We are currently in the midst of our annual drive to sign-up sponsors for the AIDS orphans supported by Mount Calvary at the Huruma Center near Iringa, Tanzania in Africa. For those who are interested, the 2009 annual report from the orphanage is available online in the 2010 Parish Visitor archives. It was originally published with the June edition of the church newsletter. If you've never supported one of these children in the past, please consider doing so now. The costs differ somewhat based on the age of the children due to differing costs of obtaining an education. As a reminder, multiple families or individuals can split the cost of sponsorship in order to reduce the economic burden. The YABS group has been doing this for the past several years, so it can work.

Every Lent we collect items for health kits distributed by Lutheran World Relief. Each health kit must contain the following items:

• 1 dark colored hand towel and wash clothe
• 1 bars of soap
• 1 nail clipper with a file
• 1 comb (sturdy, large tooth preferred)

Feel free to donate any/all of these items as you can. Cash donations are also welcomed to help with the cost of shipping and finishing incomplete kits. Toothpaste must also be purchased for each kit, but cannot be provided through donations as a result of recent safety scares. Additional money is used to offset this extra cost.

Mount Calvary organizes a central drop-off point for donations to Lutheran Family Service's
(LFS) Refugee Program. Please bring your quality used items to Mount Calvary on the 2nd Saturday of every month between 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. so that they can be collected. LFS will then pick up the items during the following week. The LFS refugee program provides much needed goods to those with a variety of needs throughout Colorado.

For a complete list of the LFS needs, see the write-up on our events calendar. If you wish to get more involved, contact Karen Martindale or the Service Ministry (service-at-mountcalvary-boulder.org). You can also download the attached flier for circulation.

"I'd like to begin by talking about what it means to be in mission and outreach. As Christians, we come to a realization through Christ's word that we are called to be good stewards of our possessions and look after each other in love and compassion wherever we are able. A Tanzanian, Mr. Shibanda, put it very eloquently to me one day while on safari. He was responding to my statement that I was thankful God loved me. He said, Yes, God loves you and He has an assignment for you. The larger your blessings, the larger the assignment."
-Carl Forsberg, Task Force Lay Leader, August 2005

There is much to learn and share together about outreach as we connect with those around us in need. Many words come to mind - compassion, love, energy, excitement, drive, sharing, involvement, connection, goal setting, persistence, follow- through, effectiveness, ministry, reverse ministry, thankfulness, and resources, to name some.

Mt. Calvary has a long tradition of partnership with Habitat for Humanity in Boulder County.  Habit for Humanity’s mission is to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness from the world and to make simple, decent housing a matter of conscience and action.  They don’t believe in “handouts” but rather encourage a “hand up,” and they put that policy into action by requiring future homeowners to provide hundreds of hours of sweat equity into their homes and to pay for their homes with affordable financing options.