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Grace Cares

Grace Cares - Mission Statement: 

God is love. From him has come a kindness and generosity unexpected to all people of the world. His love poured out in the sending of his only Son just for this - to serve us by saving us from our sins. When Jesus was asked what is the greatest commandment, his reply in Matthew 22:37-39 was “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it:  Love your neighbor as yourself. “

In Philippians 2:3-4, he encourages us to “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit…not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others.” 

Grace Cares has been formed as a ministry to connect members of Grace Lutheran Church during times of need with other members that are able to help in a loving way.

 

Purpose:

How often in our busy lives do we not know when someone is struggling?  How often do we find out that someone has, or had, a specific need that we could have helped and would have been willing to help them, but we didn’t know about it to even offer them support and/or assistance?  How many times have we been in a situation where a little extra help or support would have been needed and appreciated – but we were unsure of who to ask, were too embarrassed to reach out for help, or feel  like we didn’t want to bother anyone else with our problems?

Grace Cares is here to open all these doors, that members in need may be served by other willing and able members in a loving manner that protects their privacy as much as possible during what may be a difficult time.

 

Who are some possible recipients?

Grace members in need may include new parents, someone that is recovering from surgery, hospitalized members or family of members, members that have faced a recent death of someone close, members living with illness,  anyone that has a need, determined on an individual case basis.

What Grace Cares is:
  • Short term assistance for Grace members as they need help
  • A way to love and support one another
What Grace Cares is not:
  1. Free labor for a large project
  2. Social work or counseling
  3. Long term or permanent help for someone that may need more specialized care or services
How Can I Help?
  1. Making meals
  2. Giving rides to: church, kids to/ from school and/or activities, appointments, errands, etc…
  3. Running errands
  4. Cleaning
  5. Snow removal/lawn mowing/yard work
  6. Childcare/babysitting
  7. Other tasks as needed/requested

 

How does Grace Cares work?

Person in need/recipient

  1.  Reaches out to: Pastors, staff minister, church secretary, other church members, family members, or may contact *Grace Group* coordinator directly
  2.  Indicates how they need assistance
  3.  Person’s information and request is forwarded to *Grace Group*coordinator
  4.  If the coordinator had not been contacted directly by the recipient, the coordinator will contact the person to follow through with the request
  5.  Come up with a plan with the coordinator on how they want assistance along with how much they are willing to have shared with others

Volunteers

  1. Volunteers sign up to help through Face book, Grace newsletter, Grace website, WOG sites, bulletin, Grace office, new member forms, Grace volunteer coordinator, or  *Grace Group* coordinator
  2. Volunteers indicate what ways they’d like to help and also the best way to be notified of an opportunity to help
  3. By signing up, volunteers are under no obligation to help, but are a resource to be tapped as a need arises.
  4. Volunteer names are put on a resource list
  5. As a need arises, volunteers will be contacted by the *Grace Group* coordinator and given the details and opportunity to sign up to help
  6. Volunteers are expected to respect others privacy and be discreet of others possibly personal details

Coordinator

  1. Gets contacted from church, another member, or directly from recipient
  2. Talks with recipient to find out their need(s)
  3. Sets up a signup (currently through the Mealtrain site)
  4. Receives volunteer information from volunteer sign ups.
  5. Assigns volunteers to the various resource lists
  6. Sends out request to volunteers on list to help with the particular need(s) that the recipient has – most will likely be contacted through the signup site.   If there are volunteers that do not have computer access, the coordinator will contact them via their preferred method of contact and enter sign ups on the site for them. 
  7. Follow up with volunteers to be sure that everything is working well.
  8. Follow up with recipient to be sure everything is working well.
  9. Address any concerns or problems that may arise.
  10. Consult with Pastor or called staff member if there is an ongoing need or if any problems or concerns arise
  11. If there is a request for assistance that is on a special need basis, will reach out to Grace members for that particular opportunity to help.

 

**Disclosure:
  1. If a recipient and a volunteer develop an ongoing arrangement for help, that is fine.  However, they must decide the terms of that relationship between themselves. (i.e.   An elderly member decides that he/she is not able to do heavy cleaning anymore, so they ask a volunteer if they would like to clean for them.  It now becomes a private relationship between those two parties – and they need to work out the terms together – including reimbursement.)
  2. Childcare is a resource of providers  - not a volunteer opportunity.  Both parties should be aware & providers be compensated upon mutual agreement.
  3. Grace is not responsible for any mishap or accidents that occur from a volunteer.