Monthly Missions for 2005

Bethel New Life is the mission emphasis for January. Bethel New Life is a faith-based community development corporation on Chicago's West Side, established in 1979 by the Bethel Lutheran Church with the goal of revitalizing its West Garfield Park neighborhood. Today the organization is involved in job creation, housing and business development, family support services, senior services, and community organizing. The Beth-Anne Life Center (the 9.2 acre adaptive re-use of the former St. Anne's Hospital) was chosen as the winner of the Driehaus Foundation Award for Outstanding Non-Profit Neighborhood Real Estate Project. The north wing is devoted to Beth-Anne Extended Living, 85 units of supportive living for low income elderly. For more information contact: Bethel New Life, 4952 W. Thomas St., Chicago, IL 60651,  773-473-7870.

February - PeopleCare, Inc.

PeopleCare is the mission emphasis for February. It is an ecumenical and community-based agency. PeopleCare, Inc. and its volunteers are linked directly to persons who are homebound to provide friendship and support. Volunteers offer telephone reassurance, visitations, and transportation (by "Shepherds of the Covenant") for essential appointments and errands, such as medical visits and banking. In addition volunteers may provide assistance to the caregiver, offering them a temporary break. Volunteers are supported through educational opportunities and monthly meetings. In addition, PeopleCare staff can refer the homebound to other agencies upon request. For more information contact: PeopleCare, Inc., 60 Akenside Road, Riverside, IL 60546,708-442-1223.

March - ELCA Domestic Disaster Response

ELCA Domestic Disaster Response is our mission emphasis for April. This ministry seeks to support the immediate needs of ELCA members following a major disaster. Food, medicine, drinking water, clean up and rebuilding efforts, pastoral and spiritual care of victims and volunteers may be provided through volunteers. It coordinates its efforts with the American Red Cross and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. Monies to the ELCA Domestic Disaster Response come from designated offerings and gifts, rather than from the general benevolence funds of the ELCA. For more information contact: ELCA Domestic Disaster Response, P.O. Box 71764, Chicago, IL, 60694,   800-638-3522.

April - AIDS/Stand With Africa

AIDS - Stand with Africa is our mission emphasis for April. This is a follow-up to last year's special global mission emphasis in support of the HN / AIDS ministry of our Companion Synod (the Central Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa). AIDS - Stand with Africa is a project of the ELCA which helps companion churches and other African partners care for those suffering with AIDS and work to prevent the further spread of this disease, often with youth leading the outreach efforts. The impact of AIDS on families and communities in Africa is profound. There are more than 13 million AIDS orphans in Sub-Saharan Africa and that number will double within this decade. But there is hope! Africans are providing strong leadership in this fight. Your gift will bring love and care to the orphaned children who look to the church for help and hope.

May - Bread for the World

Bread for the World is our mission emphasis for May. Bread for the World focuses on U.S. welfare reform, job advocacy, reduction of world hunger, and educating the public through its annual Hunger Report. Special attention is given to reform that supports child care programs, health insurance, job training, and minimum wage and Earned Income Tax Credit, which work together to help low-income individuals support a family. Bread for the World also pays particular attention to African countries in crisis. It includes 44,000 members in 40 denominations. For more information contact: Bread for the World, Illinois/Indiana Office, 205 West Monroe, Chicago, IL 60606,  312-629-9531.

June - Rett Syndrome

Rett Syndrome is our mission emphasis for June. Rett Syndrome is a neurological condition in four phases. Individuals exhibit autistic-like behavior, including functional loss of the hands and speech. Rett strikes females with symptoms appearing from six to 18 months. Treatments may include orthopedic, developmental learning, and nutritional programs. Funding is used to support research. Michelle Borchardt, daughter of Kay and Mike Borchardt and members of Ascension, has Rett Syndrome. For more information contact." Kay Borchardt for the Rett Syndrome Association of Illinois, 708-447-1779, or The International Rett Syndrome Association, 9121 Piscataway, Suite 2B, Clinton, MD 20735,  800-818-7388.

July - Augusta Victoria Hospital, Jerusalem

Lutheran World Federation's Augusta Victoria Hospital, located on the West Bank in Jerusalem, is our mission emphasis for July. Augusta Victoria is a flagship for the local and international Christian and Lutheran presence in the city of our faith, Jerusalem. It is also a symbol of political cooperation - Palestinian and Israeli doctors make rounds together at the hospital. Sick Palestinian patients and hospital staff often aren't allowed through Israeli checkpoints to get to the hospital, so skilled Palestinian staff bring equipment into surrounding villages to provide urgently needed healthcare. Your gifts may help provide medical supplies, support a village clinic, pay a nurse's salary or provide dialysis treatment. The hospital also provides the only effective treatment for breast cancer in the West Bank.

August - Lutheran Campus Ministry of Illinois

Lutheran Campus Ministry is our mission emphasis for August. The mission of Campus Ministry is to conduct, support, and interpret a Lutheran ministry in higher education. Campus Ministry fosters student faith formation and leadership development through the proclamation of the Word, celebration of the sacraments, intellectual inquiry, and fellowship - further benefiting home congregations and the wider church.. The ELCA synods of Illinois and the Division for Higher Education and Schools support Campus Ministry programs at such locations as Augustana College, Northern Illinois University, Northwestern University, University of Illinois, and Illinois State University.

September - BEDS

B.E.D.S. (Building Ecumenical Discipleship through Sheltering) is our mission emphasis for September. This is a volunteer organization that has been active for over ten years. B.E.D.S. operates on a seasonal schedule providing food and shelter for the homeless in our parish area from October 15 to April 30. Seven hundred volunteers care for the homeless in four shifts, maintain and administer the shelter, shop for groceries, cook and deliver meals and supplies, and launder linens. One day a week is set aside at the shelter to allow social agencies and services to assist the many B.E.D.S. clients. For more information contact: B.E.D.S., 708-354-0858.

October - Church World Service

B.E.D.S. (Building Ecumenical Discipleship through Sheltering) is our mission emphasis for September. This is a volunteer organization that has been active for over ten years. B.E.D.S. operates on a seasonal schedule providing food and shelter for the homeless in our parish area from October 15 to April 30. Seven hundred volunteers care for the homeless in four shifts, maintain and administer the shelter, shop for groceries, cook and deliver meals and supplies, and launder linens. One day a week is set aside ~t the shelter to allow social agencies and services to assist the many B.E.D.S. clients. For more information contact: B.E.D.S., 708-354-0858.

November - ELCA World Hunger Appeal

ELCA World Hunger is our mission emphasis for November. 'This program supports the international hunger relief programs of the Lutheran World Relief, the Lutheran World Federation, and the ELCA Division for Global Mission. It funds relief projects in the U.S. and abroad, and sponsors hunger education and projects in environmental stewardship. Monies to World Hunger come from designated offerings and gifts, rather than from the general benevolence funds of the ELCA. For more information contact: ELCA World Hunger Program, 8765 West Higgins Road, Chicago, IL 60631, 800-638-3522.

December - Lutheran Social Services of Illinois

Lutheran Social Services of Illinois is the mission emphasis for December. LSSl is one of the state's largest foster care providers, serves 1,800 children in Chicago and the suburbs, including infants to teenagers, placed in foster care homes for a variety of emotional and physical disabilities. Churches contribute to the program through financial contributions or by sponsoring a seasonal drive to purchase Christmas gifts for individual foster children. Foster families also receive a stipend from LSSI which goes toward basic care for the foster child, rather than for Christmas giving. For more information contact: LSSI, Inc. at 773-774-1401.

Offerings for the monthly mission emphases are received at the main door, on the last Sunday of te month following worship, or may be sent to the church office at any time.