outreach
Vanakkam! Hello!
The students at Park Town Mission School share enthusiastic, high-energy
greetings when they receive visitors from Bethlehem Lutheran Twin Cities.
Recently Pastor Dan Ruth, Executive Director of Lutheran Partners in Global
Ministry, and Mary Peterson from LPGM had a chance to visit Park Town and
meet the staff and students there. They shared this photo of boys in an English+
classroom where the students are developing their ability to read and understand
English, a skill they will need to compete for
jobs when they are older.
At least one of the young men in this photo
lives in the hostel at Park Town. His name
is R. Ragoth. In 2014, when Ragoth was 7,
he told Bethlehem visitors his favorite color
is rose (yes, he’s the one in the red pants,
far right front!), and his favorite subject in
school is math. The hostel at Park Town has
made it possible for children like Ragoth to
stay in school, even though many families in
the area have been forced to relocate to the
outskirts of Chennai as the city’s Slum Board
has demolished their homes. If Ragoth can stay at Park Town and do well on the
national 10th Standard Exam, his opportunity to secure a job and earn a living
will increase exponentially, helping to break the cycle of poverty not only for
Ragoth but for his entire family.
Park Town is one of the schools of the Arcot Lutheran Church in South India,
which Bethlehem supports through our partnership with Lutheran Partners in
Global Ministry. Bethlehem and Park Town were first connected in 2005 when
Pastor Chris Nelson visited the school. He was dismayed by the conditions there,
and the unrealized potential of these beautiful children. Since then Bethlehem
members have supported Park Town in many ways, sponsoring the library at the
school, helping create and equip the hostel, providing uniforms and even food
for the hostel children, and so much more. Bethlehem’s last capital campaign
provided for many urgently needed renovations and improvements to the
100-year-old building, ensuring that the space is safe and can last into the future.
All of these things have been important to the tremendous transformation at
Park Town over the last dozen years. The building and living conditions are
greatly improved, but even more importantly, today almost 100% of Park Town
students pass the 10th Standard Exam. Hundreds of Chennai’s most vulnerable
children have been touched by this partnership. But one of the most important
things to a boy like Ragoth is such a simple thing - that we know him by his
name.
Two Miles, and Counting
by Kim Dickey
If you unrolled the bandages made so
far this year by Bethlehem members
and friends at 7500 York Avenue
South, a senior cooperative in Edina,
and lay them end to end, the bandages
would stretch more than two miles!
Every year these “holy rollers” send
around 2,000 rolled bandages to Global
Health Ministries to be sent to mission
hospitals and
clinics overseas.
This year’s count,
so far, is 2,103!
They are needed.
Bandages are
used for everything from traction to
securing IV drips to protecting burn
victims from infection. Like hospitals
here, mission hospitals in low-resource
countries such as Cameroon, Nigeria
and Madagascar need lots of bandages.
But unlike here, it can be difficult for
mission hospitals in these countries
to find good quality bandages, or to
afford them. So bandages rolled by
Bethlehem members help meet this
need.
Bandage rollers are joined by quilters,
knitters, kit assemblers and others on
Bethlehem’s Women’s Day of Service to
help meet needs here and around the
world. Join us on Saturday, Feb. 10,
2018! Save the date for a fun morning
of fellowship, service projects that
make a meaningful difference in the
world, a speaker to inspire you and
get you thinking, and, of course, a
great lunch. Watch future issues of
CONNECT for more information.
What in the World is an Alternative Gift Fair?
So, you want me to "buy" an imaginary gift, give a piece of paper to someone that says I'm giving
something weird like a sheep or a bednet they'll never see, and then you're going to send the money
somewhere to pay for these things? I've never tried it, but it sounds intriguing! I guess most of the people
I buy gifts for have enough "stuff," so maybe I should try it this year.
About 350 families and individuals usually buy gifts at the annual alternative gift fair. Those who do keep
coming back because they get to help a person in need right in our neighborhood or on the other side of
the world.
BE ONE OF OUR SHOPPERS THIS YEAR ON DECEMBER 3 AND 10 AT EITHER CAMPUS.
We need more volunteers on the sale days. If you can help, please email Carol Pfleiderer, [email protected].
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