Category Archives: Reaching Out

PADS Laundry Team Schedule

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PADS Laundry Team:
Prince of Peace Lutheran
Week Name
02/05/06 Jan Bentall
02/12/06 Ginny Gibbs
02/19/06 Terry Kenney
02/26/06 Mike Naumann
03/05/06 Susan Dean
03/12/06 Mark Thoms
03/19/06 David Raufheisen
03/26/06 LaVonne Flach
04/02/06 Veronica Pucci
04/09/06 Sue Patt
04/16/06 Scott Ripoli
04/23/06 Ginny Gibbs

Holy Innocents members are shown in bold. Please feel free to partner with one other person as there are several doors to hold open, and the laundry cart can be somewhat unwieldy.

Laundry can be picked up from the Prince of Peace Lutheran laundry room in the basement any time after Sunday services, and clean sets are available from Alexian Brothers. Be sure to count how many bags you pick up, as each contains one dirty set of laundry. Pickup the same number of clean sets from the hospital loading dock. Drop them off at Prince of Peace by Thursday evening.

Prince of Peace Lutheran Church: 930 West Higgins Road (847) 885-7010

They are offering PADS training on Wednesday, February 15:

Attendance is required at one 2 hour training session which will acquaint the volunteer with the needs of the homeless population the volunteers will be assisting. Training sessions will begin at 7:00 p.m. No registration is required. Talk to your family and friends about volunteering. Contact Michelle Vahlkamp at 847-885-9645 if you have questions

Alexian Brothers 800 Biesterfield Road, Elk Grove Village (847) 437?5500

Further information on pickup and dropoff points is available here: Download PDF document

United Power for Action and Justice

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Father Ted and I are attending a presentation by United Power for Action and Justice tonight to be held at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Arlington Heights. This is something he set up for us to attend after a discussion in the Bishop’s Committee about how we as a small congregation could make connections with other groups to make a difference in people’s lives.

After Sunday’s Annual Meeting (the shortest in living memory), the leadership and congregation of Holy Innocents are opening ourselves up to new opportunities to serve in our community. One way is to find out what ongoing programs we might join or adapt.

One of our new initiatives is to assist with some of the local PADS programs, and I notice that Our Savior is another PADS site, and they’re looking for laundry volunteers, too. If possible I hope to make contact with their coordinator so we can get our small but enthusiastic band of volunteers on their schedule. We’re waiting to hear back on scheduling from Prince of Peace Lutheran’s Friday night crew regarding laundry detail. Both churches require laundry pick-up and return on Sundays, so we might have to split up a volunteer team to cover both.

Something wonderful happened at Sunday’s service; it’s hard to explain, but people are excited about what we hope to do this year, not just for ourselves as a church, but for people in need right in our own communities.

If interested in any volunteer opportunities, or if you’d like to drop off bags of groceries for our Supplemental Food Pantry, please call the church office, or and I will forward the request to Father Ted.

One Person Can Make A Difference

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When disaster strikes, we often think “there’s nothing I can do about that,” other than perhaps to make a donation to some existing charity group.

However, creative thinking makes it possible for one person to really make a difference:

The Seattle Times: Nation & World: Richard Berger of West Seattle felt that he had to do something for the people of Pakistan, struggling to survive after a massive earthquake, with winter coming on and no shelter:

Berger, a former gallery owner, drove to the flagship REI store and bought several blankets. He took them home, tore at them, set them on fire, stood out in wind and rain with them wrapped over a T-shirt.

Then he called the manufacturer of the most durable blanket, and they found a way to bring the $5.50 blankets down to $1 each. Berger asked Mercy Corps, a relief agency, if it would distribute the blankets in Pakistan. And he e-mailed 250 friends, asking for donations. DHL heard about it, and shipped some for free. As of Tuesday, he had raised more than $100,000 to send about 110,000 blankets to Pakistan.

“I had no idea this would work. There’s a tremendous number of caring people that, given the opportunity to respond, will step in.