Serving Others

Using your time and talents is becoming a servant, modeled by Christ himself. It is also a great way to make friends, pick up fun skills, and glorify God.  Opportunities to get involved in welcoming, growing, and sharing in God’s grace can be found in various ways here, like serving during the week, on the weekend, from home, and through our ministries.

To learn how to get involved in any of these ministries please email flcoffice@firstlutheranec.org

Serving Our Neighbors & Community

Blankets for Project Linus

Clothing and textile Donations for Project PLASE

Donations for Grassroots Day Resource Center

Howard County Food Bank & Community Garden

Breath of God Lutheran Church

Sewing Circle

Community of St. Dysmas Congregants

Soup Kitchen

DE-MD Synod Racial Justice Team

Caring for God's Creation

Financially Supporting God’s Work

To financially support God’s work in this place, because we are limited in processing offerings received via US Mail, please make your offering using the “Give” option on the website or app (Apple / Google). To download our free app at your respective app store, search “First Lutheran – Ellicott City.”

Give Now

Thank you for your interest in joining us to serve our fellow disciples, neighbors, and community!

 

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Blankets for Project Linus

The mission of Project Linus is to “provide love, a sense of security, warmth, and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need through the gifts of new handmade blankets and afghans, lovingly created by volunteer “blanketeers.” We are collecting blankets for donation to the Anne Arundel County/Howard County Chapter of Project Linus. The minimum size preferred is 30 x 30. Drop off donations in the yarn bin in the narthex. If you have questions, please contact Jenne Burnham at (443) 677-3671 or  fenris1954@yahoo.com.

 

Clothing and textile Donations for Project PLASE

We are collecting unwanted, new, and gently used clothing and other textiles in the big blue bin located on the lower front side of the church parking lot. Your donations support God’s creation and Project PLASE (People Lacking Ample Shelter and Employment), a Baltimore non-profit dedicated to addressing lack of housing and resources available to Baltimore’s citizens experiencing housing insecurity.  Below are a few important details to remember:

  • Before making a trip, check the MAC Recycling listof acceptable/non-acceptable items.
  • All donations should be tied in plastic bags.
  • The bin is emptied once each week. If full, save your donation for when there is room.

Donations for Grassroots Day Resource Center

You can assist by leaving any of the following in the collection bin in the church’s vestibule between the hours of 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m., Monday – Friday:

  • Canned meats
  • Bottled water
  • Men’s underwear
  • Men’s jeans

Contact: Bill Harkins, wmharkins@comcast.net, cell phone (443) 841-6106

Howard County Food Bank & Community Garden

The Community Action Council (CAC) of Howard County is seeking the support of volunteers to:

  • aAssist with sorting through the donated items and confirming that items are within the date for use/consumption, undamaged and shelved. These activities are performed during closed hours.
  • Assist customers during the operational hours of the Marketplace (Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays from 9:00 am to 12 pm)
  • Assist with weeding, watering, and harvesting the produce distributed to those in need at the Food Bank.

Volunteer site locations:

  • Food Bank– 9385 Gerwig Lane, Suite J, on the east side of Columbia (MD).
  • Community Garden– across from Long Reach High School in a community garden plot, located in the back of the garden with a clearly visible ‘FOOD BANK’ sign.

There is no commitment required as to the number of hours being served.  Based on the number of interested persons, there may be a group orientation led by First Lutheran or more information provided to individual volunteers.  If interested, contact Jay Zumbrun, Social Ministry Committee Chair, at (443) 745-0737 or jzumbrun@ccbcmd.edu.

Breath of God Lutheran Church

Volunteers are needed to help feed those in need in the Breath of God Lutheran Church (Baltimore, MD) Highlandtown community. There are a variety of opportunities (tasks, days, and times) to support this ministry.  For the last update, click here.  If interested, please complete the intake form before signing up on the shift form.  To support by donating, click here.

 

Sewing Circle

The Sewing Circle has been making mission quilts for Lutheran World Relief for more than 35 years.  After WWII, Lutheran World Relief started distributing quilts to war torn Europe.  These quilts are used as bedcovers or even tents to keep people warm.

The 60″ by 80″ mission quilts are layered with warm batting that is purchased from the Oklee Quilting Company in Oklee, Oklahoma and paid for by First Lutheran. This ministry would not be possible without the warm batting provided by the church and we are most appreciative.

After fabric has been cut, sorted, pinned, designed, sewed and tied, the finished quilts are blessed by Pastor Tamika.  After the blessing, the quilts are bagged and tracking codes are attached to the quilts so we can learn where the quilts will be distributed.  The First Lutheran mission quilts have been distributed to people in Mali, Burkina Faso, Tanzania, Iraq, Lebanon, Republic of Georgia and most recently Serbia.  From 1 October 2020 to 30 September 2021, 136 mission quilts were delivered to the Lutheran World Relief Warehouse in New Windsor, Maryland.

We have a small effort to make baby quilts/isolette covers to protect the neonatal babies from overstimulation.  We donate these precious quilts to the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.

We welcome new members.  We need help sewing finished quilt tops to backing, as well as cutting and sorting fabric and pinning quilt layers together.  We always need donations of cotton fabric and bed sheets.  We meet on the second Monday of each month at 9:30, downstairs in the Social Hall.  If you prefer to help from home and cannot attend meetings, we can provide quilt tops and backs or fabric for you to work on. We can leave packages of fabric or unfinished quilts in the wooden bin in the church vestibule for pickup.

If you would like to make a difference using your sewing, designing, sorting, cutting, pinning or tying skills, then please visit the Sewing Circle or contact

Deb Hardesty/410-530-9772/debsummercrest@gmail.com or Karen DeWitt/410-750-9744/kydshop1@verizon.net for more information.

Community of St. Dysmas Congregants

Send letters with words of encouragement, bible verses, and kind messages to members of the incarcerated community.

Requirements:

  • Must be on plain white or lined notebook paper.
  • Use only black or blue ballpoint ink—no color or imprinting.
  • Do not include identifiers such as an address or personal/contact information. However, it is permissible to say that the letter is from First Lutheran Church but sign with “Your sibling in Christ “or a similar phrase without revealing your name.

Considerations:

  • Include a Bible verse or prayer helpful during this time.
  • Allow children to participate as some inmates who are parents/grandparents especially appreciate them.

 

Mail letters to Salem Lutheran Church, 905 Frederick Rd., Catonsville, MD 21228, Attn: Pastor Susan Beck. Include “Note to Inmate” on the envelope. Pastor Beck personally vets all letters. They need approximately 60 letters to ensure that no one is left out. Letters will only be delivered if they receive enough for all inmates.

Note: This effort collaborates with The Community of St. Dysmas, a ministry we support through our financial giving.

Soup Kitchen

We serve every other month on the 3rd Saturday. We need the support of cooks and bakers. Cooks and bakers should drop off their prepared food donations in the church kitchen on our scheduled day to provide and serve meals between 3:30–4:30 p.m. If necessary, to drop it off before Saturday, please be sure to call the church office to ensure access to the building before marking the food with your name and ‘Soup Kitchen,’ to leave it in the kitchen refrigerator near the Social Hall. Servers will meet in the parking lot at 4:30 p.m. to organize carpooling and be required to wear face masks/coverings.

Those interested in participating will be able to sign up via a SignUpGenius, call the church (410) 465-2977, or email Lori Teitelbaum, Ministry Support Specialist, at lori@firstlutheranec.org. If you have any questions, please contact Gail Tabeling at (443) 506-3814 or email gtabeling@aol.com.

DE-MD Synod Racial Justice Team

Racial Justice Ministry is about being inclusive, not exclusive, to create a climate of peace, justice, freedom, and dignity that embraces all people. A climate that provides opportunities for growth, leadership, empowerment, and advocating for policies and programs that are socially and racially just. To learn more about the work of our synod’s Racial Justice Ministry Team and how you can learn and participate, click here.

Caring for God’s Creation

Rain Gardens

Volunteers are needed to monitor (weeds, mulch, trash), prune dead and broken branches, cut back perennials, edge and deep water garden, pull weeds, “deadhead” asters, coneflowers, leaf removal, divide plants and harvest, and clean sediment from rocks.  The schedule for working in the rain gardens during the summer is Mondays and Wednesdays from 8:00 a.m. – 11 a.m.  If interested in volunteering, please contact Cathy Rice at cprpenpal@gmail.com