Christ the King Lutheran, Greenville; Messiah Lutheran, Mauldin; St. Michael's Lutheran, Greenville
Bi-Lo, Duck Race, GAIHN, Haven Tea Party, Pendleton House, Triune Ministry, Sewing Project, Anointing of Hands. The adult Sunday School class at St. Michaels, "The Bold and the Beautiful," worked together to paint bathrooms at the Truine Mercy Center/Greenville. Having just completed the book "The Prayer of Jabez," the class used this project to expand its "territory."

Living Springs, Columbia; Breath of Life, Blythewood; and St. Timothy, Camden
The guys built a ramp for an elderly lady with a walker to enter her front door. She wouldn’t come outside, but we did get a picture of her standing in the doorway – she seemed thrilled!

St. James Lutheran, Graniteville
Among other projects, St. James members joined our Red Hatters painting the porch railings and planting at Trinity Lutheran Home, Aiken, SC. There were also folks from Holy Trinity, N. Augusta and St. Paul's, Aiken, but they are not in these pictures.

Christ Lutheran, Columbia
At Christ Lutheran we sorted and packed over 5,800 cards for a wide variety of occasions in 28 boxes to send a Chaplain in Iraq for distribution among the SC troops that were deployed in March. The troops want to send cards home and they just aren't readily available. To fill the spaces and ensure full packages we included boxes of individual drink mix (to add to their water), which is especially popular over there. Our second project was to assemble 43 bags decorated by children with 20 cards each for the use by the residents of Agape Retirement Center, where one of our members resides. We are looking forward to another statewide service day next year.

Manantial de Vida (Spring of Life) Lutheran, Columbia
We are blessed that members of St. Paul's, Aiken and Redeemer, Columbia chose to help our mission church with repairs, landscaping, painting, and organizing. They set up scaffolding and painted the inside of the church. Our Bishop Herman can be seen at the top of a 40-foot ladder painting the vault above the sanctuary! Our church got a facelift as volunteers cleaned carpets, made plumbing and electrical repairs, and planted the first flowers in our future meditation garden. The children cleaned our bus and helped with landscaping. Volunteers helped to sort donated food and clothing and organize storage. The women in our congregation made a delicious authentic Mexican meal. It was truly a blessing to bring our Spanish- and English-speaking brothers and sisters together to do God’s work.

Trinity Lutheran, Elloree
Trinity Lutheran Church and Evergreen Garden Club worked in cleaning up Loyns Park in Elloree, SC.

Cross and Crown Lutheran and St. Luke's Lutheran, Florence
Here is a YouTube web link for the presentation we created for the Operation Inasmuch event we had in Florence, SC on May 2nd. This event has hosted by Cross & Crown in Florence and supported by members of both Cross & Crown and St. Luke's here in Florence. Needless to say we had a great day, much fun, and served many.
Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0cZpJaPTwY

Martin Luther Lutheran, James Island
Under the direction of Pastor Steve Cooper and Judy Alcorn, thirty-seven men, women and children worked together on five  projects. Those projects included:
     - Bibs, crafts and A Sing-along at a local Nursing Home (Savannah House). Twelve women and children made bibs and decorated hanging hearts for the residents. These items were then taken to Savannah House where the group joined the residents in a lively sing-along.
     - Repairs and painting on an ederly lady’s home (Mrs. F.). Seven men and women made door repairs, scraped paint and painted the home.
     - Repairs and painting on an Elderly Lady’s home (Mrs. L.). Five men and women washed, scraped paint, painted and repaired and painted 2 outside benches at the home.
     - Lunch was provided to all the workers at the church. Four people served hotdogs and hamburgers for all workers.
     - WELCA (Women of the ELCA) of Martin Luther Church gathered toiletries prior to this date and made Care Packages for the residents of the Ronald McDonald House. Nine women gathered to put these packages together.
     Donations were given by: Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, Our Lady of Mercy on Johns Island, Two Ladies and a Mop, Frankie Rhea, Richard and Sherry Fowler, Melody Alcorn and Lowes gave us a generous discount. Martin Luther Church also participated in an additional Operation INASMUCH with James Island Churches on Saturday, May 16. Completion of some of the above projects as well as new projects will be provided.

St. John Lutheran, Walhalla, SC
Click here to view our congregation's Operation Inasmuch Day video online!
Many thanks to everyone at St John's who participated in some way- about 79% of our congregation! There were 221 total participants, giving 1633 hours of volunteer labor, serving 1718 people in our community. We had 1090 opportunities to share our faith and 220 opportunities to pray with volunteers and those we were serving. Our donations totaled almost $4,500 and volunteer labor (based on $17 per hour) totaled $28,000. Can you believe it!

Faith Lutheran, Pickens, SC
Our projects included yard work done for a disabled person; painting at Jaycee Park; painting at Senior Center; clean-up and maintenance at Table Rock State Park; and quilting for Lutheran World Relief.

Zion Lutheran, Lexington 
CAPTIONS: Troy Fite, Zion’s OIAM leader, "herds the cats" before send-off; Ronnie Leaphart from Zion sizes up a railroad tie for a retaining wall at a park; Pastor John Derrick (center), Newberry College, teaming with Zion on a park retaining wall project; Michael Kohn runs into the Clemson Tiger while helping out youth at a park near Zion; Jane Kohn and Mandy Derrick bonding at Zion before the big send-off. See our gallery of pictures at http://www.zionlex.com/scrapbook/index.html

 

Union Lutheran, Leesville
Projects: Installing smoke detectors in homes for elderly and needy families; Preparing a meal for shut-ins in the neighborhood; Youth doing grounds clean-up at Christian Ministry Center, Leesville; Care packages for Batesburg-Leesville area Meals on Wheels clients.

St. Matthew’s Lutheran, Charleston
Projects: Providing and serving breakfast to approximately 40 parents of children undergoing special treatment at MUSC; Providing breakfast for those staying at MUSC's Ronald McDonald House (24 occupied guest rooms); Landscaping a neighborhood "Help Center" on Charleston's Upper East Side -Spread top soil, planted 2.5 dozen shrubs, laid brick pathway; Prepared and delivered cookies to approximately 1/2 of Charleston's neighborhood fire stations; Worked to assist those at Florence Crittenton Home in "sprucing up" the facility; Provided medical screening (blood pressure, etc.) for residents at a senior adult apartment building in downtown Charleston.

Laurens-Spartanburg Chapter of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans
These photos were taken at Musgrove Mill State Park. This is the fourth year that the Laurens-Spartanburg Chapter of Thrivent Financial has sponsored a Join Hands Day project at Musgrove Mill. This year, there was trail maintenance, harvesting rocks, and erosion control that took place. The work was done by Girl Scout troops from Union, Clinton, and Duncan, SC. The rock harvesting was hard work. They dug out rocks by the river bank and moved them to another place where there had been soil erosion. Some of the rocks were huge, especially this one they were determined to bring out. I think the Park Ranger inspired them when he stated he didn't expect them to finish that day. Well, guess what?? At the end of the project, the workers were given a hot dog lunch with all the fixin's. These girls will be presented with the special Join Hands Day Girl Scout patch. The Join Hands Day organization made it available this year. This was definitely a case of young and "mature" hands working together to make a difference in their community. And they all had a great time doing it. Respectfully submitted, Teresa Foster Youth Director Laurens-Spartanburg Chapter Thrivent Financial

St. Matthias Lutheran, Easley, SC
More than 70 volunteers from St. Matthias Lutheran Church took part in Operation Inasmuch. Project coordinator, Mike Faulkner, summed up the days effort by saying, “It is amazing how a simple act of kindness serving someone in need is magnified many times over when a concentrated volunteer effort produces results.” Some of the projects included:
-Holding a baby shower that provided gifts for crisis pregnancies at “Hope Woman’s Center.”
-Building a new deck and ramp for a homebound resident who was identified with the help of the local “Meals on Wheels” group.
-Bagging and loading donated clothing for “Home with a Heart”, a Christian based inpatient rehabilitation facility for men with addictions, located in Liberty.
-Delivering baked goods to two local fire stations and the Easley Police station to say thanks for all they do for our community.
-A youth group set up shop at an Ingles store to ask for donations of nonperishable food, from shoppers entering the store. Shoppers responded big time which resulted in collecting more than a full-size pickup truck full of items that were given to Piedmont Emergency Relief Center (PERC), located in Piedmont.

St. Marks Lutheran, Isle of Palms; St. Paul’s Lutheran, Mt. Pleasant; and All Saints Lutheran, Mt. Pleasant
At least 75 participants gathered at All Saints for morning vespers and prayer, and then went to work. Here are our projects: Boys & Girls Club: Paint the inside walls and front wall outside; set up a garden, plant flowers in the front. Meals On Wheels: Collected groceries at Bi-Lo and Piggly Wiggly for meals on wheels. Windwood Farms: Paint a gate; general clean-up, and distribute 75 bales of pine straw around the houses. Charleston Co. Social Services: Create baby care kits and teen care kits for children who are removed from their homes. Franke Home: Plant various flowers/plant around the grounds; visit with residents.
 

St. Michael's Lutheran, Columbia
The day began with worship led by Pastor Wessinger; then the teams were off to their designated places to begin their mission services.  It was a joy to work together with our cluster congregations, Christus Victor and Bethlehem Lutheran, to share love and concern for others thereby making a difference in our community.   St. Michael’s 60+ volunteers served by repairing and painting a Homework’s home site, helping pack over 2000 food boxes at Harvest Hope Food Bank, singing at local nursing homes, walking and caring for animals at the FIDO Rescue site, making prayers cloths, compiling 30 birthday bags for Sharing God’s Love, baking and distributing cookies to local  E-R’s, welcome centers, nursing homes, sheriff  and fire departments.   We further appreciate the generosity of many supporters providing financial contributions, dozens and dozens of fresh baked cookies, blankets and pet supplies. A very special thank you is expressed to  our project leaders—Bill Adams, Homework’s ;  Diana Riley, Cookie Baking & Distribution; Bunny Wessinger, Harvest Hope Food Bank;  and Adam Kelly for serving as photographer. Griet Atkins, Christus Victor;  Joanne Kightlinger, Bethlehem;  Bunny Wessinger,  St. Michael’s served as the coordinators for our respective congregations.  Thank you to Thrivent Financial for providing matching funds to further support this mission.  As our ELCA theme promotes….we were truly using our hands to complete God’s work.