200-plus Serve at Lutheran MLK Day of Service

On Monday, January 15th,  more than 200 volunteers from 28 different congregations and community groups came together to honor the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his legacy of service and activism at Rock of Ages Lutheran Church in Stone Mountain.  The Lutheran MLK Day of Service is an annual tradition at Lutheran Services of Georgia combining service projects that benefit children and families served by LSG with opportunities for participants to take part in advocacy education and action.   

Volunteers pray a blessing over the donations for the MLK Lutheran Day of Service projects.

In previous years, this event had been dubbed “Rice for Refugees,” however this year LSG expanded beyond is signature service project of bagging rice for recently resettled refugees, and added several service projects for LSG’s other program areas. 

A group assembles toiletry kits for unaccompanied immigrant minor children that LSG Serves

Volunteers donated materials and worked to completed eight different projects for those served in our foster care and adoptions program, our family intervention services program, host homes for adults with developmentally disabilities, and unaccompanied immigrant minors.  At the end of the day, volunteers accomplished an amazing amount of work in a short time, and LSG was blessed with many items to help those we serve, including

• 2,000 pounds of rice bagged in family-sized bags for refugee families
•  Four Emergency Disaster kits for our Disability Services host homes
•  50 "welcome" cards and key chains for the first homes of newly arrived refugees
•  21 Emergency Disaster Kits for Foster Families
•  More than 50 letters of encouragement written to immigrants in detention
•  39 toiletry kits and 18 backpacks of school supplies for Unaccompanied Immigrant Children
•  44 bags of emergency food for families in our Family Intervention Services program.

Volunteers came from all over metro Atlanta to serve, representing a large range of ages from young children, teens and college students to adults and seniors.

In addition, in our Advocacy Room, volunteers wrote 258 letters to state and federal legislators to advocate for justice for Dreamers, people impacted by hunger, and more refugee arrivals.

Around 55 people attended the workshop on Racial Justice led by Judith Roberts from ELCA Racial Justice Ministries.  

Workshop participants gathered in groups for a learning exercise during the racial justice workshop

LSG is grateful to all of our volunteers, staff and others who helped make the 2018 MLK Lutheran Day of Service a success.  Thank you for supporting LSG and helping  those we serve!