Community Connections

Help us stuff the Full Shelf Food Pantry this holiday season

Craving Coffee?
Mt Meru Coffee is still Available for purchase. We have ground beans and K-cups. You may pick them up any time or use curbside pickup by calling the church office at 262-334-9551.

We have a variety of options! For $10/bag choose from regular, decaf, french vanilla, hazelnut, butter pecan or chocolate raspberry. We also have hand picked peaberry for $15/bag. K-cups come 12 in a box and are $8.

We hope to be able to serve coffee again in the fall! If you have any questions regarding our coffee ministry contact David Graves, Ellen Lidtke or Marilynn Orlopp. See you at church!

Our faith community recognizes how we are called to be Jesus’ hands and feet right here in the greater Washington County community. During November and part of December our Narthex becomes a haven of brilliantly wrapped presents of all shapes and sizes as we help families have a better Christmas through the Gingerbread House Gift Giving Program sponsored by the Youth and Family Project of Washington County.

The outreach ministry of OSLC extends beyond our local community to serve and grow with others globally. Our sister relationship with Fe y Esperanza (Faith and Hope) Lutheran Church in El Salvador began in 2004. We are blessed to accompany Fe y Esperanza and their Pastor Abelina Gomez to strengthen their faith and ours through visits, prayer, communication, and education sponsorships for students of their congregation. Our sister parish is part of the Greater Milwaukee Synod’s companion relationship with the Salvadoran Lutheran Synod.

Many of you know that our family has a nonprofit called Building Hope in Haiti. My heart is extremely heavy right now because of an overwhelming situation that our friends in Haiti are facing. Our Father Roosevelt, from the extremely impoverished mountain of Morne L’Hopital Haiti, has a relationship with the Gesu Parish down at Marquette University. The people of Gesu funded the clinic on the mountain and the school lunch program. Unfortunately, Gesu is not able to provide the financial support this year. Not having church + people out of work = lower offerings, all due to COVID. I know, not a unique predicament for these times. There is another nonprofit, Project Fleri, that has offered to pay for the clinic’s nurse. One of our board members who sponsors 5 kiddos and has made several trips to Haiti has committed $100/month toward the clinic. We will need to find an additional $400/mo to keep the clinic, which also vaccinates the kiddos, open.

The school lunch program serves the whole school, 600 kids a day. I am estimating that 100 are sponsored through Building Hope in Haiti, as we have additional students who go down to Port Au Prince for trade school, etc. The cost is 50 cents/day/child. Sounds cheap at first, but doing the math: 50 cents x 600 kiddos = $300/day. $300/day x 5 days a week = $1500/week. That means $6000/month, $60,000 a year! Yes, the estimate is for the whole school, not just our sponsored kiddos. We need 5 fish and 2 loaves of bread!

I am so grateful for OUR SAVIOR’S ENDOWMENT COMMITTEE! They generously responded to my plea for help, providing a check for $1300. This will cover the cost of many of the masks! MESI! I know this may sound like a crazy mission. We started down the path 7 years ago. Jessie had just come back from Haiti, feeling overwhelmed. She had just found out that there were not 42, but rather 102 kiddos who DREAMED of going to school. I told her that God had big plans for her. And He did (we have about 120 sponsored students, preschool through trade school), and still does. I know that many many people are experiencing difficult times right now. I get that!

But I am asking for your prayers, any financial assistance you may be moved to provide and that you share our need with friends and family. Corporate support would also be amazing. For those of you able to help, checks can be written to BUILDING HOPE in HAITI and either left in the offering basket, dropped off at church or mailed to me: Jill Gigante, 5455 Cascade Drive, West Bend, WI 53095. If you would like a receipt, please include your email address. Online donations can be made by visiting our website: www.buildinghopeinhaiti.com. Click on Give Hope and choose how you would like your money spent.

Trusting that through Him, even this is possible,

Jill Gigante

The fellowship of OSLC and Hephatha Lutheran Church Milwaukee began in 2005 with our awareness of a vibrant church in one of the most violent zones in the city. Their Pastor provides a summer program of service and values training for youth and adults to strengthen the life of the neighborhood and the church. The program “Instruments of Peace” also empowers members to avoid and/or defuse conflicts. The ministry concludes with a celebration day of swimming, fishing, canoeing, games and picnicking at a country retreat center.

While we are one of many partner synod congregations, our gifts are unique: quilts, school supplies, support of the community Hopkins Lloyd School with socks, warm winter clothes and coats.  Our vision and mission is to bring the participants into a deeper faith and hope for their future.