Lumunos’ mission is to support people as they seek to live their call. We define calling broadly to include work, important relationships, service and volunteer activities, spiritual growth, and even the importance of self-renewal.
This year we decided to do something a little bit different for our Spring appeal. We wanted to give back to our donor community by showing our support of your calling. So, we held a raffle for everyone who donated during our Spring campaign. Three winners were randomly selected to receive a monetary gift to be used towards an activity in support of their call (for example, attending a retreat or supporting an organization that speaks to their calling).
In their own words, here is what our winners decided to do…
1st Place ($500): Emmy Lu Daly of Washington, D.C.
“What a great gift! It is especially meaningful to me as I have limited income and I can make only small donations to the organizations I want to support.
I am a member of Seekers Church in Washington, D.C. I am part of a mission group called "Living Water" and we are involved in nurturing the spiritual life of the church, including offering weekend silent retreats at our Dayspring Retreat Center in Germantown, Md. The fee is over $200, which can be difficult for some people to pay, so we provide at least as much as we can from our limited budget. I have benefited from this practice for many years. I would be so happy to give this $500 to Seekers Church to be put in The Living Water Mission's budget.”
2nd Place ($250):
Paul and Joanna Hettinga of Indian Head Park, IL:
“I will apply this gift to support a program that myself and several others have started in Chicago called FRAN (Financial Resource Assistance Network) … Our plan is to develop a network of 10 or more community-based organizations that work with people in their communities who might otherwise get caught in Payday loan problems due in part to a lack of knowledge about healthy ways to borrow money and in part due to lack of adequate income. Staff and volunteers from our community organization network can refer a potential FRAN client to us. At that point we reach out to the client, and working alongside them, secure a low-cost loan as needed and offer our friendship and support through the process and beyond. It’s our hope to connect to our clients beyond simply lending the money and become part of their own resource network for future situations that will likely arise.
So, I will donate the $250 to FRAN to be used to help defray our operating costs, allowing us to make loans at these incredibly low rates to people who currently don’t qualify for such loans with traditional banking. We think this is in keeping with God’s call on us to do what we can to provide some small level of economic justice for far too many in our communities. Thank you for creating this opportunity.”
3rd Place ($100): Coleen and Mike Myers of Ankeny, IA:
“In 2002 we went with a group sponsored by Faith at Work, now Lumunos, to Guatemala under Peter & Marjory Bankson's leadership, and Bill Johnson's guidance too. Because of that pilgrimage our hearts have been in Guatemala ever since.
We continue to support Potter's House, which is a Guatemala City mission that cares for the families that live there [in the trash dump], and PAVA, which is the group we always partnered with when we were in the highlands working with Maya villages. So, half of our prize will go to each of these organizations. We are especially thinking of Guatemala right now because the people are still recovering from the volcano eruption and we know these two groups will use the money wisely.”
