Outreach Ministries

Debby Hello. I am Debby Kinsella, Christ Lutheran’s Director of Outreach Ministry. The Outreach Ministry actively transforms lives by reaching out to others in the community, both locally and globally. Members of Christ Lutheran do the Lord’s work in the real world, not just within the walls of our building. We always look for new Outreach opportunities, so let me know if you feel called or see needs for any new ministry.

Blessings,

Debby

Bridgeway Home For Pregnant Teens

Bridgeway, located in Lakewood, Colorado, is a loving home, providing education and support for pregnant and parenting teenagers. They help young women make good choices for themselves and their babies by encouraging the pursuit of educational goals, job training, good parenting and adoption options. Bridgeway's mission focuses on building new lives for pregnant teens and their babies by providing shelter, food, clothes, education, life skills, counseling, mentors, career training and support. Mandatory continuing education, counseling, and attendance in a series of semi-weekly classes taught by volunteers, helps assure that preparation.

ELCA World Hunger

Hunger represents a year round problem for many across the globe. Helping alleviate world hunger is as simple as a monthly donation of $10.00 towards the ELCA World Hunger Campaign. Just drop a check in the offering plate with "ELCA World Hunger" written in the memo portion. If you prefer, you may pay it all in one lump sum rather than every month.

Fair Trade Coffee Project

Volunteers sell fair trade coffee, tea and chocolate at CLC every Sunday morning. CLC purchases these fair trade items from Lutheran World Relief (LWR) which partners with a fair trade organization called Equal Exchange. We sell the items for just slightly over cost which encourages CLC members to buy as much as possible. Fair Trade helps ensure that more of the money we spend on coffee reaches the farmers who actually grow it.

Some 20 million coffee farmers in Africa, Asia and Latin America often struggle to make a simple living and lack adequate health care and education for their children. Fair Trade eliminates the number of middlemen between the farmer and consumer. Middlemen traditionally made most of the profit from coffee purchases. Through Fair Trade, farmers growing the coffee earn more.

Since the coffee project started at CLC in February 2007, Fair Trade product sales exceeded $6000. The coffee comes in both whole bean and drip grinds and in over 12 different flavors. Some is even organic. Twelve ounce bags coast around $7.00. Please visit our Fair Trade Coffee Cart on Sundays. Contact Debby Kinsella in the church office for volunteer sales opportunities at the cart.

The Gathering Place

The Gathering Place supports women and their children experiencing homelessness or poverty by providing a safe daytime refuge and resources for self-sufficiency. CLC continually collects hygiene items including: travel size soap, shampoo, etc. Please put contributions in the designated blue boxes for The Gathering Place, located in the coat closet.

Grant Avenue Street Reach

Grant Avenue Street Reach is located in the basement of St. Paul Lutheran Church in the Capitol Hill area. Volunteers serve a free hot meal every Monday (even holidays) for the homeless. You may help serve any Monday between 10:00 am to 7:00 pm. Food preparation begins at 10:00 am, with serving from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm, and clean up from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm. The times of greatest need for help occur from 10:30 am to 2:00 pm. Come any time that works best for you and stay an hour or all day, whatever is best for you.

Habitat for Humanity

Habitat for Humanity works in partnership with God and people from all walks of life to build simple, decent houses in which people can live and grow into all that God intended.” Habitat for Humanity is a community based home-ownership program. Homeowner candidates and volunteers build simple, decent homes throughout the metro area. Qualified families purchase Habitat homes with zero-interest loans and make mortgage payments based on 25 percent of the family’s income. Reinvestment of mortgage payments fund future construction.

Harrington Elementary

As an outreach of to this inner-city Denver Public School, we provide an annual carnival, food and gift baskets for Christmas, backpacks and school supplies each fall to start the school year, and shoe and mitten drives. Other outreach opportunities include advertising to small groups, organizing and collecting donations and volunteers, and delivering items to Harrington. The families are so thankful, we make their lives a little brighter. This wonderful mission shows the love of Jesus to others in our community.

Lutheran Family Services

Be a foster care volunteer; touch a child's life forever. Lutheran Family Services provides caring foster care homes for hundreds of abused and abandoned children each year. These children now live in nurturing family environments, but they still need the positive influence of other adults. You can help. Through weekly, biweekly or monthly interaction with a child, you can provide the encouragement and nurturing he or she needs. Share a skill or hobby, be a mentor, play games, go to movies, help with homework. Brochures in the church office explain the program in depth.

Adult Mission Trips

Every year we have one large mission trip that the congregation goes on. Some of the trips we have gone on in the past were to Mississippi for Hurricane Katrina relief and Greensburg Kansas for Tornado relief.
We help in many ways from putting up wall board to painting. Building sheds and picking up debris. We have even torn out mold infested wall board and built a porch. Contact the church office for more information.

Outreach Uganda

Outreach Uganda (OU), a local nonprofit started by one of our members, reaches around the world empowering poor people in Uganda so that they can overcome severe poverty and become self-sustaining. CLC members provide tremendous support through assistance with selling the Ugandan women’s beaded jewelry here in the U.S., sponsoring the women’s children so they can attend school, serving as email pen pals, and contributing to a revolving loan fund so the Ugandan women can start their own small businesses.

All of this help is greatly appreciated by the Ugandan women, most of who live on less than $2 per day. OU welcomes all sorts of volunteer assistance. You can even volunteer in Uganda with the women beaders. Contact CLC member, Carol Davis at (303)694-2335 for more information.

Urban Peak

Urban Peak is a shelter that helps homeless young people in Denver and Colorado Springs. Their mission is to help youth that are homeless, runaway or in at risk situations, overcome the challenges in their lives and to make changes by providing a safe, caring and stable environment to assist them in permanently exiting street life. CLC takes meals the 4th Friday of each month. You bring a meal for 35 - 45 kids and the kids do all the clean up so all you have to do is get there at 6:00 PM, set up and serve from 6:30 - 7:00 PM. The kids are just great, very polite and so appreciative!! This is a wonderful way to reach out to some wonderful teens who need some tender loving care.