Christmas Sharing is a 51-year partnership of nine churches in Wheaton and Warrenville, Illinois, and the D200 school district. The schools' social workers identify families that need assistance, and invite them to participate in the Christmas Sharing program. Normally, the families go shopping for shoes, boots, clothing, household items, toys, and food at the churches on the second Saturday of December. This year, due to COVID-19 restrictions, it was a drive thru pickup of gift cards and food. St. John Lutheran, Gary Methodist, and Trinity Episcopal churches in Wheaton were partners at the St. John property as one of the three distribution sites.
 
Many St. John, Wheaton L.E.R.T. and other church volunteers served nearly 400 families directing traffic flow, registering families, loading boxes into vehicles, distributing gift cards, and offering prayers. Although everyone was very wet and cold, they all felt it was a great day to show the mercy, compassion, presence and proclamation of Jesus Christ as they joyfully served families in need.

A team of L.E.R.T. chainsaw volunteers from St. John, Wheaton and Trinity, Roselle in Illinois, completed requested work at two different homes for congregation members. The team removed a large diseased evergreen tree and a maple tree dangerously hanging over a neighbor’s yard. They used the boom lift, ditch witch, dump trailer and stump grinder.
 
The willing servants were Kristin Bilar, Steve Chester, Jan Gerveske, Palmer and Judy Goodwin, Marty Johnson, Anna Piro, Tom Prickette, and Dave Vance.
 
Both homeowners were very appreciative for all of the hard work and willing service.

LCC Disaster Response Lutheran Early Response Team (L.E.R.T.) volunteers from Good Shepherd, Frankfort, Illinois, helped cut and clear the yard of a congregation member of a large downed tree from recent storms.
 
Thank you to the following members for their hard work which was a blessing to the homeowner and greatly appreciated: Ron Eckstrom, DeLynn Kiedaisch, Curt Murff, Joel and Lori Powless.

Lutheran Church Charities welcomes 19 new Lutheran Early Response Team (L.E.R.T.) certified members!
 
On Saturday, September 12, LCC held a Basic LCMS L.E.R.T. training for new members at Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Elburn, Illinois, led by Kathy O’Day, Director of Disaster Response.
 
There were a total of 24 in attendance, from the following churches and L.E.R.T. teams in Illinois:
 
Faith - Lake Forest
Lord of Life - Elburn
St. Paul - Matteson
St. Paul’s - Mt. Prospect
St. Peter - Arlington Heights
Trinity - Lisle
Trinity - Villa Park
Willow Creek - Huntley
 
It is good to see how the disaster response ministry is continuing to grow with volunteers willing to serve and share the mercy, compassion, presence and proclamation of Jesus Christ to those suffering and in need.

McHenry County L.E.R.T. chainsaw volunteers, Alan Holm, Ron Jones and Bruce Preston, worked at two homes this past weekend.

At the first home, they cut down a tree damaged by a storm for a LCC K-9 Ministry team member in Grayslake, Illinois. He expressed his appreciation for their assistance and willingness to serve.

At the second home, the team removed a downed tree in the co-workers pond and cut it up along with many downed branches on his large property. He, too, was very pleased for all their hard work and help.

These L.E.R.T. volunteers are making a difference by showing the mercy, compassion, presence and proclamation of Jesus Christ to those in need in their community.

Dean and Carol Ulrich from St. Paul in Rockford, Illinois and Carl Jurgens from Immanuel in Belvidere, Illinois helped a congregation member in Rockford, Illinois cut a large tree that had been damaged during recent storms.

The homeowners were very appreciative of the team's hard work to make their yard safe again and the Christian care shown to them.

Several Lutheran Church Charities Lutheran Early Response Team (L.E.R.T.) volunteers from St. John, Wheaton, Lord of Life, Elburn and Trinity, Roselle, joined St. Peter, Schaumburg's L.E.R.T. members to trim and haul dead limbs, overgrown trees, and heavy decaying limbs from over thirty trees at St. Peter's cemetery on their grounds, which include the church, school, and Historic Chapel.

The following L.E.R.T. volunteers worked through a very hot and humid day, with special care taken to keep all hydrated and safe:

St. John, Wheaton
Marty Johnson, Steve Chester

Lord of Life, Elburn
Larry Zagorski, Kristi Farnum, Jeff Straughn

Trinity, Roselle
Kristin Bilar

St. Peter, Schaumburg
Bob and Barb Royce, Sarah Blanchard, Christine Carlson, Pastor Greg Hintz, Tom Amundsen, Sean Freres, Vicki and Ken Kiviranta, and Jeff Vogt (St. Peter's Property Manager)

St. Peter gives a special thanks to the team members that brought and utilized the recently repaired LCC boom lift and the Lord of Life's mini-bobcat. They were able to trim many high dead or dying limbs, some of which were very insect-infested, and then haul all of the heavy cut wood to the lot for pickup.

The love of Christ and Christian camaraderie was present in everyone’s servant hearts and workday activities.

Lutheran Church Charities held the annual Lutheran Early Response Team (L.E.R.T.) chainsaw training and service event workday at Walcamp in Kingston, Illinois, following COVID-19 safety protocol. On Friday evening, July 10, Ed Boerman, LCC Chainsaw Instructor & ISA Certified Arborist, taught the new Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) Basic Operation and Safety Chainsaw class to twenty L.E.R.T. team volunteers, of which eleven were taking this for the first time.
On Saturday, July 11, thirty-eight L.E.R.T. chainsaw volunteers came for the workday. Belvidere, Illinois, a nearby town to Walcamp, experienced strong storms the day before this LCC training. We were able to assess two homes that requested assistance and sent a team of nine L.E.R.T. chainsaw volunteers with a mini-bobcat off-site to cut and clear several downed trees in their yards. The remaining L.E.R.T. chainsaw and equipment operators and draggers stayed at Walcamp and cleared the grounds of downed or damaged trees, limbs, and brush.

Walcamp Director, Bill Indelli, expressed his thanks to all present for their willingness to serve to prepare the campgrounds for the ministry they do.

LCC never goes where we are not invited. We NEVER charge those we serve. We put boots on the ground within 24 hours (often fewer) from the time we get the invite.

Once again, some communities in the Chicagoland area near Lutheran Church Charities (LCC) experienced strong storms and straight-line winds this past week.

Deaconess Kathy O’Day, Director of Disaster Response, Lutheran Church Charities, was contacted by Deaconess Lauren Olsen who serves at St. John Lutheran Church in Union, Illinois, with a request for chainsaw assistance at her own home and her neighbor’s. Between them, they had seven trees that were either blown over or split in half by straight-line winds.

Since LCC was having a scheduled chainsaw training and workday at Walcamp, we were able to utilize these two sites as a training location. After an assessment, a team of Lutheran Early Response Team (L.E.R.T.) chainsaw volunteers and a mini-bobcat were deployed to cut and clear the downed and damaged trees in their yards.

Both of the homeowners expressed their appreciation and God’s blessings to LCC for the quick response and to the following L.E.R.T. volunteers who so graciously came and served at their homes to clear the damage.

Illinois:
Immanuel, Belvidere – Carl Jurgens, Nick Shepherd, Dean Ulrich
Immanuel, DeKalb – Pete Springmire
Lord of Life, LaFox – Brad Fann, Jeff Straughn, Larry Zagorski
Messiah, Sterling – Jacob Beets

Wisconsin:
St. Paul, Janesville – Lark and Terry Sanders

LCC never goes where we are not invited. We NEVER charge those we serve. We put boots on the ground within 24 hours (often fewer) from the time we get the invite.