Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! This year, our back-to-school rally will take place on Saturday, August 14. As in the past, I am soliciting donations of school supplies to distribute to the students who will participate. We anticipate that we will have a little over 100 students since our summer program is serving between 55 and 68 youth and children everyday.

If you have school supplies to donate they can be dropped off at:

Zion Lutheran Church
9901 S. Winston Ave.
Chicago, IL

Or at the LCC office:
333 W. Lake St.
Addison, IL

At this time, our biggest concern is getting all work completed before the scheduled start of school on August 23. We don't know if this is possible, but we are trusting God to guide us through this time.

What you can do to help: We are in need of bleach and other disinfecting supplies for clean-up. These can be dropped off at the school - but please call before coming.

Grace Lutheran School
4106 W. 28th Street
Chicago, IL 60623

We have a temporary office set up in the hallway of the 2nd floor. Gift cards or monetary donations are also welcome. Please keep our school in your prayers. Ask for God's blessings on this project so that the repairs go smoothly and that the damage is less than feared. Thank God that insurance is covering the cost of repairs. Ask for His guidance on the many decisions that we will be facing over the next several weeks, both large and small.

We will have a work day later in the month to prepare for the start of school. We will let you know the date and time or you can call the school office next week at 773-762-1234.

Thank you for your support of our school. Remember: God is Good - All the Time!

Ebenezer Lutheran Church, Chicago, is holding its summer Vacation Bible School during the week of August 2-6. The program will run in the afternoon from 12:30 PM until 4:00 PM. The theme is "High Seas Adventure." We anticipate an enrollment of 100+ children.

We are asking for help of any kind. If there is a congregation that can donate leftover supplies or decorations, we can use these. We could also use any donations to offset a budget of $2500. Lastly, we need anybody who would be willing to volunteer as a participant in the roles of crew leaders, whether for a day or the whole week.

VBS is one of Ebenezer's biggest service/outreach events of the year. It is look forward to with great anticipation by the youth of the community. But our resources are limited and stretched, especially this year, and without support we may not be able to carry on this summer. So we ask all who see this to prayerfully consider if they can help in any way. If so, please contact Pastor Rich Gizynski at (773) 216-5288 (cell phone). Thank you and God bless.

Request from Pastor Jacob Gaugert, Dr. Martin Luther Church, Chicago

There is a gifted international student from South Africa who is in need of financial aide. His name is Mathias Hohls and he needs to collect or receive pledges for at least $30,000 by August 1st of this year. So far he has received $13,000. I have sent a letter from him along with a letter of recommendation from Prof. John T. Pless from the Ft. Wayne Seminary. Please consider helping this gifted young man finish his studies at Ft. Wayne. Excerpt of letter from Mathias Hohls:

My name is Mathias G. Hohls. I am originally from South Africa and have been studying at Concordia Theological Seminary in Ft. Wayne on an international student exchange program since September 2009. I grew up in a Lutheran pastor's home and attended private schools prior to my university studies... Lord willing, I hope to serve the Lord's church in the Pastoral Ministry in the future. I believe that completing my pastoral studies here in America would give me the best theological and practical background to be able to serve His people faithfully.

Excerpt of letter from Prof. John Pless:

I am very pleased to write this letter to encourage the generous financial support of my student, Mathias Hohls. Assisting him to remain at Concordia Theological Seminary to complete his Master of Divinity degree under our auspices would be a prudent and productive investment not only in his personal future but the future of our Lutheran Church.

Help Repair Building that Houses "El Comedor Popular" Soup Kitchen
Request by Rev. Julio A. Loza, Historic St. Matthew Lutheran Church

St. Matthew is the home of the El Comedor Popular soup kitchen, which feeds the hungry in Chicago. They have been experiencing some difficult times with their ministry. They are in a permanent financial struggle, but they endure to feed the homeless and unemployed whose numbers continue to grow because of the economy.

One of our volunteers has a 2003 Ford Rockport box truck that they are willing to sell to us at a great price. The truck has less than thirty-thousand miles on it and we can have it for $10,000. This would be such a help for us in our ongoing ministry of non-cash items! Could you help us purchase this truck. LCC does not believe in going into debt so we will only purchase this if we can raise the money. Can you help us in our ever expanding ministry of helping those in need with the Mercy and Compassion of Christ through churches! Thank you for all your support!

The efficiency of the recent Haiti Collection event really highlighted more of what LCC would be able to do if we had a warehouse facility that volunteers could work from.

The facility would also enable us to store the disaster response vehicles and equipment in a state of preparedness and would help us to move quickly. 

• Workspace for our volunteers that is climate controlled
• Short term storage space for donations until they can be picked up
• Space large enough where we can drive in and store our Disaster Response RV and trailers for immediate DEPLOYMENT
• A cargo bay allowing us the ability to load semis would also be a nice and useful feature.