow knew an injustice when he saw it: summer school in Rochelle, Ill., was held at the one elementary school where the majority of children were above the poverty line so the district


wouldn’t have to feed them. But the kids attending—including those from the other three schools where the majority live below the pov- erty level—were spending summer days on empty stomachs. “It made me mad,” he said.


When the pastor of Faith Lutheran Church, Rochelle, realized


three years ago what the district had done, he and others launched a program to feed the community’s kids. With the help of the Northern Illinois Food Bank, they planted their food sites where children spend their summer days: a trailer park, city parks and the swimming pool. The food bank manages the program and provides the federally funded lunches. Volunteers from Faith, as well as the Four Square and Methodist churches, spend a couple hours each summer weekday handing out nutritious meals that include fresh fruits and vegetables. Last year they served up 6,887 lunches at six sites to kids 18 and under. In Ogle County, 2,900 children are eligible for such help. “There’s no income qualification. If you show up, you get a


lunch,” Dow said. They even have peanut butter and jelly on hand if a hungry parent needs something to eat. It’s an ecumenical effort that wouldn’t be possible if the food bank


weren’t providing the lunches. “It’s a community-wide program. That makes it so much better. Because that’s what it should be,” Dow said. “It should be all of us caring about kids who aren’t getting enough to eat and helping out as we can.” Dow and his congregation are no strangers to taking care of the community’s kids. When he and his wife volunteered in the class- room they realized the children didn’t know basic math. “They were falling behind and would never catch up,” he said. Faith started an after-school program to help second- through fourth-graders with


Good


one! Undie


Sunday Martin Luther Lutheran


Church in Milwaukee held an “Undie Sunday” in January. The church’s publicity tweet? “Under- wear and worship come together in the name of the gospel!” The congregation col-


lected new underwear and soap to share with families in need through the Cathedral Center, an emergency shelter serving women and families. Said the organizers, “In rough economic times, basic needs are sometimes the hardest to come by, so we are loving our neighbors by providing ‘unmention- ables.’ ... One more way we are the body of Christ.”


St. John Lutheran Church in Summer-


field, Fla., does something similar. They collected underwear, socks and supplies for an elementary school since students have outgrown clothing and used up supplies by January. Their pitch? “Please drop off your undies. … In the desig- nated drop box in the entranceway.”


Does your congregation do a specific ministry in August, September or October? Send details to julie.sevig@thelutheran.org. April 2012 39


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