GOOD SHEPHERD 25TH ANNIVERSARY CAMPAIGN --THANK YOU, LORD! - 2006:
WIHN and Pan Lutheran Ministries Families Together
On Sunday, March 19, Good Shepherd was privileged to hear member Ellen Dickson speak about two of the giving opportunities for our 25th anniversary campaign: WIHN and Pan Lutheran Ministries Families together. A transcript is provided below:
In appreciation and celebration of 25 years as a congregation, we’re going to raise a quarter of a million dollars over three years in a special campaign called “Thank You, Lord!” I’m here today to tell you about 2 of the 8 projects we will support with this initiative, both of which serve homeless families here in Wake County.
One is Wake Interfaith Housing Network. Homeless families are temporarily housed in churches in our area, spending a week at each church. This program provides emergency housing for families, allowing them to stay together and to have food and shelter in a safe environment. Good Shepherd is one of many churches in Wake County that share this responsibility. Many of you have been involved with this program as volunteers, as many many people are needed to participate each time that Good Shepherd hosts a set of families, bringing and preparing food, providing transportation, and so on. The WIHN program relies heavily on volunteers and volunteer host churches but needs money as well to provide some of the basic needs of the families involved, such as vouchers for bus rides.
The other program is PLM Families Together, which used to be called Pan Lutheran Ministries. The primary mission of PLM Families Together is to help homeless families become independent. It provides housing for 4 months and in some cases for up to 18 months and also wrap-around services from trained social workers we call “mentor advocates”. The mentor advocates work with each family to identify its goals and put plans in place to reach them and provide life skills training. PLM Families Together serves 48 families at a time. Both WIHN and PLM Families Together are unusual in that they accept all kinds of families – even with teenage boys – and they focus on keeping the family together as a unit. Families in these programs usually have low-paying jobs, but don’t earn enough to cover all their basic needs. PLM Families Together receives some grants that contribute to the cost of housing and mentor advocate services, but the grants are not meant to cover all costs. So, PLM Families Together, like many other non-profits, is perpetually “on the edge” financially, struggling to make ends meet without reducing services to families. The “Thank you, Lord!” campaign aims to provide a reserve fund for PLM Families Together; a cash cushion allowing it to not have to worry as much about the timing of the income vs the bills it has to pay on a day to day basis.
Both of these ministries help people right here in our backyards, the people of Wake County who need our help the most. With our support, they will be better able to meet the most basic needs of these families and to allow them to work towards becoming independent while staying together as a family unit.
When you pledge to support this campaign, you can choose to dedicate some or all of your funds to specific projects, or you can simply give to the program as a whole, helping all 8 projects to be funded. Whichever you choose, I urge you to pledge and to give. Please help Good Shepherd make a meaningful difference in the lives of many, in honor of our upcoming 25th anniversary as a congregation. Thank you, and Thank you, Lord!