Newsletter
The SEED, April 2007
Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon
Hats off
to LUM
Volunteers!
Catered Lunch & Program!
Fun & Fellowship!
Entertainment & sing-along by the Vagaband
RSVP by Friday May 4
by phone: (765)423-2691
by fax: (765) 423-2693
or e-mail: lum@lafayetteurbanministry.org
Tuesday, May 8, 12:00noon-1:15pm
Federated Church
2400 Sycamore Lane, West Lafayette
Next to West Lafayette City Hall
Join in the fun and wear a hat!
LUM’s tax assistance program brings in over $1 million!
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is a federal tax break that provides targeted relief to low and moderate income Hoosiers and encourages self-sufficiency for these working men and women. It is a “Hand Up” (not a hand-out) that helps working families escape poverty.
EITC supplements wages—it is a refundable tax credit, meaning workers can get back more than they actually paid in taxes.
Lafayette Urban Ministry, in conjunction with Bison Financial Group, is in our fourth year of helping EITC-eligible workers file their taxes free of charge. To date, we have filed over 700 returns for more than $600,000 in earned income tax credits. This income is making a difference for Tippecanoe County workers. One family received $4,000 in EITC, enabling them to become debt-free and eligible for a Habitat for Humanity House! Many use their refund to pay utility bills and rent and buy groceries.
LUM volunteers have filed for nearly $1.2 million in total tax refunds. By filing returns free of charge, the volunteers have saved low income tax payers $145,000. Some people spent their entire refund last year to have their taxes done professionally. Many others were talked into rapid refund loans, costing them hundreds of dollars. By having their taxes done here, they receive all their money and can get it direct deposited to a bank account in ten days.
This year LUM also partnered with Lafayette Community Bank, allowing clients who did not have a bank account to open one on the spot for direct deposit. This made the return quicker, and also hopefully helped people on the road to savings.
Many thanks to all the volunteers who made this program possible:
- Bison Financial Group Managing
Director, Dave Vorbeck, and Bison
volunteers Steve Dunnuck, Brian Card,
Gary Jackson, Thea Strand and Kathy
Hyman.
- Purdue accounting students Evan
Hagedorn, Marshall Hagedorn,
Heather Furrer, Kevin Bruot, Laura
Zarse, and Blake Widmer.
- Returning volunteers Jack Kelley, Ann
Pellegrino, Carol Reisert, Amanda
Shorter, Patti Cassidy, Joyce Welch,
Becky Dunnuck and Jennifer
Browning.
- All others including LUM Board
member Russ Clark, Charlie Tristler,
Heather Sweet, Marty Dyer and Steve
Samuels.
Celebrating 35 years
of service
by Mary Anderson, Executive Director
In preparing for LUM’s 35th birthday, I spent time with LUM’s archives. I found an annual report from 1979, when we were celebrating our 7th birthday. Ministry was being done from the building on North 8th Street, behind Central Presbyterian Church. In that year, 160 families received a total of $7,000 in assistance through the Centralized Emergency Fund. The SEED was mailed to 800 people. The first Jubilee Christmas had been a huge success, serving 49 families with 140 children at a single site (Central Presbyterian) in two sessions, with 25 churches participating in the donation of toys, clothing, food and gift wrap.
I wonder if the board, staff and member churches of LUM in 1979 envisioned a 500% increase in SEED mailings, or more than 10 times the number of advocate clients, or almost 15 times as many Jubilee families (and 24 Jubilees rather than 2!). Those board members, the volunteers and staff and all who supported them were people of faith and vision and hope. They knew that this ministry was needed in this place.
And our ministry is still needed in this place at this time. While we know that rural poverty is a growing problem across the country, the majority of our clients come from Lafayette and West Lafayette. Ninety per cent of our clients served in 2006 came from the Lafayette/West Lafayette zip codes; the remaining 10% (about 430 families) were from rural Tippecanoe County or from other communities (stranded travelers etc).
We can celebrate many great things in our 35 years of service. Tens of thousands of people have been served—they have been housed, fed, clothed, supported and nurtured. Children have been cared for after school, gone to camp and received Christmas gifts from their parents. Adults have been sheltered, given food and been assisted in emergency situations. Tax returns have been filed and Thanksgiving dinners shared.
For almost 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, for 35 years, LUM volunteers, staff and donors have been here to help others in need. They have listened and they have acted. They have been a blessing to this place and the thousands who have entered our doors.
So the occasion of our 35th birthday is a good time to look back and reflect on the vision and dedication of those who started this ministry. And it’s time to look forward as well.
We will be doing some significant planning in the months ahead. The LUM Board has approved the development of a strategic plan and a fund-raising feasibility study. There are major challenges facing us: preserving this building for maximum usefulness (consider our 10 year old roof, fading siding and need for a sprinkler system), the possibility of relocating our administrative offices, and looking to future, possibly new, programming needs.
And we will need your help. We will be seeking input from our member congregations, our contributors, our volunteers and the entire community. We need your vision, your input, your direction and your prayers.
Together, we have grown the Lafayette Urban Ministry from a small group of dedicated churches in 1972, serving the needs of the poor in the near-southside neighborhoods of Lafayette to 46 churches providing services, caring and compassion for over 4,300 Tippecanoe County families in 2006.
The Lafayette Urban Ministry, and you, have been a blessing to this community for 35 years. We look forward to continuing to share God’s love through service for the next 35.
From “Called to Serve: The Formation and Early History of Lafayette Urban Ministry”
Although the Lafayette Urban Ministry was officially incorporated in 1972, its roots go back to 1962 and the work of the Neighborhood Development Project. Operating out of Hope chapel, NDP offered crafts and camp programs which attracted mostly southside neighborhood youngsters.
By September 1969, Covenant, Bethany, and Faith Presbyterian churches joined the NDP. By the end of the year, NDP had its own constitution, by-laws, and articles of incorporation.
The effort to bring about a full-time urban ministry proceeded quickly in 1971 and the Lafayette Urban Ministry was officially incorporated as an Indiana Not-For-Profit Corporation on October 16,1972. Seven churches were represented as charter members: Covenant Presbyterian, St. Andrew United Methodist, First United Methodist, Central Presbyterian, Dayton Presbyterian, Hope Chapel, and Bethany Presbyterian.
In 1984 LUM and St. Thomas Aquinas established Lafayette’s first emergency shelter for the homeless. The shelter was housed on the second floor of LUM’s 8th street office and was moved to St. Boniface Church in 1987. Subsequently, the shelter was included in the main LUM building when it was built at 525 N. 4th Street.
LUM ended its first 20 years of ministry with 44 member congregations, 7 permanent staff members, 1500 volunteers and an annual budget of $299,400. Twenty-three programs of service, self-help and advocacy reached 70% of Tippecanoe County’s poor.
As Lafayette Urban Ministry marks 35 years of service in 2007, 46 churches are members of LUM; over 20 programs continue to serve our community. The budget has exceeded $500,000 and CEF assistance annually disburses more than $110,000.
Read a more complete history online.
LUM Wins Alcoa Foundation Recognition
The Lafayette Urban Ministry is pleased to announce that it has received $20,000 from the national Alcoa Foundation to help respond to the increased numbers of homeless men and women who request our shelter services.
Last year the Lafayette Urban Ministry shelter served 505 homeless individuals, providing 14,818 overnight stays, including meals, showers, and case management services. LUM’s shelter staff and over 300 volunteers helped give the hope, dignity, respect and practical help our guests need to build brighter futures. Most nights LUM’s shelter is filled to capacity.
The mission of the Lafayette Urban Ministry relates very closely to the Alcoa Foundation’s mission of promoting safe and healthy children, families and communities. Just like the Alcoa Foundation, the Lafayette Urban Ministry works hard to ensure
that low-income individuals have the tools, the knowledge and the services to remain healthy and safe at home, in the community and workplace.
LUM was recognized by Alcoa for its outstanding record of creative programming and effectiveness in fighting both the causes and consequences of poverty. Alcoa was drawn to LUM’s efficient use of limited resources and for being highly accountable to its donors. The Lafayette Urban Ministry is grateful to the Alcoa Foundation for their generosity and to Alcoa’s Lafayette Operations for their partnership and support of our grant proposal.
Briefly Noted
- Please remember that the LUM shelter is open every
night of the year—including during the summer.
Consider giving the special gift of your time to help staff
the shelter during the summer. Call LUM for
training session dates or check online at
www.lafayetteurbanministry.org. Contact Joyce Boehm
at 423-2691 or jboehm@lafayetteurbanministry.org to
schedule volunteer time or meals.
- Summer’s around the corner, and so is LUM Camp,
which is August 6-10. If you are 18 or older, love
children and the outdoors, and can volunteer one week
of your time, consider being a camp counselor. Training
is provided. Applications are available on our website at
www.lafayetteurbanministry.org/camp.html or call LUM.
- The Advocate Program (emergency financial assistance)
is in need of a few new volunteers on Monday, Tuesday
or Wednesday mornings. If you would like to spend one
morning a week helping families in need, please contact
Mary Anderson at 423-2691 or
manderson@lafayetteurbanministry.org. Training is
provided.
LUM friend and volunteer, Don Nead, receives local volunteer award
On March 22, the Rev. Dr. Don Nead was presented with the first annual Crystal Bison Award by the Bison Financial Group. Rev. Nead was recognized for his volunteer service to the Bach Chorale, but his attachment to LUM goes back to our earliest days.
He and his wife, the Rev. Virginia Nead, continue to support LUM in many ways. As a Master Gardener, Don helps coordinate the planning, planting and distribution of literally tons of garden produce that is donated to the LUM/St. John’s food pantry each year from the Master Gardeners’ demonstration plot.
We congratulate Don on this award, and thank him for his many years of service to LUM.
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