Food collection during Lent is gift to pantry - Pontiac Daily Leader

Food collection during Lent is gift to pantry - Pontiac Daily Leader
Luke Smucker

    In an effort to give back to the community and further develop fellowship among the congregation, St. Paul Lutheran Church in Pontiac spent the Lenten season working in friendly competition to gather a large donation of food and other household items for the Livingston County Community Pantry.
    The church has been in contact with Livingston County Community Pantry Vice President Carol Thorson about the pantry’s needs. Each month, a table is set up for congregation members to bring in food donations.
    “Our Lenten Season program for this year was called ‘RENEW,’” said Congressional council member Sara Solberg. “The ‘R’ is for repentance through energy and grace, the first ‘E’ is for examination of self through fasting, solitude and rest. The ‘N’ is for nurturing old relationships. The second ‘E’ is for the energy of the Holy Spirit and connectedness with God through prayer. ‘W’ is for works of love.”
    While the traditional purpose of the Lenten season is to give something up, the church decided to give something back.
    “With the help of Sara (Solberg), Julie Mehlberg and our interim pastor, Wayne Shelksohn, the ‘Works of Love’ program was created,” Congressional council member Marty Heller said. “As Congressional Council members, we separated into five teams, team repentance, team examination, team nurture, team energy and team works of love.
    “We asked congregation members if they would like to participate and then we randomly divided them into the teams. The teams ranged in age from 3 years old all the way up to 90 in some cases. With such a diverse age group, we were looking for an even everyone could connect with.”
    Prior to announcing the event, the council asked Thorson what could be donated that the food pantry doesn’t receive often. From that list, a point value system was created to encourage people to bring in the most needed or more expensive items for more points. For instance, laundry detergent was worth three points, but common things like canned vegetables and soups were worth one point.
    “Our goal was 2,000 points, which is a lot of items,” Solberg said. “We called it, ‘A ton of points for a ton of good.’ We wondered if we would get 2,000 points, but because the people in our congregation have been amazingly generous, we ended up with more than 4,000 points. Maybe they enjoyed a little friendly competition, too.”
    The collection competition began on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 14, and ended April 1, Easter Sunday. Throughout the collection, team leaders let their teammates know how the other teams were doing in the race. Any time a team made a big point jump, they were recognized.
    “The point was to encourage people to give something back instead of giving something up and it worked out really well,” Heller said. “According to Carol, it’s one of the biggest donations that the food pantry has received.”
    In addition to helping out the food pantry, the event has also helped the congregation grow closer.
    “This event was a great way for us to bring people together within the teams, but also as a congregation,” Solberg said. “It really connected in people’s minds throughout Lent and served as a positive experience for everyone.”
    Solberg said St. Paul Lutheran Church is a congregation of people who are very caring and recognize the needs of the community.
    “I think Pastor Shelksohn said it very well on the last day of the collection, ‘the people who really won were not necessary the team with the most points, but the people who will benefit from the church’s generosity.’”
    The donation will be taken to the community pantry on Wednesday. In addition to the collected food items, the church has also chosen to donate $144 to the food pantry that was collected through the church’s special Red Bag Offering.
    “In addition to the food that we donate monthly, we also have a monthly Red Bag Offering and choose a different organization or charity to bless once per month, so we decided to choose the food pantry because I know they can also use monetary donations to purchase food.”