Fighting Hidden Hunger in an Affluent Community
Aug 3, 2026 | Stories of Ministry
This story is about more than fundraising—it’s about a congregation recognizing that hunger doesn’t always look the way people expect.
Small congregations serve in big ways, especially when they work together! Five congregations in the Triad area gathered the buckets and supplies listed by Lutheran Disaster Response to fill 13 cleaning buckets to be distributed in the wake of a disaster, like Hurricane Helene.
- St. Paul’s Lutheran, Burlington
- Lutheran Church of Our Father, Greensboro
- LEAF – Elon University’s Campus Ministry
- Low’s Lutheran, Liberty
- Coble’s Lutheran, Julian
When assembling the buckets, we discovered that some congregations had donated more than 10 of each of their items from the list, so we used a Thrivent Action Grant to purchase a few more supplies to supplement the extras we had. This brought our plan of 10 buckets to a final total of 13!
Some folks also assembled 14 of the comfort kids also requested by LDR, which are filled with art supplies and comforting toys for children who have just survived a disaster.
Story Attribution:
Pastor Jennifer Shimota
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The Faith and Fervent Desire to Be Church Together
Aug 2, 2026 | Stories of Ministry
Maintaining a healthy relationship with another congregation is not easy, but when done well, it enables them to think and act more broadly as the body of Christ in the world.