A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
Deb Carter (left) and Hope Fails (right) along with Barb Lammi (in back) weed a garden for a resident who asked for help during Sunday's interdenominational "God's Work, Our Hands" volunteer effort. They were part of a group of 200 volunteers from five churches who worked together on different projects in the county.
Annarose and Joe Linder help paint a curb in the parking lot at Encore Performing Arts Center during Sunday's volunteer effort.
A group of volunteers worked together Sunday for close to three hours to get an elderly woman's various garden plots weeded, especially the one in the backyard that she enjoys seeing out the back window of her home.
Another group painted parking stripes in the community theater parking lot.
Thirty others stayed inside to assemble baby care kits, school backpacks and "ditty bags" for seafarers filled with personal care items.
More groups fanned out across Cloquet and the surrounding area, all of them doing volunteer chores for people who need the help, either because they physically can't do it due to age or infirmity, or just because they could use a helping hand.
In total, close to 200 volunteers from five different churches gave 3-4 hours of their time Sunday to help in what they call "God's Work, Our Hands." It was the sixth time for the massive volunteer effort, which grew from an initial volunteer Sunday at Zion Lutheran Church in Cloquet to include as many as seven total churches.
"It started as an ELCA Lutheran service project. Here, we've expanded," explained Zion's Deb Carter, as she weeded. "It's interdenominational. When one church works by themselves, they just get to know each other. We try to mix it up, so the committee pairs up different groups."
Barb Lammi, who goes to Northwoods United Methodist, chimes in.
"Meeting other people, that's what's fun," Lammi chimes in. "I meet people I've seen before, but I've never known."
This year members of five different churches participated, most defined by the color T-shirt they wore, rather than a particular theology: members of Bethesda Lutheran Church in Carlton wore gray, while Esko's Northwoods United Methodist wore a teal color. Queen of Peace parishioners dressed in bright blue. Zion and Our Savior's members both wore bright yellow.
Kathy Blascyk, who helps organize the annual event, said they find the projects by asking each church to suggest at least one or two people who can use some help around their home. They also as Volunteer Services of Carlton County for other suggestions, which are plentiful.
After each group finished its assigned task, they gathered for lunch at Our Savior's Lutheran Church after they completed their assigned tasks.
Zion Pastor C.J. Boettcher said he really enjoyed the experience, adding that he felt that talking to the person they were helping Sunday was just as important as the actual work they did.
"Most people are out there directing, or helping in some other way," Blascyk said.
German exchange student Kim Münch enjoyed painting the parking lot, and managed to stay a lot cleaner than her host student, Aili Buytaert.
"I think it's really good to help," Münch said.
By the numbers, Blascyk said they completed 15 outdoor projects. Indoors they assembled 134 backpack kits, 83 baby kits and 67 personal care kits to be mailed to Lutheran World Relief, plus 83 Ditty Bags for the Seafarers ministry in Duluth. They also collected 100 pair of shorts, 245 pair of girls underwear and 107 dresses were sewn for children in Haiti.
The sewing goes on all year. Anyone interested in helping can call the Zion church office at 218-879-9647 to get patterns and answers to their questions.
"All in all, it was a great day for all who participated," Blascyk said. "We are blessed with all these Christians working together to help others in their community and beyond."
