MERCY MINISTRIES
Sharing God's Love In Tangible Ways

Steering Committee usually meets the first Sunday of the month at 12 noon with a brown bag lunch in the Cornerstone Room at Grace. All interested people are invited to attend.
For more information call Elizabeth SanFilippo at 965-0774 or June Welton at 840-9383.

AREAS OF INVOLVEMENT

Community Services - Local Concerns:

  • Community Partners Program: Providing assistance such as sponsoring drives for school supplies & assisting local families in need.
  • Grace Lutheran Church Pantry Food Drive: Stocking Grace’s food pantry to provide for immediate relief for local families in need who come to the church for assistance.
  • Lutheran Social Services Food Drive: Sponsoring food drives twice a year for a month to provide food and dry goods to help stock Orange County Lutheran Social Services Emergency Assistance Program.
  • S.H.I.P. Shelter for the Homeless: Providing food and shelter for a two to three week stay at Grace each summer for clients of the Shelter for the Community-based Homeless Interfaith Program. For more information contact Lori & Pete Brunner at 841-2797.
  • Adopt-a-Family Christmas Program: Coordinating a congregational program which provides Christmas gifts, clothing, and food for families in need in the community through L.S.S. and C.P.P.
  • Project Self Sufficiency of Huntington Beach: Helping five families for Easter with Easter baskets, clothing, and food cards.
  • Habitat for Humanity: This year we will be working with Thrivent to provide opportunity for members of Grace to work on a local building project. Watch for more information or call Kris Urdahl at 562-799-0342.

Global Concerns:

  • Alternative Gifts Market: Selling products produced by artisans of emerging markets in countries around the world through SERRV, a Lutheran World Relief program.
  • Alternative Market: Providing alternatives to gifts at Christmas for family and others who may not need a gift such as immunizations, solar stoves, or micro loans for people in developing nations.
  • Fair Trade Coffee: Making Fair Trade Coffee, tea, and cocoa available to our Grace family once a month. This benefits the grower rather than the middleman and the buyer benefits with a quality product at a good price.
  • Heifer Project: Partnering with the children in our Kid City programs and our youth as well as our school to raise funds to provide livestock and small animals to help develop small sustaining farms in needy nations.
  • ELCA Hunger Program: Promoting and implementing this program twice a year during Lent and Thanksgiving.
  • Operation Christmas Child: Working with Samaritan’s Purse to provide shoe boxes with gifts for children in developing nations for Christmas. More information to follow in late summer and early fall.

Other Possible Developing Programs:

As additional resources and volunteers become available, we can develop a Health Ministry component which could include things like Blood Drives, immunizations, and Health Fairs. If interested, please attend one of our Steering Committee meetings or call one of the numbers above.