Lafayette
Urban Ministry
525 N. 4th Street
Lafayette IN
47901-1004

Tel:
(765) 423-2691

Fax:
(765) 423-2693

E-mail:
lum@
lafayetteurbanministry.org

Office Hours:
M-F 8:15am-4:30pm

Homeless Shelter:
Open every night.
Check-in from
9pm-10pm

Camp Energy is right around the corner!
In just four short weeks, 80 campers will leave Lafayette for a week at Lafayette Urban Ministry’s Camp Energy at Hanging Rock Camp near West Lebanon, Indiana.

The children will enjoy all the traditional camp activities: swimming, hiking, arts and crafts, campfires and camp songs. In addition, they will worship together in chapel each morning. This year, the learning focus will be on energy: alternative fuels, solar energy, energy conservation and much more. Rita Tillett, assistant camp director, has a full schedule planned that will keep campers energized from morning till night.

But we still need volunteer counselors to ensure our traditionally low camper-to-counselor ratio. (We like to have one counselor for every three campers). Volunteers must be 18 years old, enjoy working with children and be available to spend the entire week of August 7-11 at camp. Extensive training is provided on Monday, August 7. Campers arrive Tuesday, August 8, and camp ends the afternoon of Friday, August 11.

LUM campers are 8, 9, and 10 year old children of LUM clients. All are at or below 150% of the federal poverty level. Over the past several summers, we have been blessed to have several former campers return to LUM camp as junior counselors —proof that LUM Camp can be a life-changing experience!

PLEASE, if you love children and have a week to give, contact Joe Micon, camp director, about being a LUM camp counselor this summer. Applications can be downloaded from our website, or contact Joe at 423-2691 or jmicon@lafayetteurbanministry.org.

Thank you, on behalf of all our 2006 LUM Campers!

Let your light shine by being a camp counselor at LUM Camp!

SLAM!
by Mary Anderson, Executive Director

I am a fresh air enthusiast. In deference to my spouse, I’ve stopped keeping the bedroom window open during the coldest winter months. But unless the humidity is tropical and the heat stifling, I have windows open wherever I am—home, office or car.

The downside to having all the windows and doors open on beautiful breezy days is, of course, the periodic slamming of interior and exterior doors. You would think I’d learn to put a doorstop under the front door and prop books or baskets by the bedroom doors. But I often forget, and the consequence is a pattern of slamming doors: front door, hallway bedrooms, master bedroom and finally the porch door. Then I work my way down the hall, propping open the doors like I should have done in the first place. And I’m rewarded with wonderful air circulation.

I can fix the doors that slam shut in my home. But every day at LUM we see people who are having doors slammed in their faces, and they can’t fix them. A shelter guest gets a third shift job, but buses don’t run that late. SLAM. A client has a job offer, but needs picture ID to start work. Unfortunately, picture ID requires a birth certificate, and a birth certificate requires a picture ID. SLAM. A waitress is earning $2.13 an hour but can’t document her tips for the trustee’s office and is denied housing assistance. SLAM. A working family can afford monthly rent, but not the deposit and utility hook-ups to move into a newer, safer unit. SLAM. A man who is full-time caregiver for his bedridden wife can’t leave her to complete ten job applications required by the trustee’s office. SLAM.

I wouldn’t blame any of these people if they just chose to give up. How many doors can be repeatedly slammed in their faces? But they come to LUM, hoping that maybe just this once the door won’t slam shut. And here it won’t.

The shelter doors open every night of the year—the hottest and the coldest, the holiday and the everyday. The Centralized Emergency Fund and the advocate program will be here to help with the utility bills, the work boots, the deposits and the medications. The Afterschool Program will be here to provide safe supervision to children until their parents finish their work day. The Food Pantry will greet clients and send them on their way with an emergency supply of food. Volunteer tax preparers will be here next January to ensure maximum returns for low-income filers. Jubilee Christmas, Community Thanksgiving, the Campaign for Hoosier Families—all will be here and ready to assist our brothers and sisters in need.

In his book, The Working Poor: Invisible in America, David Shipler writes, “The first step is to see the problem, and the first problem is the failure to see the people.” At Lafayette Urban Ministry, we see the people. We see the obstacles they face. We hear the doors slamming. But we also see the promise of doors opening, lives changing, good choices being made. Thank you for being part of that. Enjoy your summer; enjoy the fresh air coming through the open doors. And when the occasional door slams shut in your home, think of those we serve at LUM each day.

Looking ahead: the next few months at LUM
We may still be in the heat of July, but the calendar is filling up at Lafayette Urban Ministry! Mark your calendars now for the following special events, and make plans to participate, volunteer or contribute to the following:

• The LUM Afterschool Program begins August 21. Volunteers are always welcome; donations of snacks and supplies are needed as well.
• Hunger Hike 2006 will be Sunday September 17. Registration starts at 12:30 p.m. with the hike starting at 2:00. Plan to walk, sponsor a walker or become a corporate partner in this annual event to benefit LUM, St. Thomas Aquinas’ Haiti relief and Food Finders Food Bank. www.hungerhike.org
• The Community Thanksgiving Celebration will be held Thursday, November 23. Watch the LUM website for information on volunteering, donating food or sponsoring this community-wide event.
• Jubilee Christmas will be Saturday, December 16. If your church participates, contact your Jubilee coordinator for volunteer opportunities. If your congregation hasn’t participated in the past, but is interested in becoming a site or partner, contact Patti O’Callaghan for information.
  

LUM considers potential issues for the next state legislative session
Patti O’Callaghan, Director of Social Justice Ministries and LUM’s Campaign for Hoosier Families, reports that LUM is considering three compelling issues for the 2007 legislative session.

• Extending, or making permanent, the state sales tax exemption on Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program funds
• Work for an Indiana state tax credit for child and dependent care. Indiana is one of only 14 states which do NOT have such a credit.
• Raising the minimum wage. Federal minimum wage standards have not been raised in ten years; that increase has been totally eliminated by inflation. Twenty-two states have raised minimum wage standards; many more have proposals pending. Indiana should join that list.

Staff news
Patti O’Callaghan, our director of social justice ministries, has been elected state president of the Indiana Coalition for Human Services. Patti has served on the board for several years and will assume her role as president at the annual meeting in August. Congratulations, Patti!

Rita Tillet will be resigning as director of the afterschool program following LUM Camp in August. Rita and her husband Wes are expecting their first child in September and Rita is looking forward to being at home with their son. We wish them the best!

Calling all golfers!
The 3rd annual St. Tom’s golf scramble to benefit Lafayette Urban Ministry and St. Thomas Aquinas ministries will be held Friday, August 4, 2006, at the Ravines. Entry fee is $50 per person. Prizes for everyone, including a chance to win $15,000!

Warm-up and check-in are at 7:30 a.m.; shotgun start at 8:00 a.m. Lunch and prizes will be at 12:30, with a putting contest at 1:15. Registration deadline is July 23. Contact Candy Silver at St. Toms 743-4652 ext. 230 for more information or e-mail
csilver@sttoms-purdue.org