On Saturday, January 28, Put Your Hands Together (PYHT) Food Distribution Ministry of Immanuel Hillside received a 9-pallet donation of food boxes from Hello Fresh meal kit company. The day before, they received seven pallets of bottled water and shelf stable foods also to distribute.
 
Hundreds of Hello Fresh boxes of meals, staple foods, and cases of water were distributed to seven of our Lutheran Churches and other nonprofit organizations that feed the hungry:

• Breakfast With Baby in Carol Stream
• Immanuel Bartlett, in partnership with the Vineyard Church in Elgin, to feed the homeless in Elgin
• Immanuel – Food Pantry, Hillside
• Pastor Fernando Gomez of Jehovah, El Buen Pastor, and three other congregations where Pastor Gomez serves as vacancy pastor
• St. Matthew Soup Kitchen, Chicago
• Pastor Walter Ramirez of Tabor Lutheran, Chicago
• Trinity Roselle

With the price of groceries going up, your donations and support aid our churches in helping children and families to have wholesome food on their tables. Thank you for being the hands and feet of Jesus to those in need.

In December, LCC connected with Professor Andrew Pederson, the faculty director of the Drama Department at Concordia University Chicago (CUC), about donating professional puppet ministry equipment. He shared with us that the University was reorganizing the Drama department and wanted to revitalize a puppet ministry they had a decade ago.
 
When he saw the pictures of the equipment, he said it was a Godsend. The puppets and equipment they had were far from the quality of this donation.
 
On Tuesday, January 24, all the puppet equipment was delivered to the drama department at CUC. Later that evening, Professor Pederson sent a thank you email saying, “The students are thrilled and buzzing with possibilities. We will use this gift well.”
 
After numerous unsuccessful attempts to find a new home for the puppet ministry, it was through that phone call that God opened the door to where the puppets will be used to train future teachers and church workers to communicate the gospel through a puppet ministry.

LCC received the following update from Pastor Doug Warmann of Trinity Lutheran Church in Roselle, Illinois:

Dear Friends,
 
Thank you for being so supportive of the family of five children and their pregnant mother grieving the death of their father and partner! The end of the year was very challenging for the family as the children got sick often while attending daycare. The mother herself is recovering from pneumonia. They made it through the holidays but continue to grieve.
 
The family found out that their new baby coming in March would be a boy. After undergoing physical therapy for a work injury, the mother is now trying to get back to work. She continues to struggle to find an affordable caregiver for so many children. The mother is also trying to find a new home, as their current home is too small for six children. Your support has been critical to helping the family with their rent, utilities, and daycare bills.
 
Thank you for your generosity! Please continue to pray for them, especially for the safety of the mother and baby as the delivery day nears, and continue your support of them as God leads. 
 
Pastor Doug Warmann
Trinity Lutheran Church, Roselle, Illinois

On Wednesday, January 25, Tabor Lutheran Church, Chicago, Illinois, staff member Emily Pacyga stopped by Lutheran Church Charities Headquarters to pick up several donations, three boxes of Christian books, a bag containing winter coats and winter clothing, and a bag of bath towels, to use in their ministry to the community.
 
The box of books called “God Loves Mom” will be used by the group Young Lives, a support group for moms in the community. Tabor has hosted this community group for four years. When Covid hit, and flooding damaged their meeting room, the group-ceased meeting; but come March 2023, they will resume their meetings. Through building caring relationships with these women and children, Tabor is able to share the message of the love of Jesus with them.
 
Two boxes of books titled "Hope When Your Heart is Broken" will go to the Celebrate Recovery, a ministry Tabor started six years ago. Celebrate Recovery is a faith-based, 12-step recovery program for anyone experiencing life’s hurts, habits, and hang-ups.
 
Tabor’s newest Hispanic Outreach Ministry took a leap of faith in the summer of 2023 when Tabor called Spanish-speaking Pastor Walter Ramirez.  Moving into the New Year, Tabor now offers a second Sunday worship service in Spanish with an attendance of 30+ people.
 
Over the past six months, your donations of furniture and houseware have helped Tabor to meet the physical needs of many refugee families. With the New Year, Tabor has added English as a Second Language classes (ESL) to its ministry outreach to the community.
Tabor’s Food Pantry & Food distribution has grown in the number of people being served. LCC was able to connect them to the Put Your Hands Together Food Ministry (PYHT) of Immanuel Hillside, which will be supplying them with food on a monthly basis as well as including special deliveries.
 
On Palm Sunday of 2023, Tabor will be confirming six new members into the congregation. The last time held a confirmation service after a decade or more of no confirmation classes was six years ago. Only one of the three students confirmed was from a member family of Tabor. The other two students were from former member families that no longer live in the Chicago area. Their families were once members of the old Tabor before 2016.

LCC received the following note from Jane Siou, Program Director, Put Your Hands Together Food Ministry (PYHT), Immanuel, Hillside.

Put Your Hands Together Food Outreach (PYHT), a ministry of Immanuel Lutheran Church-Hillside, is blessed by our partnerships with Lutheran Church Charities, NID-LCMS, District Churches, and their wonderful ministries. Together, with help from our generous food donors, we were able to bring much-needed food assistance to Iglesia Tabor Church, Pastor Walter Ramirez, and the refugee families in their care last week.
 
Our ministry goal this year is to continue to support our ethnic ministries throughout the district, and our Lord certainly has provided both opportunity and an abundance of supply! Thanks be to God for answering our prayers!

On Saturday morning, January 28, we received a large donation of Hello Fresh meal boxes that we were able to deliver to Iglesia Tabor Church within a couple of hours.

As I sat at home on Saturday morning in grateful prayer, anticipating the snow and how I would spend the day at home in my pajamas, God had other plans for me when I received a call from Hello Fresh. I realized that I needed to be an active participant in the prayer-answering process and that the Lord needed me.
 
We look forward to continuing our work together, creating new partnerships, and sharing the news of our PYHT Expansion Project.
 
Thank you for your support and prayers,
Jayne Siou
PYHT Ministry Director

Please prayerfully consider donating to help PYHT Food Ministry supply food to churches serving those in need in our communities.

In January of 2022, LCC received a request from Pastor Jim Buckman of Faith Lutheran Church in Lake Forest, Illinois, to help a single aunt of 6-year-old Damari Perry, found dead on January 7. Faith Lutheran Church has been supporting Delonya by raising funds for Damari’s funeral expenses and to help raise his four siblings for her brother, the children’s father. She is a single mother and a foster mother through Lutheran Social Services. Delonya has a powerful faith and compassion for children who need a loving, caring home.

Last Tuesday, LCC staff members Dianna Bonfield and John Pejchl had the opportunity to catch up with Delonya since early this summer when we delivered furniture to her small 3-bedroom apartment. This time we delivered handmade quilts for each of the children and an artificial Christmas tree, and boxes of lights.
 
Delonya shared that this was a hard year for everyone in the family. The children have been in counseling each week and have been adjusting well to all the trauma they have been through. All the children are doing well in school, and the after-school home life has become far less chaotic. Four months ago, she was able to move the family from the small 3-floor cramped apartment to a little more spacious 2nd-floor, 3-bedroom apartment. Once she is able to get legal custody of the four children, she will be able to move out to the suburbs, where she can have a house with a backyard.
 
Thank you for your prayers and your support as the family continues to heal from Demari's tragic passing.

Melody Rose was the most recent birth at the Redeeming Life Outreach Ministries (RLOM) Maternity Home. We truly appreciate your prayers, and we hope you will rejoice with us.
 
Baby Melody was baptized into the family of Christ, surrounded by the supportive family of faith at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Sanford, Florida, which offers a spiritual home for the residents, young and old. Melody's aunt, uncle, and little cousin came for the celebration and enjoyed a joyful reception.
 
RLOM staffers were proud to attend the annual Rose Dinner Gala in Washington, DC to celebrate LCMS's dedication to and participation in the 50th annual March for Life. Our Synod's efforts through Life Ministry to speak up for life have blessed Redeeming Life through its Million Dollar Life Match grants and the continued support of Deaconess Dr. Tiffany Manning and her wonderful staff.
 
The LCMS Million Dollar Life Match Grant program has encouraged many churches to begin or amplify their support for RLOM and other beginning-of-life ministries. Committed churches and circuits have held everything from door offerings to dinners and craft fairs to campaigns with baby bottles, all to invest in God's gift of life.
 
Thank you for your constant support for Redeeming Life Outreach Ministries both in Sanford, Florida, and the soon-to-open Illinois Expansion Campus in Dundee, Illinois. Your gifts enable these precious lives of moms and their babies to be brought into the Kingdom of God.

LCC Staff member John Pejchl delivered your donations to St. Mathew Lutheran Church and "Comedor San Mateo" Soup Kitchen in Chicago, Illinois. Pastor Cesar Sifuentes shared a story with John which shows how God uses your faithful donations.
 
A single man stopped in to get food at the soup kitchen and noticed there were some electrical problems at the church. After receiving the meal, the man thanked Pastor Cesar. He also asked if he could have a look at the electrical problem since his trade is as an electrician. He was able to fix the electrical problem quickly that day. He also showed Pastor Cesar how to prevent the electrical problem in the future. Pastor Cesar has not seen the man since.
 
Your faithful donations make it possible for St. Matthew to serve those in need in their community.

LCC received an update from Sheryl DeWitt, Director of Redeeming Life Outreach Ministries (RLOM), on the progress to open a Christ-Centered Maternity Home for single pregnant women in crisis in East Dundee, Illinois.

Dear Friends in Christ,
 
Greetings to you from Redeeming Life Outreach Ministries in Sanford, Florida, and soon-to-be in East Dundee, Illinois! We pray this email finds you healthy and busy serving our Lord with enough time to rest and be filled up again. We write to you today to provide you with information about our life-affirming maternity home ministry that you can share with those who serve in your locations in Florida, Georgia, and northern Illinois.
 
Our Florida maternity home is nearly at capacity and is home to moms and babies of various ages. Our Florida transition house is home to a hardworking young mom and her young toddler while she continues to pursue self-sufficiency by working, saving, and planning for a career change with the continued support of our deaconess and program.
 
Our Illinois home is in the process of permitting for the remodeling to begin. We are excited to open in 2023 and already hear from pregnancy centers that they have potential residents for us to serve! God has blessed us with a larger staff than ever, as we now have two called deaconesses plus a person to work on marketing and development, bringing our count to eight.
 
Please don’t hesitate to contact us if we can assist you. We pray God’s continued blessings on your corner of God’s Kingdom and on the synod’s amazing efforts to bring the issues of the gift of life into every person’s heart and mind.
 
In His Service,
Sheryl DeWitt, Executive Director

Please prayerfully consider continuing to donate to help Redeeming Life Outreach Ministries welcome single pregnant women in crisis in the new Maternity Home.