At the June meeting of the LUM executive council, associates from Edward Opperman Certified Public Accountants presented an overview of the LUM Report on Audit of Financial Statements (Dec. 31, 2017 & 2016). Presenting were the two CPAs who prepared the report and most recent tax return, Edward Opperman & Thomas Faust (pictured far right). Opperman stated that
“LUM is financially strong. There is zero long-term debt — and a good balance between operating revenue and expenses managed by a very professional business office staff who keep clear records of fiscal transactions. Most encouraging is that LUM is spending money on programs & services that are in line with its mission statement and less on overhead.”
Opperman shared that
“LUM’s finances are in very good order and would be the envy of any non-profit organization.”
Thanks to the vision and leadership of the LUM Board of Directors, executive director and business office staff, as well as the generous support of LUM’s many financial donors, Lafayette Urban Ministry has established a history of having a strong & stable budget allowing its vital programs and services to adapt and grow with the needs of the children and families in our community.
If you wish to review the most recent LUM reports, click on the name of the report:
The St. John’s/LUM Food Pantry (6th & Ferry Streets, Lafayette) needs volunteers for the summer months especially Monday mornings in June. Specific days and times that volunteers are needed are as follows:
Volunteers are needed to work the Distribution Window, Check-in/Data entry, and pick up and deliver food (truck driver). A weekly commitment is requested. Volunteers may work 2.5 to 14.5 hours per week.
Please consider signing up for a few shifts this summer. Our community needs volunteers like you to offer this vital resource. For more information, click HERE or email Katy Travis, St. John’s/LUM Food Pantry director at foodpantryadmin@stjohns-laf.org.
Lafayette Urban Ministry is excited to announce that a new LUM video is currently being produced and will debut in June.
This video will be used by LUM board members and staff to recruit new volunteers, engage new churches, civic & school groups, and ask individuals and businesses to invest in LUM by making a donation. This video will eventually be made available to the public through the LUM website, and anyone, including member churches, may use the video to entice their members to engage and invest in LUM as well. The video features Joe Micon, LUM executive director, and several LUM volunteers who tell heart-felt stories about how LUM “Gives Help & Gives Hope” each and every day of the year.
Stay tuned for more information about the exciting, official LUM Video debut!
Another semester of the LUM Citizenship Classes ended last week. The LUM Immigration Clinic partners with the Lafayette Adult Resource Academy to offer free Citizenship Classes for anyone interested in learning more about US history and government.
Special thanks to the James F. Ackerman Center for Democratic Citizenship at Purdue University for supplying the textbooks, maps & teacher’s manual and for also consulting on the development of the lesson plans. Thanks to each of the organizations and churches that supplied refreshments — and special thanks to all of our skilled, volunteer teachers and teachers aides especially Karen Countryman & Scott Frankenberger. LUM is grateful for the partnership with LARA and the Ackerman Center. To see more LUM Citizenship Classes PHOTOS, click HERE.
LUM Citizenship Classes are offered three times a year — and the next series starts in July. For more information about the LUM Immigration Clinic & Citizenship Classes, click HERE or call or email Susan Brouillette (765-423.2691 | sbrouillette@lumserve.org).
The Purdue Crew Team raised $16,231 for the LUM Good Samaritan Fundthrough the 9th annual Purdue Row-a-Thon event which took place on February 17 at the local shopping mall. This is the single largest gift to the LUM Good Samaritan Program again this year.
The “big” check was presented to Joe Micon, LUM executive director, last Sunday at their end of the year banquet.
{Pictured L to R: Mitch Nettesheim, Purdue Recreation senior associate director; Hannah Stefanik, Purdue Crew president; Apoorva Setlur, Purdue Crew officer; and Joe Micon.} To view PHOTOS from Row-A-Thon 2018, click HERE.
The LUM Good Samaritan Fund provides our community’s neediest families and children with a strong & reliable safety net. Emergency financial assistance is available for utility bills, rent, prescription medications, work clothes, and food. No operating expenses are taken out of this fund. In 2017, assistance was provided through the LUM Good Samaritan Program 2,032 times, totaling $115, 314.
I want to share an amazing story with you today. It’s about a little girl who has been to LUM Camp 17 times! Marlena Edmondson first came to camp in 1997 when she was 8 years old. If you could only have seen the joy on her face as she experience LUM Camp with her brand new friends. Marlena eagerly returned to LUM Camp each summer until she reached age 11 and was too old to attend. She then returned at age 16 junior camp counselor. When she turned 18, Marlena returned to LUM Camp as one of our staff of 24 senior camp counselors.
Marlena credits LUM Camp as the reason she chose to study social work in college and to go on to earn her Master’s Degree. She gives back for all the ways her family was helped during difficult times. It is why she now works full-time with at-risk children as a school social worker in the Tippecanoe School Corporation. And it is why she has returned each July to spend the entire week with our LUM Campers.
Marlena Edmondson first attended LUM Camp because someone, like YOU, cared enough to share a campership. Through the years she has nurtured and turned that gift into a brighter future, and has shared it with countless other children. And this year, I am happy to report that Marlena has been named Assistant Director of LUM Camp and will play an even greater role in impacting the lives of our campers!
At LUM Camp 2018, we’ll hunt for fireflies, sing around campfires, play flashlight tag and even provide our campers with a grand fireworks display on the last night of camp!
Our plans for LUM Camp 2018 are a big order – and that’s why I am writing to you. LUM Camp is a scholarship-based camp for 8, 9 and 10 year old boys and girls. We only invite children whose parents are not able to pay for the $150+ per child cost of most other summer camps. I am hoping that you will consider a gift of $150 to send a local child to LUM Camp 2018.
Your “campership” will pay for a child’s transportation, room and board, camp activities, supplies and all of our science programs and educators – everything a camper will need to attend this year’s LUM Camp.
Sending $300 will allow two children to attend LUM Camp
Sending $450 will provide 3 camperships
$75 will provide one-half of a campership
Please, will you help me? Working together, we can offer this life-changing experience to another group of LUM campers this summer. Through your kindness today, you can have a positive impact upon a child for years to come.
The 2018 LUM Camp theme is “Let Your Light Shine!”
LUM Camp staff members will teach our campers about the science of light…
Why are some stars red and some blue?
Which light bulbs use the least amount of energy?
What causes a red sunset?
How does a prism work?
What causes lightning to flash and thunder to clap?
What are ultraviolet and infrared light?
What makes a cat’s eyes shine at night?
Can you see the Northern Lights in Indiana?
Our campers will meet scientists and educators from Purdue University, West Lafayette, who know the answers to these and countless other questions. They will engage each child’s natural curiosity with loads of hands-on activities and projects.
I want to share an amazing story with you today. It’s about a little girl who has been to LUM Camp 17 times!
Marlena Edmondson first came to camp in 1997 when she was 8 years old. If you could only have seen the joy on her face as she stepped off the bus and took in all that was going on around her – the camp counselors in their brightly colored t-shirts, the rustic cabin in the woods with her very own bunk bed, Marlena’s first lunch in the camp dining hall, all those goofy camp songs – and a whole camp full of brand new friends!
Marlena joyously returned to LUM Camp each summer until she reached age 11 and was too old to attend. But after that, she dreamed of the day she could return to camp as a junior counselor. If you’ve ever felt that you were missing out on something big and important in life, you understand how Marlena felt each summer as she watched her younger brother and sister hop on the LUM Camp bus without her!
Not everyone gets to be a LUM Camp junior counselor. We only accept 5 applications each year. But when Marlena turned 16 years old, her application was the first one we accepted! When she turned 18, Marlena returned to LUM Camp as one of our staff of 24 senior camp counselors.
By now, LUM Camp was in Marlena’s blood! She knew first-hand how life-changing a week of LUM Camp was. Surrounded by caring adults, in a supportive environment, a child can’t help but grow in confidence and self-esteem. It is less scary to try new things when everyone else is trying them together. LUM Camp makes learning fun!
Marlena credits LUM Camp as the reason she chose to study social work in college and to go on to earn her Master’s Degree. She wanted to give back for all the ways her family was helped during difficult times. It is why she now works full-time with at-risk children as a school social worker in the Tippecanoe School Corporation. And it is why she has returned each July to spend the entire week with our LUM Campers.
Every morning at LUM Camp begins with chapel. Then it is on to a full day of hiking, riding horses, boating, swimming, arts and entertainment. LUM Camp is known for its great food, outstanding facilities, experienced staff and counselors and enough singing, skits and activities to make our camp fun and memorable for every child who attends!
Our theme this year is “Let Your Light Shine!” We will teach our campers about the science of light…
Why are some stars red and some blue?
Which light bulbs use the least amount of energy?
What causes a red sunset?
How does a prism work?
What causes lightning to flash and thunder to clap?
What is ultraviolet and infrared light?
What makes cat’s eyes shine at night?
Can you see the Northern Lights in Indiana?
Our campers will meet scientists and educators from Purdue who know the answers to these and countless other questions. They will engage each child’s natural curiosity with loads of hands-on activities and projects.
We’ll hunt for fireflies, sing around campfires, play flashlight tag and even provide our campers with a grand fireworks display on the last night of camp! Our plans for LUM Camp 2018 are a big order – and that’s why I am writing to you.
LUM Camp is a scholarship-based camp for 8, 9 and 10 year old boys and girls. We only invite children whose parents are not able to pay for the $150/child cost of camp. I am hoping that you will consider a gift of $150 to send a child to LUM Camp.
Your campership will pay for a child’s transportation, room and board, camp activities, supplies and all of our science programs and educators – everything a camper will need to attend this year’s LUM Camp.
Sending $300 will allow two children to attend LUM Camp
Sending $450 will provide 3 camperships
$75 will provide one-half of a campership
Please, will you help me? Working together, we can offer this life-changing experience to another group of LUM campers this summer. Through your kindness today, you can have a positive impact upon a child for years to come.
Marlena Edmondson first attended LUM Camp in 1998 because someone, like you, cared enough to share a LUM Camp campership. Through the years she has nurtured that gift, turned it into a brighter future for herself, and shared it with countless other children. And this year, I am happy to report that Marlena has been named Assistant Director of LUM Camp and will play an even greater role in touching the lives of our campers!
LUM Camp is one of the finest overnight summer camp programs available to children anywhere. It will take place during the week of July 29 at beautiful Hanging Rock Camp in Warren County. I know of nearly 100 children who are waiting for the chance to attend. Please, won’t you offer them the gift of LUM Camp?
Two 4th grade students from Happy Hollow Elementary School (West Lafayette) delivered lots of toys, Legos & books to Lafayette Urban Ministry. Clark Benhart (age 10) & Cade Kitchel (age 10) coordinated a school-wide Toy & Book Drive for LUM. The project was a result of an initiative during “Genius Hour,” in which Mrs. Fernandez challenged the students to create something to improve the community or themselves. The toys, Legos and books are now being put to good use in the LUM After School Program — and some will be used at LUM Camp this summer. LUM is grateful to the students at Happy Hollow for their generous donation and to Clark, Cade & Mrs. Fernandez for their leadership with this project.
If you or your group, school, business or church would like to coordinate a “Drive” and collect needed items for the programs at Lafayette Urban Ministry, please check out our WISH-LIST of needed items online.
Dear Friend,
Dear Friends —
Two 4th grade students from Happy Hollow Elementary School (West Lafayette) delivered lots of toys, Legos & books to Lafayette Urban Ministry. Clark Benhart (age 10) & Cade Kitchel (age 10) coordinated a school-wide Toy & Book Drive for LUM. The project was a result of an initiative during “Genius Hour,” in which Mrs. Fernandez challenged the students to create something to improve the community or themselves. The toys, Legos and books are now being put to good use in the LUM