August 23, 2013

In the summer edition of our Directions newsletters, Delores Desemone, chapter president of LFL of St. Charles County, Missouri, #337, wrote about the amazing work of God through a special adoption initiative they sponsored. Here is an excerpt from that article. The first part of the article told about a wonderful baby bottle fundraising project for a local St. Louis pregnancy center that had raised $33,000!

After that wonderful opportunity to watch God’s people respond to a real “LIFE” need, Pastor Schmieding suggested we take a year off and then do another similar fundraiser … within our local churches promoting adoption.

In 2012 we started planning that event. Our chapter established an adoption initiative committee to work under the board. We had many meetings and researched adoption and all the helps here in our community ¼  We also worked with [a] local ministry trying to promote adoption and foster care within churches. They allowed us to borrow portraits of children who were available for adoption within our state. We displayed those portraits in our churches for several weeks while we introduced the adoption initiative plan and suggested people gather their change. We worked with the church contact—a lay person who works closely with LFL as we do each project, to be sure it is followed up on in their congregation. We visited each pastor along with the church contact from his congregation and asked for their support. We spoke to each principal at the Lutheran elementary schools and the high school. We talked to the deaconess at the Lutheran Senior Center—all were excited. We passed out 1,500 baby bottles on Life Sunday and watched God work in His people!!

We had stories of children going home and emptying their piggy banks into baby bottles so a child could have a “Forever Family.” The people at the senior center were all putting their bingo money in the bottles. One little girl told all her friends not to bring birthday gifts but to bring the money they would spend on a gift for her. She put it in a baby bottle and gave it to us. It was nearly $100 ¼ One bottle had a check for $600 ¼ As I write this, we have raised over $30,000. On April 10th, we hosted a praise and informational dinner to thank the church contacts for all their labors and to invite people interested in learning more about adoption/foster care ¼ We had five couples attend who wanted to learn more about adoption ¼ We got them connected with people ¼ so they would have support as they walk the long adoption path. We had people who have adopted speak briefly about their experiences. It was a very positive encouraging evening!!