All posts by Lafayette Urban Ministry

About Lafayette Urban Ministry

The Lafayette Urban Ministry (LUM) is an organization of more than 40 Christian churches that serves as a social safety net for Lafayette, Indiana's needy children and families.

Lego Sets Donated to LUM Youth Programs

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In Memory of Purdue Professor Charlotte Hyde

Tammy & Michael Conrad-Solvo donated Lego sets to the LUM After School Program for the students to enjoy and from which to learn. This gift was in memory of Purdue Professor Charlotte Hyde, who passed away in April at the age of 44.

Tammy & Michael shared with the students that, “Charlotte was from Texas, came to Indiana to attend Purdue and become a writing professor, and she earned her PhD in 2016. She taught writing, worked with many engineers who liked to built, and loved Legos a lot. She built with Legos as a hobby and used them in her classes to teach Purdue students how to be creative and solve problems.” {Pictured above L to R are Kristi Hogue, LUM Youth Programs director, Michael & Tammy.} To view more photos, click HERE.

The LUM Youth Program also received a donation from Linda Greyson of Lego Bionicles, a marble maze & lots of craft supplies. LUM is blessed to have such generous friends.

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After School Program

Be a LUM Camp Counselor – Make A Difference

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Would you, or someone you know, make a good LUM Camp Counselor?

LUM Camp is a week-long, over-night camp program for low-income children from 8 to 10 years old. Volunteer camp counselors must be 18 years old, enjoy working with children and be able to spend the entire week at camp. Counselors are needed from 11 a.m. Monday, July 29 to 4 p.m. Friday, August 2. 

Join Joe Micon, LUM Camp director, in his 40th year at camp, and make this the year YOU make a difference in the lives of local children.

To learn more about becoming a LUM Volunteer Camp Counselor, click HERE.

LUM Campfire Stories from Joe Micon

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“LUM Camp provides the tools children need to navigate the challenges of growing up,” Joe Micon says. “Camp is such a fun and supportive place. Campers make new friends, experience new activities and are exposed to a world of possibility. As the week progresses, you can literally see each child grow in confidence.”

Here are a few stories he recently shared with Joan Low, LUM Board President:

  • One year Joe heard the Olympic torch was passing through Indiana. He moved heaven & earth to arrange for the torch to come to LUM Camp. Each camper got to lift the torch high over their head and feel like a real Olympian!
  • Another year, LUM Camp became Ag Camp, and Joe arranged for tractors, implements, and all manner of farm animals to visit. Each camper got to gaze down from the seat of a giant combine that was as big as a house. Pictured above.
  • The year that LUM Camp focused on aviation and the science of flight, each camper got to fly in an airplane, see their house and school from the air, and experience our community from a fresh new perspective. Somehow, Joe even convinced the LUM Board that flying in a plane was actually safer than driving in a car.
  • One former LUM camper played the snare drum in the President’s Old Guard Fife & Drum Corp after being exposed to the snare at LUM Camp. Joe remembers watching him march & perform on TV during President Bill Clinton’s Inaugural Parade.

Every morning the children are beckoned from their beds by the sights and sounds of the forest and the experience of chapel around a campfire. At chapel they learn love of neighbor and respect for creation. They hear scripture stories about God’s love for them and justice for all his children. After breakfast they have a full day of hiking, riding horses, boating, swimming, entertainment, and art. LUM Camp is known for its great food, outstanding facilities, experienced staff & counselors, and all the singing, skits, and activities to form fond memories of fun, learning, and challenge.
We hope that this year you will give, not only for our campers, but also in honor of Joe’s 40 years of service to them. Over four decades, Joe has touched the lives of 4,000 at-risk children. Please, won’t you give a local child the gift of LUM Camp?

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LUM Camp

“Gear Up” for LUM Camp 2019 & Sponsor a Camper

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This year’s theme is “Gear up” for LUM Camp! Campers will learn in exciting ways about careers that will be in high demand when they enter the workforce. Leaders will help them formulate questions that will be important to them in charting their futures:

  • What is advanced manufacturing?
  • What do different kinds of healthcare professionals do?
  • Who develops the apps on mom’s phone and how is it done?
  • What will be the different kinds of construction trades – and can girls do them too?
  • How does the food we eat make it from the farm to our table?

Our campers will meet educators and vocational experts who know the answers to these and countless other questions. They will engage each child’s natural curiosity with creative hands-on activities and projects. Campers will read engaging books about careers during camp, and then be given the books to take home with them.

As you can see, plans for LUM Camp 2019 are a big order. LUM Camp is a week-long, overnight, scholarship-based camp for 8, 9, and 10 year old boys and girls whose parents have received services from LUM in the past year and who are not able to afford the $150 per child cost of camp. Would you please consider sharing a gift of $150 to give a child this marvelous opportunity? Your campership will pay for a child’s transportation, room and board, camp activities, books, supplies, and all of our career and vocational programs, in other words 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 three camperships
  • $75 will provide half a campership

LUM Camp is one of the finest overnight summercamp programs available to children anywhere. I know of nearly 100 children waiting anxiously to attend. Please, won’t you offer them the gift of LUM Camp?

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LUM Camp

Joe Micon – Director of LUM Camp for 40 Years

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Reflections from Joan Low, LUM Board President

This year will mark Joe Micon’s 40th year at LUM Camp. That’s right, our LUM Camp Director has been at it for four decades! So what keeps a grown man coming back to summer camp for so long? It’s the campers, of course. For these many years Joe has put heart, might, talent, and soul into planning, hiring staff, and leading the most inspiring experiences the campers have ever encountered.

Joe has inspired young imaginations through exciting activities in areas such as biology, engineering, sports, farming, space exploration, math and many more. Campers gain new visions for their future and more tools for realizing those visions. If you ask him, Joe will tell you that his time spent with LUM campers and creating experiences for them has done more to change the world than anything else he has accomplished.

Over Joe’s 40 years at camp he has watched with delight as LUM Campers have grown up, entered college, and gone on to exciting careers. In our community there are social workers, nurses, and teachers who enthusiastically share fond memories of attending a LUM Camp directed by Joe Micon. One LUM Camper even went on to become an accomplished NFL wide receiver, and another is LUM’s current CPA.  

I’m sure you realize that Lafayette Urban Ministry is so much more than a social safety net. It is a ministry with a vision for a community where children, regardless of the circumstances into which they are born, can grow up to be valuable contributors in whatever walk of life they choose. And no single person drives this vision toward realization more forcefully than Executive Director Joe Micon!  

I hope that this year you will give, not only for our campers, but also in honor of Joe’s 40 years of service to them. Over four decades, Joe has touched the lives of 4,000 at-risk children. I can think of nothing he would appreciate more. I think you can see that LUM Camp is one of the finest overnight summercamp 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 waiting anxiously to attend. Please, won’t you offer them the gift of LUM Camp?

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LUM Camp

Micon Speaks at Stockwell United Methodist

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Joe Micon Participates in Service & Mission Event

This past Sunday, Joe Micon, LUM executive director, participated in Worship Service & Mission event at the Stockwell United Methodist Church. It was a wonderful opportunity to educate and update the members of Stockwell on the programs at LUM and their impact and needs. It also gave Joe Micon a chance to reconnect with several current and former LUM board members and volunteers. LUM is grateful for the support that it receives all year-long from the members and leadership of Stockwell United Methodist Church.

{Pictured above L to R are Linda Morris, Joe Micon, the Rev. Mark Berg & Alan Kemper.}

Outreach is an important part of the mission of Lafayette Urban Ministry; and members of the LUM professional staff actively seek opportunities to engage with and educate people on a variety of issues. Directors of the various LUM programs are well-informed on social and economic issues and are passionate about helping raise awareness in the local community on critical issues affecting low-income families.For more information on LUM outreach, click HERE.

Meijer Simply Give Supports LUM Food Programs

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Meijer Donates $5,000 in Food Cards to LUM

Since November 2018, the Simply Give campaign at Meijer has supported local nonprofits like Lafayette Urban Ministry to help fight hunger locally. Meijer in Lafayette has chosen Lafayette Urban Ministry as the recipient of Simply Give. This season, Meijer gave $5,000 in food only gifts cards to LUM for use with the LUM food assistance programs including the LUM Protein Food Pantry. Please join us in thanking Meijer by visiting their Lafayette location soon.

Thanks & Congrats to the LUM Spring Interns

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LUM Staff Host Reception for LUM Spring Interns

Special THANK YOU to all of the LUM Interns for their valuable contributions this past Spring semester. Best wishes to all of our interns, especially Evie Griffin, Rob Krasa & Angela Weaver, who are graduating. Evie & Rob will receive their MSW from IU, and Angela, her BA from Purdue, at ceremonies this weekend. John Schumann will continue his studies toward his MSW.

Interns allow LUM to serve our youth, clients and guests with increased efficiency and innovation. Thanks also to Purdue University, Ivy Tech Community College and the IU School of Social Work for trusting LUM with the education and supervision of their talented intern students.

{Pictured above L to R , are John Schumann, Evie Griffin, Rob Krasa, and Joe Micon, LUM executive director.}

Purdue Crew Team Donates $16,844 to LUM

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Row-A-Thon Benefits LUM Good Samaritan Program

The Purdue Crew Team raised $16,843.92 for the LUM Good Samaritan Fund through the 10th annual Purdue Row-a-Thon event which took place on February 16 at Tippecanoe Mall. This is the single largest gift to the LUM Good Samaritan Program again this year. The “big” check was presented to Linda Hicks, the director of the LUM Good Samaritan Program, by the Purdue Crew president, Brendan Doherty, last Sunday at their end of the year banquet (pictured above). To view PHOTOS from Row-A-Thon 2019, click HERE.

The LUM Good Samaritan Fund is an emergency financial assistance program which provides our community’s neediest families and children with a strong and reliable safety net. Help is offered for utility bills, rent, and prescription medications. In 2018, financial assistance was provided 1,780 times, and $109,784 was shared.

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Good Samaritan Fund

Thanks to LDS Members – Volunteer Painters

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LUM Youth Center Gets New Coat of Paint
Last weekend, the members of the Lafayette Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints volunteered with LUM. The LDS volunteers painted the porch and outside trim of the LUM Ray Ewry Youth Center, home to the LUM After School Program, 5th Quarter Summer Learning Program, LUM Protein Food Pantry and Emergency Shelter. LUM is grateful to have such wonderful support from the LDS members throughout the year.
 
If you or your group would like to volunteer with LUM, click HERE to find out how to get started.