Category Archives: Giving

Hunger Hike 2021 – Returns to Riehle Plaza

Food Pantry, Giving, Hunger Hike, Lafayette Urban Ministry, LUM, Volunteer, , ,

Support Food Programs Locally & Globally

Last year’s virtual Hunger Hike was an incredible success, raising more than $120,000 for Lafayette Urban Ministry, Food Finders Food Bank, and the Haiti Mission at St. Thomas Aquinas. But even as the US economy begins to recover from the effects of the pandemic, millions of people are still out of work, facing eviction, and struggling to put food on the table.

The need is as great as ever, and but YOU can be part of the solution.  Sign up now, and help fight hunger! Let’s beat last year’s record and raise $125,000 for the hunger relief efforts locally, regionally & globally. Hunger Hike details are as follows:

  • September 12 to September 19 is Challenge Week. 
  • Set a personal challenge and share it with your supporters: walk 100 steps, bike 100 miles, fast for 2 days, go without meat for a week, or
  • Take the SNAP Challenge and try to feed your family on the average SNAP benefit of $30 a person for the week. 
  • Sunday, September 19 at 1 p.m. join us in Riehle Plaza for our annual celebration and 3K walk. Enjoy:
  • Live MUSIC from Briton Wiese, former LUM shelter director
  • ZUMBA with Studio b, clowns, face painting, balloon animals, massages, and a hotdog picnic
  • And NEW this year, pose for photos with our three costumed princesses
  • Three Easy Ways to sign up:
  • go to hungerhike.org | Click HERE | Text HHIKE to 71777

For more information, check out our short video, “How to Set Up your Hunger Hike Fundraising Page.” Hunger Hike is only 59 days away. Why wait? Get started TODAY!

LUM Camp Offers a Life-Changing Experience

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Your Gift to LUM Youth Programs Makes It Happen

On July 27, LUM Camp begins and 80 children will participate in a week filled with nature hikes, arts and crafts, boating, swimming, morning chapel, wall climbing, zip-lining, the giant swing, snacks, delicious meals, and diverse and caring counselors.

LUM Camp is a scholarship-based camp, meaning we only invite children whose parents are not able to pay for the actual cost of camp. (The actual cost is more than $200 per camper.) Campers’ parents pay $5 per child, and donations from individuals, organizations, churches and businesses cover the rest. Join us in thanking all of our individual donors as well as our other donors, which include: Central Presbyterian Church ($10,000), Covenant Church ($5,000), Cutler Presbyterian Church ($1,000), DRLF Consulting ($800), First Presbyterian Church – Rensselaer ($500), Lafayette Rotary Club Foundation ($475), Laura’s Kids Inc. ($1,000), and Trinity United Methodist Church ($1,530). These gifts will help pay for a child’s transportation, room and board, camp activities, educational programs and supplies – everything campers need to attend LUM Camp.

If you or your group would like to support the LUM Youth Programs make a donation today. And thank you.

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LUM Youth Programs

LUM Food Pantry – Commitment to Downtown

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Grand Reopening – Relocation to St. John’s Church

The LUM Protein Food Pantry opened this morning in a new and improved downtown Lafayette location. Wes Tillett, LUM executive director, hosted the Grand Reopening which featured a ribbon cutting ceremony and a blessing by the Rev. Andrea Arsene, the Curate at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Lafayette.

Remarks were offered and a citation was presented by State Representatives Sheila Klinker & Chris Campbell. The individuals who participated in the “Ribbon Cutting” were (pictured L to R above) the Rev. Arsene, Teresa Lohrman (St. John’s), Wes Tillett, Rep. Chris Campbell, Rabbi Karen Fanwick, the Rev. Brandon Smith (Heartland Community Church), Rep. Sheila Klinker, Amy O’Shea (United Way), Kathy Parker (West Lafayette City Council), and Nina Morgan (LUM Board member & Protein Food Pantry volunteer director). At 10 a.m., clients were welcomed into the food pantry to receive fresh fruit & vegetables, paper supplies, frozen meat and a variety of other food staples.

Grand Reopening – PHOTOS

Both the LUM Protein Food Pantry and Westside Food Pantry serve all residents of Tippecanoe County. Thanks to everyone who attended the Grand Reopening and helped us celebrate the new location of the LUM Protein Food Pantry. Individuals can help the two LUM Food Pantries in FOUR ways:

  1. Food Drive – Sponsor a food drive at your church, business or in your neighborhood. Extra Credit – Make it a MONTHLY food drive
  2. Donate – Make a monetary donation or Donate “needed items“
  3. Volunteer – Sign up to volunteer at one of the LUM food pantries
  4. Promote – Tell your friends, family, and members of your church, group, business or organizations
Donate – LUM Food Pantries

If you wish to sponsor a food drive or donate needed items, the list of items the food pantry needs is as follows:

  • Paper products: toilet paper, paper towels, napkins & facial tissues
  • Peanut butter; Eggs
  • Canned meats (beef, chicken) & canned fish (tuna)
  • Beans, legumes & lentils – dry or canned
  • Fresh produce: fruits & vegetables
  • Baby diapers & wipes; Infant formula
  • Feminine Hygiene Products: liners, napkins, pads, tampons, wipes
  • Adult incontinence protection aids (unisex briefs)

If you wish to make a monetary donation, volunteer, donate needed items, register for Hunger Hike — or simply have questions or need further information, go to lumserve.org/food-pantry, call 765-423-2691 or email foodpantry@lumserve.org.

You’re Invited – LUM Food Pantry Grand Reopening

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Community Leaders Help “Cut” the Ribbon

You are cordially invited to attend the GRAND REOPENING of the LUM Protein Food Pantry to a better location. This new location gives the food pantry more space and a more central location. It will continue to feature proteins, produce & paper products for local individuals and families-in-need in Tippecanoe County.

Grand Reopening – Thursday

July 15 | 9:30 a.m. | St. John’s Episcopal Church | FREE

  • Location – St. John’s Episcopal Church, 6th Street between North & Ferry Streets at the Red Door under the Green Awning
  • Grand Opening includes…
    • Remarks – LUM, St. John’s & local officials
    • Ribbon Cutting
    • FREE Donuts, Coffee and Bottled Water

Please join us for this historic and joyful GRAND REOPENING. For more information about the LUM Protein Food Pantry, see below, click HERE or email foodpantry@lumserve.org.

Individuals can help the new LUM Protein Food Pantry in four ways:

  1. Food Drive – Sponsor a food drive at your church, business or in your neighborhood. Extra Credit – Make it a MONTHLY food drive
  2. Donate – Make a monetary donation or Donate “needed items“
  3. Volunteer – Sign up to volunteer at one of the LUM food pantries
  4. Promote – Tell your friends, family, and members of your church, group, business or organizations
Donate
Volunteer

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Grand Reopening – LUM Protein Food Pantry – THIS Thursday, July 15, 2021

Lafayette, IN – Lafayette Urban Ministry is excited to announce the Grand Reopening of the LUM Protein Food Pantry. The LUM downtown food pantry has moved to a new location — St. John’s Episcopal Church on 6th Street between Ferry & North Streets. The details of the Grand Reopening are as follows:

  • Grand Reopening – LUM Protein Food Pantry
  • Date – THIS Thursday, July 15, 2021
  • Time – 9:30 a.m. 
  • Location – St. John’s Episcopal Church on 6th Street between Ferry & North Street, Lafayette, IN; enter the Red Door under the Green Awning
  • Refreshments – Free donuts, coffee & bottled water

The LUM Protein Food Pantry opened in April 2019 as a “pop up” pantry in the LUM Ray Ewry Center, 525 N 4th Street, Lafayette, IN. This food pantry is managed and run by LUM, and is focused on providing protein-rich food items (meats, fish, peanut butter & beans), fresh produce, and paper & hygiene products. The move to this new location was made possible by St. John’s Episcopal Church, a LUM member church, who offered this space to LUM at no charge. Additionally, St. John’s Episcopal Church recently purchased a new refrigerator for use in the LUM food pantry. 

The LUM Protein Food Pantry complements the LUM Westside Food Pantry, located at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tippecanoe County in West Lafayette (the only TEFAP food pantry in West Lafayette). The LUM Westside Food Pantry (West Lafayette) is open on Friday mornings, and the LUM Protein Food Pantry (Lafayette) is open on Thursday mornings from 10 a.m. to noon. Both LUM food pantries are open to all residents of Tippecanoe County.

Individuals can help the new LUM Protein Food Pantry in four ways:

  • Food Drive – Sponsor a food drive at your church, business or in your neighborhood. Extra Credit – Make it a MONTHLY food drive
  • Donate – Make a monetary donation or Donate “needed items“
  • Volunteer – Sign up to volunteer at one of the LUM food pantries
  • Promote – Tell your friends, family, and members of your church, group, business or organizations

Future plans include expanding the days of operation at both sites. For more information go to lumserve.org/food-pantry or email foodpantry@lumserve.org. Representatives from Lafayette Urban Ministry and St. John’s Episcopal Church will be available for interviews.

More information:

Lafayette Urban Ministry is an organization of more than 45 churches that serves as a social safety net for individuals, children and families in Tippecanoe County. For over 48 years, LUM has worked to give back the hope, the future, and the self-respect to our neighbors in need. LUM takes an active role in trying to change social injustices and improve the quality of life for the individuals, children and families in our community. Loving neighbors, seeking justice, empowering the least among us, and renewing the social ministry through food programs, financial assistance, youth programs, immigration services and emergency shelter.

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Summer is a Time for Fun & Reflection

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Would You Consider a Legacy Gift with LUM?

Summertime is often a time for reflection and planning. Many of us are spending more time outdoors with our family & friends — while being cautious and staying healthy.

At LUM, plans have begun for upcoming programs like Hunger Hike, Port of Hope, Community Thanksgiving and Jubilee Christmas. Your summer planning could include fun as well as creating a personal legacy by continuing your support of Lafayette Urban Ministry beyond your own lifetime. By creating a legacy through Planned Giving your support of the LUM ministry will continue in perpetuity.

It’s a win-win Estate Planning strategy. In addition to the altruistic benefits, your charitable gift to Lafayette Urban Ministry brings tax relief — and also allows you to make a larger gift to LUM than you could make from your income alone. Whether you use cash, appreciated securities/stock, real estate, artwork, partnership interests, personal property, life insurance or a retirement plan, the benefits of Estate Planned Gifts can make this type of donation attractive to you as a well as LUM. Consider also remembering Lafayette Urban Ministry in your will.

Consult with your professional advisor to learn how informed estate planning can increase the overall value of your estate with a gift of tax-burdened assets (like IRAs, 401(k), or savings bonds) to Lafayette Urban Ministry. We hope you would consider a legacy gift that would support Lafayette Urban Ministry in your plans. We are ready and willing to help you leave a legacy and fulfill your philanthropic goals of supporting LUM. If you are interested in beginning the conversation, please email or call Wes Tillett, LUM executive director (wtillett@lumserve.org | 765-423-2691).

Whatever you decide — enjoy your summer with your family and friends — and think for a moment about the mission of Lafayette Urban Ministry and the families we serve.

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We’re Almost Out! (Of Toilet Paper, that is.)

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LUM relies on gifts from the community and our LUM friends. The LUM Shelter & Child Care are currently in need of Toilet Paper. Please help by making a monetary donation or by dropping off Toilet Paper as soon as you are able.

To make a monetary donation, go to lumserve.org/donate. If you wish to donate Toilet Paper, please drop it off at the LUM Office between 8:30 a.m.—4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday — or ship it to LUM via Amazon.

Thank you.

Donate to LUM

Smile – Prime Day is Here

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Use Amazon-Smile – LUM Gets a Portion

Smile!
Prime Days 2021 are here — Monday, June 21 & Tuesday, June 22.

Want to help make a difference while you shop during Prime Days 2021, at no extra cost to you?

It’s Simple – How It Works:

  • Go to smile.amazon.com
  • Select “Lafayette Urban Ministry Inc” as your charity
  • Make a purchase
  • Amazon then donates a portion of your eligible purchases to LUM

Use the Amazon App:

  1. Open the Amazon app on your phone
  2. Select the main menu (=) & tap on “AmazonSmile” within Programs & Features
  3. Select “Lafayette Urban Ministry Inc” as your charity
  4. Follow the on-screen instructions to activate AmazonSmile in the mobile app
  5. Make a purchase
  6. Amazon then donates a portion of your eligible purchases to LUM

LUM Westside Pantry – Grand Opening Recap

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Community Leaders Help “Cut” the Ribbon

The new LUM Westside Food Pantry opened last Friday morning with a “grand celebration.” Wes Tillett, LUM executive director, hosted the Grand Opening which featured a ribbon cutting ceremony and a blessing by Bishop Timothy Doherty, Rabbi Karen Fanwick, Pastor Rosemary Morrison, Pastor Brandon Smith & Rev. Dr. Hilary Cooke.

Remarks were offered by West Lafayette Mayor John Dennis and State Representative Sheila Klinker, who presented LUM with a Proclamation from the State Legislature. In addition to Wes Tillett, Mayor Dennis & Representative Klinker, Lisa Dullum (Tippecanoe County Council); Peter Bunder, Kathy Parker, David Sanders & Gerald Thomas (West Lafayette City Council); Katy Bunder & Kier Crites (Food Finders Food Bank); and Cheryl Fowler (LUM Board of Directors) assisted with the ribbon cutting (pictured above). At 10 a.m., clients were welcomed into the food pantry to receive fresh fruit & vegetables, paper supplies, frozen chicken and a variety of other food staples. {To view more PHOTOS, click HERE.}

This new food pantry serves all residents of Tippecanoe County and is a partnership between LUM and the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tippecanoe County with the support of the Chapel of the Good Shepherd Episcopal Church. The LUM Westside Food Pantry complements the LUM Protein Food Pantry, located in downtown Lafayette, and is the only TEFAP food pantry in West Lafayette.

Thanks to everyone who attended the Grand Opening and helped us celebrate the new LUM Westside Food Pantry.

Individuals can help the new LUM Westside Food Pantry in four ways:

  1. Food Drive – Sponsor a food drive at your church, business or in your neighborhood. Extra Credit – Make it a MONTHLY food drive
  2. Donate – Make a monetary donation or Donate “needed items“
  3. Volunteer – Sign up to volunteer at one of the LUM food pantries
  4. Promote – Tell your friends, family, and members of your church, group, business or organizations
Donate
Volunteer

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The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) is a federal program that helps supplement the diets of low-income Americans, including elderly people, by providing them with emergency food assistance at no cost. Through TEFAP, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) purchases a variety of nutritious, high-quality USDA Foods, and makes those foods available to State Distributing Agencies, like Lafayette Urban Ministry.

Sponsor A Local Child for LUM Camp 2021

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Camperships Offer Life-Changing Experience

A typical week of LUM Camp involves nature hikes, arts and crafts, boating, swimming, morning chapel, wall climbing, zip-lining, the giant swing, snacks, delicious meals, and diverse and caring counselors. LUM knows first-hand what has been verified by scientific research: a week of camp has tremendous benefits for the campers’ social skills, gross and fine motor skills, intellectual curiosity, positive values, spirituality, and overall positive identity. These benefits of a camp experience are shown to persist throughout a lifetime. This is why Lafayette Urban Ministry has hosted a camp every summer since the 1960’s.

LUM Camp is a scholarship-based camp, meaning we only invite children whose parents are not able to pay for the actual cost of camp. (The actual cost is more than $200 per camper.) Campers’ parents to pay $5 per child, and LUM needs donors like you to cover the rest. Won’t you please consider a gift to support the LUM Youth Programs and send a child to LUM Camp? Here is how your gift impacts our children:

  • $200 = sponsor one LUM camper
  • $400 = sponsor two LUM campers
  • $100 = ½ LUM Camp sponsorship 
  • Any amount will support LUM Youth Programs

Your camp sponsorship will help pay for a child’s transportation, room and board, camp activities, educational programs and supplies – everything she or he will need to attend LUM Camp 2021. And THANK YOU!

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LUM Camp

Please note: LUM is working closely with the professional staff at Hanging Rock Assembly Camp, the long-time host site of LUM Camp. LUM Camp is being planned in compliance with and exceeding the guidelines developed by the American Camp Association and the YMCA of the USA. All donations to LUM Camp will be used entirely on the campers’ experience.

Planning for LUM Summer Camp Has Begun

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Dear Friends,

I remember the fear in the eyes of an 8-year-old girl as she tried the zip-line for the first time in her life. We zoomed over the creek and trees, her eyes wide. As we reached the ground, she gave me a high-five. Then, with a whole new confidence in those eyes, she walked up the hill to get in line for another turn. 

Last year, in spite of all the risks and complications caused by the pandemic, LUM Camp still happened and was a huge success. More than 40 children had the time of their lives, even while wearing their face masks. Personally, it was the best week of my first year as the LUM executive director. As I experienced for myself last summer, LUM Camp is one the finest overnight summer camp programs available to children anywhere. With so many children eagerly awaiting their chance to attend, would you please invest in both their long-term life skills and their short-term fun by offering them the gift of LUM Camp? 

With gratitude,

Wes Tillett
Executive Director

P.S.  It costs $150 to send a child to LUM Camp.  Contribute online (click button below) or place your campership in the mail (420 N 4th Street, Lafayette, IN 47901).  

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LUM Camp

Please note: LUM is working closely with the professional staff at Hanging Rock Assembly Camp, the long-time host site of LUM Camp. LUM Camp is being planned in compliance with and exceeding the guidelines developed by the American Camp Association and the YMCA of the USA. All donations to LUM Camp will be used entirely on the campers’ experience.