Social Ministry

Social Concerns Committee

The Social Concerns Committee is an important adjunct to our ministry for housing, feeding the poor and social justice. Here are some highlights of our work.

• Lutheran Alliance for Transitional and Community Housing (LATCH).(contact Sheryl Schmeling) The Social Concerns Committee supports LATCH through annual dues. In the fall of 2000 we began publishing "LATCH Link" in our Notes of Faith, listing volunteer opportunities and specific requests for assistance. Members of Faith also assisted LATCH during 2000 session of the State Legislature to work on funding for low-income housing.
• The University District Food Bank. Our Spring and Fall food drives resulted in almost 4,000 pounds of food for our local food bank. Our food drives come at times of the year when the stocks in the food bank are particularly low. Our on-going effort to gain the participation of other NE Seattle Lutheran congregations is bearing fruit.
• Donations Center. Jenny Sinanan continues a largely independent effort to collect and distribute food, clothing and household items from our Donations Center. She provides a steady stream of important support to a number of organizations in our community such as the Compass Center and the Sharehouse.
• Habitat for Humanity. We organized a work crew for the Fall 2000 "Building on Faith" building blitz. Faith Lutheran fielded a crew of five to help frame the first floor of a duplex in the New Holly Park development on Beacon Hill. Four of the participants went through the HfH basic training and obtained gold card for continued colunteer efforts. We also received the generous support of volunteers from church who provided sack lunches for the work crew.
• Lutheran Social Services. In 2000 our giving tree hosted almost fifty families, including a large number of Sudanese youth who are being resettled in the Seattle area. We also provided holiday dinner baskets for five families.
• Immanuel Lutheran Church. We provide an annual gift of flannel shirts for residents in Immanuel Lutheran's men's shelter and recovery program. We also raised over $800 to fund the men's winter shelter.
• Boxing Day. The day after Christmas we delivered a truck full of winter clothes, sleeping bags and tarps to the tent city wintering over at El Centro De la Raza on Beacon Hill.
• YMCA Jump Start. This year we provided funds for the Lynnwood YMCA Jump Start program that provides some basic back-to-school supplies for children in the community.

Global Ministries Committee

Global Ministries Committee raises awareness in the congregation for many Christian individuals and organizations whose work it is to help others in need. These can be Lutheran or inter-denominational, local, national or international. The committee sifts through the mail that the church gets from these organizations asking for prayer, money or time and shares their findings with the congregation through articles in Notes of Faith, presentations to Adult Forum on Sunday mornings, and through sponsoring events which focus on global mission issues.

Faith Lutheran Church Women

Faith Lutheran Church Women (contact Joan Mattes) is affiliated with the Women of the ELCA (WELCA) through which women have opportunities to work, witness and learn. FLC women meet a variety of needs in the community buy supporting such organizations as the Compass Center Milk Fund, quilts to Seattle's needy. Catherine Booth Home for Abused Women and Children, Christmas Giving Tree, University Food Bank, Emergency Feeding Program and knitting hats, scarves and mittens for homeless people. For women at Compass Cascade Center we sent toilety items, laundry soap and coffee, and for Hamilton House street women, toiletry items. They continue to save Campbell's food product labels and canceled stamps which provide funds for mission outreach programs.

Along with the congregation, we help globally by sending soap, clothing, quilts and blankets, health and school kits to Lutheran World Relief. Many thanks to Andrine Baker, our LWR coordinator, for assembling the kits; to our Sunday School children for contributing soap, health and school kit items; and to Ruth Circle for packing and delivering the goods to the LWR boxcar twice a year. We very much appreciate Jenny Sinanan, Faith's Donation Center coordinator, who sorts and delivers all your other donations.

FLCW activities include:

• Altar Guild
• Esther Circle meets monthly during the day in member homes for lunch and a Bible study lead by Pastor Winder. We do not meet in July or August.
• Knitting hats for homeless people is an activity promoted by the circles, but open to all. Knitting supplies and patterns are available in a bin near the Donation Center. During 2000, 76 hats were given through local ministries and charities, such as Denny Place Youth Shelter, Church Council of Greater Seattle Homelessness Project, Compass Cascade Women's Center, Pathways for Women of the YWCA, Catherine Booth Home and the Compass Center. Help with this project is greatly appreciated.
• Mary-Martha Circle meets monthly during the evening in the homes of members for coffee and a Bible Study using materials from Lutheran Woman Today. We do not meet in July or August.
• Quilting is sponsored by the circles twice a month in the Quilting Room. Quilt tops are assembled off site, while the quilt tying is accomplished during the gatherings. In 2000 we gave away 77 quilts. Most of the quilts are sent to Lutheran World Relief. Some are also given out through local ministries and charities, such as Compass Cascade Women's Center and the Compass Center. The quilts are usually blessed during a regular worship service the Sunday before Lutheran Box Car Days. Help with this project is greatly appreciated.
• Ruth Circle meets monthly during the day in the church library for lunch and a Bible study lead by Pastor Winder. They do not meet in July or August. Ruth Circle takes the lead in preparing items for the LWR Boxcar shipment.