Community Partners: Home Free

Making change possible by understanding that domestic violence is not a private matter.

Since 1980, Home Free has been a safe haven for women and children needing to flee their homes due to domestic violence. The Shelter provides emergency housing and support services to over 500 women and children each year. Usually filled to capacity, the Shelter can accommodate 30 women and children with an average length of stay of 18 days. Services are provided free of charge to all residents.

Women's Advocates work with battered women as they identify needs, set goals, and access services. Advocates assist women in obtaining legal remedies, housing, financial resources, medical care, and transportation and accompaniment to appointments as needed. Home Free also offers a number of education and support groups as well as social and recreational opportunities.

I was supported, listened to, and received the resources I needed. Home Free was a big help to me! Home Free cared, helped, and supported me 24/7.

- In Their Own Words, Home FreeWinter 2013 newsletter

The Home Free children's program assists women with children to identify and meet each child's needs. The children's advocates work with children individually and in groups to help them develop age-appropriate knowledge and skills related to domestic violence. Childcare, groups, activities and one-on-one assistance is provided to Shelter children, including weekend groups and activities. Children's Advocates also assist mothers with placement of children in local schools.

Community and church support are vital to the work we do. We just want the community to know we are here, and anyone who needs help can call us. We so appreciate all the support Mount Olivet gives us—it is a great collaboration.

- Kari Hitchcock, Home Free Community Coordinator

How does Mount Olivet support Home Free?

• Collect cell phones - Home Free recycles them as a fundraiser.
• Provide Personal Care packages: providing these items to residents means Home Free doesn't need to purchase them. The money saved can be used for special needs, such as cultural food for immigrant women, food for those with allergies, helping pay for a child’s field trip or an apartment application fee.
• Provide food, have donated clothing and household supplies to setup new homes and help relocate.
• A portion of Mount Olivet’s annual tithe is allocated to support Home Free.

What else can we do? 

• Re-do rooms (paint, etc.)
• Read to the children
• Provide birthday party supplies
• Raise awareness of this valuable community resource!

Healing Touch Spiritual Ministry

about healing touch               The mission of Healing Touch Spiritual Ministry at Mount Olivet is to extend our hands to others in love as we bless and heal from the heart, join God in His work and become instruments for the healing energies of God.

Healing Touch Spiritual Ministry offers hands-on healing and prayer on the first and third Sunday mornings of each month. Healing Touch is a nurturing and heart-centered energy therapy with the goal of promoting healing on a physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual level.

what to expect

Often, pain is relieved, emotions are released, deep relaxation is felt, spiritual comfort is experienced and well-being is restored. The HTSM team will offer ten-minute seated sessions and 25-minute full sessions on the first and third Sundays of each month from 10am - noon.

Community Partners: God's Grace and Work in the World

Why Our Giving Matters Earning minimum wage, a person needs to work 98 hours per week to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment. Assuming a 40-hour work week, 52 weeks per year, an hourly wage of $17.69 is required to pay rent and utilities for a modest two-bedroom apartment in the Twin Cities metro area. This does not account for food, household/hygiene necessities or clothing.

Adopt-a-Family

The Adopt-a-Family program was started in 2001 by Kirsten Kessel, DM in an attempt to serve the working poor in our community as well as families in need through our partner organizations, Parenting With Purpose and Trinity Lutheran Congregation. Over the years, many people have expressed gratitude, explaining that they would have had nothing for Christmas if not for the Adopt-a-Family program. MO adopts over sixty families every year!

How does Adopt-a-Family work? Families are listed on a form that includes names, ages, sizes and wish lists for each member. After chosing a family to adopt, the fun begins! Purchase and wrap at least one gift per person, with a recommended spending range of $50—75 for each person. This can be a great extended family, small group, neighborhood group project—especially for the larger families. Forms will be available November 19. Please return gifts to Mount Olivet by Noon on Wednesday, December 17 to be distributed in time for Christmas.

THANK YOU for the blessings you gave to our family this season. We are so grateful for everything you blessed us with for the holidays! God loves you all!                                                             - With love from Larry & Fallon

Caring Tree

This is a collection of gifts for seniors who live at the St. Olaf Residence/North Oaks Assisted Livingin north Minneapolis. Most of these people will receive nothing else, and have no means to purchase the things they need. If you’d like to make Christmas a bit brighter for an older person, please take a tag from the Caring Tree and purchase a gift for that person (first name provided) from the suggestions listed. Bring the gift IN A GIFT BAG by Sunday, December 14. Many thanks to the Mount Olivet Older but Wiser Lutherans (OWLs) for coordinating the Caring Tree again this year.

Sharing Tree

Last year 1100 children were able to celebrate the holidays with a gift that wouldn’t have been there without our help. The Sharing Tree, a toy collection for PRISM and children staying at Home Free over the holidays, will be decorated with tags by November 23. Each tag on the Sharing Tree lists gender and age range. Purchase an appropriate gift for a child in the age range you selected and place the unwrapped gift ($15-$30) under the Sharing Tree by December 8. PRISM serves hundreds of families through their holiday program, and MO contributes approximately 200 gifts every year.

Christian’s Toy Box

Christian’s Toy Box originated in 1999, the year Christian Olaf Osen, eight-year-old-son of Karen Haug and John Osen, lost his battle with leukemia. They learned through first-hand experience how greatly small gifts can brighten the day of a child receiving chemotherapy or radiation, during extended hospital stays, as well as for siblings of sick children who also spend their days at the hospital. Suggested gifts include craft kits, small Lego kits, things that could be made or played with in bed that help occupy a child’s mind and body when they’re relatively confined.

You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.                    - John Bunyan

Connect Groups: Knitting/Crochet Group

Mount Olivet is a community gathered around the cross and presence of Jesus, where members understand themselves to be sent as instruments of God’s grace and work in the world. We are doing God’s work in the world when we reach out to those who are sick or grieving a loss, and offer them a comforting prayer shawl to remind them their faith community supports and prays for them. This is one of two groups of faithful, artistic women who meet each month to do God’s work in the world by creating beautiful and practical items to be given away to those in need.  

Mount Olivet Knit/Crochet Group

They are called the Knitting/Crochet Group, but anyone who does any kind of needlecraft is welcome to join them when they meet each month on the second Tuesday evening at 6:30pm. They describe themselves as very “close-knit” and they especially look forward to getting together each month to share what’s going on in their lives as well as solve tricky needlework problems. Their favorite service project is knitting or crocheting prayer shawls for people with serious health problems or troubles. The group prays for the recipients as they make the shawls, and MO staff distribute them when needed. It is wonderful when they hear about how the shawls help and comfort people - that knowledge makes all the time and effort worth it.

Prayer shawls are our way of wrapping people in God’s love and comfort when they need it most. It’s truly an honor to be part of this very profound ministry.                                             - Marilyn Nordquist

Connect Groups: Lutheran World Relief Quilters

Mount Olivet is a community gathered around the cross and presence of Jesus, where members understand themselves to be sent as instruments of God’s grace and work in the world. We are doing God's work in the world when we make quilts to be shared in our community and around the world with those who are cold and in need. This is one of two groups of faithful, artistic women who meet each month to do God’s work in the world by creating beautiful and practical items to be given away to those in need.  

Lutheran World Relief Quilters

This group meets on the first and third Thursday mornings (9am-noon) and the fourth Tuesday evening (7-9 p.m). Quilt tops are sewn together by individuals at home and then the tops are tied when the group meets together at Mount Olivet. The group has also made special quilts over the years - they just completed Gopher- and Viking-themed quilts for two people at Hammer Residence.

Quilts are displayed every year on Quilt Sunday in November and then delivered to the LWR Warehouse in St. Paul to be shipped around the world. Last year our quilts went to India.

Donations of cotton fabric for tops, flat sheets (any size) for backs, blankets for middles and embroidery floss to tie are greatly appreciated. All ages are welcome to help with this ministry.

 To ease another’s heartache is to forget one’s own.        - Abraham Lincoln

Community Partners: PRISM

PRISM (People Responding In Social Ministry) is a social service agency that helps local families during times of financial hardship. For over 43 years, the volunteers and staff at PRISM have worked with individuals and families in Plymouth, Golden Valley, Robbinsdale, Crystal and New Hope; counseling, educating and stabilizing basic needs to empower them to take an active role in their own solutions. The organization known today as PRISM began as a food shelf in a garage at St. Joseph’s Parish Community in New Hope. According to Marty Gates, one of the founders, from the very beginning, filling stomachs was never the ultimate goal. The volunteers at the Social Action Center (as it was then called) were assigned as mentors to families, working with them on an ongoing basis until they were back on their feet. Even before PRISM was PRISM, the organization walked alongside families, offering support-based programs that encouraged self-sufficiency, PRISM’s mission to this day.

The best way to express the Gospel is to put it in action...When someone comes to you needing food, you can either give them the food and they can walk out the door, or you can sit down and listen to them talk about their life.

- Marty Gates

Today there are 19 Faith Partner churches, including Mount Olivet, working with PRISM to serve those in need, making our communities better!

In addition to the food shelf:

• PRISM has two full-time case workers and brings on social work students as interns to build capacity. It is not uncommon for them to see 200 households per week! Last Monday (9/29) there were 72 families through the door. According to PRISM Executive Director Michelle Ness, the numbers are increasing - PRISM is serving about 30 more families each week than last year at this time.
• PRISM’s Thrift Shop for Change generates $1500-2000 per week. One of the main priorities currently is to increase shoppers through the door in order to grow the revenue from the shop. In the current economic climate, this is hugely important to PRISM. BOGO coupons are available in the Welcome Center and all are encouraged to like the shop on Facebook!
• Families who live in PRISM’s five city service area can access the Birthday Room. For $5 they receive three brand new gifts, paper products (gift wrap, bows, streamers, invitations, etc.), and a free, fully-decorated birthday cake. Families report that without this resource, many would not be able to celebrate their child’s birthday at all.

KidPack: Northport Elementary School

KidPack is a partnership between area elementary schools and churches. KidPack helps insure that a child who relies on school breakfast and lunch during the week will not experience hunger over the weekend, and will return to school on Monday ready to learn! Mount Olivet is in the third year of our partnership with Northport Elementary School in Brooklyn Park, and our supportof KidPack has grown every year. This faith community packs and distributes bags of food every week, filling an important need and being present in our community on a regular basis. We are excited to be part of Northport BEAR country - a community with high expectations for Belonging, being Empathetic, Achieving their highest potential, and showing Respect to all.

Our students look forward to the weekly KidPack they receive, thanks to our partnership with Mount Olivet Church in Plymouth. They come through the line each week with a smile, knowing that they will get a bag filled with food for the weekend and the week ahead. In the process, our students learn about kindness and belonging. They know that there are people outside of school and their family who care about them. KidPack has a profound impact on the students at Northport. Thank you for all you do!                                   - Pam Maile, Program Assistant at Northport

Good Neighbors: Impact at Parkside Apartments

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2Q3Sa4lzNs&w=560&h=315] Dawn shared her story of the impact Mount Olivet is having at Parkside apartments. Last year a small group of Mount Olivet members wanted to connect in community with our neighbors living in the apartment buildings just behind us. Over the year they've hosted events at Parkside and here at Mount Olivet in an effort to help foster community within the apartments, and a neighborly relationship between Mount Olivet and Parkside.

Dawn had never been to Mount Olivet last January when she attended one of our first potlucks at Parkside. She has since joined the Good Neighbors team and has become the go-to community event organizer at Parkside. Her involvement has helped build relationships between apartment neighbors who didn't know each other previously, and to grow the community bond between Mount Olivet and the residents!

Not shown in the video is her relaying the experiences of many people at Parkside who find themselves lonely and yearning for community. Dawn sees hope in the faces of the people who now recognize her in the hallways and stop to ask when the next community supper or bonfire is coming up. The Good Neighbors group isn't at Parkside to recruit new members or bring them to church; they're living the idea of being community together.

Kidpack: Impact at Northport Elementary

[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/176597957" params="color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%" height="166" iframe="true" /] Pam Maile, Academic Volunteer Coordinator at Northport, visited Mount Olivet and shared stories of the impact that KidPack has had on the children and families of Northport Elementary.

Over 90% of the students at Northport are on, or are eligible for free & reduced lunch. Mount Olivet has partnered with the school and twice a month this faith community packs 1,300 bags of food for the children at Northport to take home on weekends. Every Friday volunteers take 600 bags to distribute to the children at Northport and are greeted by smiles and thank yous.

This opportunity to bechurch & becommunity together with Northport has grown into a wonderful partnership. The team here at Mount Olivet is looking to further strengthen our support of Northport and start coordinating with their need for volunteers to work directly with the children. Stay tuned as more information comes out for those opportunities!

CASYs: Blessed to be a Blessing

[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/175662693" params="color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%" height="166" iframe="true" /] Hannah, Kirsten, and Abby share stories of the blessings they received as students in Linda's confirmation group, and how they pass it on as CASY (Caring Adults Supporting Youth) leaders of their own confirmation groups today.

Words from the Guides, CASYs and Leaders

An unexpected but amazing outcome of being a BE Guide is seeing your own faith and trust in God grow through witnessing the unfettered faith of the kids. Their honest love of God, each other, the Word, and the world reground and re-energize me each Sunday. Plus we have a LOT of fun!

- Lindsay Bondy

My favorite part of BE is when I ask a questions, and lots of hands are raised. It means they’re learning, and that makes me happy!

- Lauren Flynn

Being a CASY this year is even better than I expected - the relationships I’ve formed, the depths of the discussions, the laughter and the fun - the whole is greater than the sum of its parts!

- Allison Nahr

Youth have told me how cool they think it is that people who are not their parents want to hang out with them each week. At the beginning of the year they often seem a bit skeptical of these adults, but in the end they form really special bonds with one another. Their CASY is a safe adult to share with - to laugh with, to let out frustrations to, to ask those faith and big world questions that are sometimes hard to ask mom and dad.    

  - Summer Anthony, Faith Formation specialist

The Impact of our Mentors

Studies show that such relationships are vitally important for our children’s faith. When comparing twentysomethings who remained active in their faith beyond high school and those who “dropped out” of church, a 10-year study completed in 2013 by the Barna Group,  ...uncovered a significant difference between the two. Those who stay were twice as likely to have a close personal friendship with an adult inside the church.

Among those who remain active, the most positive church experiences are relational. The implication is that huge proportions of churchgoing teenagers do not feel relationally accepted in church. This kind of information should be a wake-up call…to churched adults of the necessity of becoming friends with the next generation of believers.

Mount Olivet is blessed with over 65 youth and adult mentors who spend time each week with the children and youth of this faith community, learning, asking questions, and exploring what it means to be the people of God to · geth · er.

 Read more from BARNA Research about Millenials in the church.