Faith Lutheran of Sarasota fulfills the mission of mercy work throughout each year partnered with many American organizations which include: Bread for the World, Salvation Army, Lutheran World Relief, Global Hunger, Habitat for Humanity, Lutheran Social Services, LOMF, LLMI, Fruitville Elementary, Brookside Middle School, Agape Flights and a fledgling local justice organization; SURE.  However, the Village of Hope in Haiti, under the umbrella of the Lazarus Project, as supported by Food for the Poor (Florida), is our special, personal ministry to the world.  The Village of Hope Church and School also encompasses the Grace Mission Orphanage for girls and the Little Children of Jesus Orphanage for Disabled Children.  The goal for 2009 is to have a permanent clinic for the school built and staffed by the end of the year.

We follow the lead of our Pastor, Steve Winemiller.  He has a great heart for the people of Haiti, especially the children of poverty – there are so many.  Our congregation has supplied the personnel, gifts and supplies for 7 trips to Haiti, under the leadership of Pastor Steve Winemiller.  We’ve made 2 medical mission trips, with the help of our congregation members in the medical profession; Dr. Steve Newman and Dr. Laura Morris, along with pharmacist Francisco Gonzalez and retired nurse Issy Smirnow.  These doctors have accepted the call of leadership in designing the clinic and setting the protocols.  Our congregation works with others to raise the money for this wonderful plan.  We are especially thankful for financial assistance from Advent - Boca Raton, FL (Pr. Andy Hagen) and the congregation at Lord of Life, Fairfax, VA.

We support and love the missionaries living the ministry in Haiti, Pr. Larry and Margaret Bollinger.  We have (financially) adopted 40 children at the school.  Jorel Carte, their minister of music was brought to America last Easter for dental work and ministry to our congregation.  Joseph Livenson Lauvanus, a Seminary Graduate who studied in Union Theological in Jamaica and 5 Haitian Pastors have been tutored by Pr. Steve and are soon to be ordained as the first Haitian pastors of The Federation Evangelique Luteriane de Haiti.

When we completed our capital campaign four years ago (for our new building) and Pr. Steve encouraged the congregation to tithe ten percent of the money raised to other ministries.  The pledged funds generated interest enough to pay the tithe without using the principle needed for the building, a true miracle.  The Lazarus Project and other Haiti programs were included in the four organizations to receive tithe monies.  Our congregation has been able to give the Lazarus Project and FELDHA $30,000 over the last three years.

Our congregation of Faith has received so many amazing, and timely, financial gifts from our members.  To those in leadership, it is evidence of God’s generosity and blessings, given to individuals who are called by God to make gifts to the church, further enabling our Faith family to support the children of Haiti –  giving to the least of these.

-Faith Lutheran Church, Sarasota, FL

SOFIA: ELCA Stories of Faith In Action

A group of Nativity Lutheran Church members in Weeki Wachee, FL, came together to talk about serving community needs in Hernando County. The outcome is People Helping People (PHP), an interfaith community of Christians, Jews, and Muslims who are concerned with the increasing numbers of hungry and homeless people in West Hernando County. 

To address this concern, PHP has begun modestly by providing two monthly meals at the Senior Citizens Club of Hernando County. Cecil Bradley, Nativity member and president of PHP recently said, “This week I was a part of a conversation in which a Jewish man was talking to an Indian doctor about donating money to a charity started by a bunch of Lutherans.  Is that interfaith or what?” 

Bradley has said repeatedly that he has experienced the power of the Holy Spirit at work in this process. Also on the leadership committee are Diane Rowden, former county commissioner, and Nativity members JoAnne Boggus, Ron VanMatre, and Pastor Kristen Wee. 

On Sunday, August 23^rd, 55 guests were served by 28 volunteers. Among the guests were people who are living in the woods, one man who had not eaten in three days, and a family with two children who had suffered recent job losses.  Marty Reiman, a member of Temple Beth David, worked his magic in the kitchen, not just feeding the guests but providing take-home food as well. As word about PHP has spread a wide variety of enthusiastic volunteers have come forward. One person brought toiletries to give away while another arrived with her massage chair to give mini-massages to volunteers and guests alike.

Pastor Wee of Nativity Lutheran commented, “As this interfaith community of volunteers has come together we have discovered that we have something very important in common: an understanding that people who lose themselves in the service of others end up finding themselves over and over again.”

Simon is 12 years old. He and his three younger brothers live in a small village in southern Africa. Simon wakes early each morning and goes to the community well to get four buckets of water for the family for the day. He then starts a small cooking fire and begins to make breakfast for his siblings. Samuel is the sole caregiver for his brothers. They are AIDS orphans, four of the more than 15 million AIDS orphans worldwide, most of whom live in sub-Saharan Africa.

The boys do not know much about farming but must grow enough food to eat. They do not know how to mend the roof, but they must do that too. They do not have enough money to pay tuition or buy school uniforms or books. But they want to learn.

The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) brings hope to Simon and thousands of other AIDS orphans. LWF provides meal packs, school uniforms, books, a goat or chickens, as well as training them in how to farm their small plots of land.

Each year the ELCA provides about $7 million to the LWF through both mission support and World Hunger dollars. Your gifts support the work of the LWF in countless ways. You bring hope!

"I have had the joy and honor of serving at Advent Lutheran Church for five and a half years.  Towards the end of my first year, a parishioner approached me with an idea. The idea was to give away 50 brand new backpacks filled with brand new items to poverty stricken people here in Melbourne.

The general premise is to collect one brand new item each month, purchase brand new backpacks, fill them the weekend before Christmas and hand them out at the Daily Bread, directly from our hands to the hands of those who needed them. The monthly collected items include: socks, wash clothes, toothbrushes, toothpaste, XL sweatshirt, sunscreen, can opener, flashlight, hats, and ziploc baggies.

In 2005, our 3rd-5th graders spearheaded this effort. We put together fifty backpacks and headed off to Daily Bread with high hopes.  Once we arrived, it became painfully clear that we did not have enough backpacks. The kids starting getting really upset, and asking me what we could do. I asked my friend who works with the Brevard Health Alliance how many backpacks we would need to give everyone.  She said 200!  We returned to church, fired up, and ready to collect 200 backpacks for the next year.

We did it!  In 2006 and 2007, we were able to collect the backpacks and the items needed to hand out 200 backpacks! This year, due to the economic situation, we were able to hand out 100 backpacks, but we plan for at least 200 in 2009.

This has been an inspiring and unifying experience. The whole church collects the items, the whole church packs the backpacks, and the whole church is invited to help distribute them. I am really proud to be a part of a church family that cares so deeply for those right here in our own backyard."

- Emily Miner, Advent Lutheran Church, Melbourne, FL