OUTREACH OPPORTUNITIES WITH LUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES Fall Happenings for LSSA The coming months promise to be exciting and full of ways that you can help support the ministry of Lutheran Social Services of Alaska. On Friday, October 5th, from 5 to 8PM, the Plein Air Painters of Alaska will be hosting a fine art sale and benefit fundraiser for LSSA. The event will be held in the fellowship area of Anchorage Lutheran Church. Come share some time with others as we enjoy original oil paintings, watercolors, and reproduction prints from many gifted local artists. Refreshments will be served and you will have the opportunity to see and purchase some wonderful pieces of art and support LSSA in the process. LSSA has begun the preparations for the annual Anchorage Thanksgiving Blessing event. LSSA and its local partners will assemble and distribute complete Thanksgiving dinners to lowincome families on Monday, November 19th. Last year, almost 4,000 dinners were distributed by the partnership – 625 of those meals were provided due to the generosity and support of the Lutheran churches through LSSA at our site at Central Lutheran Church. This year, we are expecting to serve approximately 700 families from our distribution point and we will be requesting your assistance again. We will be asking each congregation to collect specific items for each dinner package as well as providing some financial support to offset the cost of the perishable items such as the turkeys, butter, rolls, etc. As always, volunteers to help with the setup and operation of the project will be appreciated. This is a vital ministry to the community in which we live and serve and an opportunity to share the love of Christ through the most basic of needs – a meal.

Gloria Dei’s Social Ministry Team is committed to promoting service to humanity through acts of love and justice and to increasing a greater awareness within the Gloria Dei community to the emotional and physical needs of society. Gloria Dei has a long history of support for both local and worldwide outreach programs. 

Brother Francis Shelter

We deliver sandwiches for homeless men who seek temporary shelter here. Protein is important as the sandwiches provide lunches for men who go out on day jobs and are often used to supplement their evening meal as well. Sandwiches prepared from a loaf of bread may be repacked into the original bread wrap. 

Sandwiches are picked up from the church kitchen at 6:00 pm.

Clare House

We provide a hot meal, complete with dessert, for homeless women and children while they are temporarily sheltered here. Each portion should feed 10. Please bring oven-ready food in disposable containers.

 

Our volunteers pick up the meal from our kitchen at 9:00 am.

F.I.S.H. (Fellowship in Serving Humanity) responds to the needs of the hungry by providing a three-day supply of food to those who call for help. Gloria Dei supplies the baby food for the F.I.S.H. pantry. 

Bean’s Café, plays a vital role in ministering to the very poorest in our community, providing meals to the hungry every day of the year. Annually, we host a Bean-a-Fit to raise funds for the café. 

Lutheran Social Services of Alaska is a valued partner in ministry. We contribute funds and food items to their food pantry; we’ve made Christmas stockings and Easter baskets that they give to their small clients; and have collected coats and school supplies for kids in the community. LSSA has also been the recipient of our Wooly Tree and Can-struction projects.

The Alaskan AIDS Assistance Association (Four A’s) provides direct services to people living with HIV/AIDS and their families and helps to educate for the prevention of HIV in Alaska. Gloria Dei was the first church in Anchorage to host an event to benefit the Four A’s.

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Other local groups that have benefited from Gloria Dei’s Social Ministry efforts: Anchorage School District’s Children in Transition (warm clothing items such as socks, sweaters, hats, and gloves placed under the Wooly tree at Christmas), Crisis Pregnancy Center (baby quilts), Sand Lake area Thanksgiving baskets (with St. Benedict’s parish). 

Other special ministries are Marianne Wieland’s generous hunger print program and the annual CROP Walk, proceeds of which are divided between local and national/international agencies. Gloria Dei has also been an active participant in several Habitat for Humanity homes constructed in Anchorage.

We have recently donated 30 quilts to Lutheran World Relief, and Karyn Hargrave, our youth and family director, serves as the Mission Interpreter for the ELCA and contact person for World Hunger.

We thank all members and friends of Gloria Dei who continue in their faithful support of these Social Ministry projects.