December 2023: Robin Kohls and Bill Perry
Congratulations to Robin Kohls, a well-deserving recipient of December God’s Helper award. Robin is an active member of ELC and has joined forces with others to make “Mighty Table” a success. According to Robin, “Once a week (Tues. pm) we gather in the church kitchen to prepare a meal for the households of those serving as Foster Parents. There is such a dire shortage of those willing to serve as Foster Families, so this is our way of thanking the families that do this. We are trying to lighten their responsibilities by eliminating meal prep one night a week. We are currently feeding between 95 to 125 people each week and recently have been able to make an additional 5 meals to distribute to the homeless.”
Mighty Table is always looking for volunteers to help deliver meals, prepare meals, and make cookies. Volunteers do not have to participate on a weekly basis but can help monthly, quarterly or whenever it works for the volunteer. Financial donations are also always appreciated to help curb costs and allow the program to continue.
This endeavor is not Robin’s only duty though. She enjoys helping with the Sewing Circle (even if she is not able to attend on Thursdays, she will bring home a few quilt tops that need to be ironed), Witness Team (volunteers put together letters and treat bags to be delivered to the shut in’s quarterly), and is a summer “weeder’ on Dave Fossum’s crew. She also enjoys being Lay Leader at the Hatfield, participating in highway clean-up, and helping host coffee hour after service on Sundays. “Volunteering is a way to minister to others through the sharing of my time, talents and treasures and is a great way to get to know others in the church better!”
We are so grateful for the many ways that Robin gives back to our church and community. Thanks be to God for our faithful servant, Robin.
Can you hear the wonderful music of our very own “River’s Grace” band? Well, the lead guitarist, Bill Perry is the other December God’s Helper award recipient. We are honoring Bill for his enthusiastic and talented playing abilities. Bill has a long history of playing percussion and guitar for over 60 years. He started playing locally five years ago at the Methodist church and now plays for “Breaking Chains” (another musical group we have heard) as well as our band, River’s Grace. He plans to continue his participation by helping our new choir when guitar music is needed for accompaniment.
When he is playing for “River’s Grace”, members of the band have been known to assist with greeting and ushering for the church, so you may have seen his smiling face up close. Bill stated “The past 7 years, I have struggled to accept my wife’s health diagnosis. Being involved and playing religious music has allowed me a greater acceptance, by internalizing what the words say and mean in our songs. I have experienced close friendship with all members of this group and our Pastor Jenny!” We are grateful that Bill joined our ELC community.