We’re very grateful to all of our students, parents, faculty, and staff at Immanuel Lutheran School for their participation in Community Outreach Day on January 27 in conjunction with National Lutheran Schools Week. Many people in our community were blessed through your actions and words! Special thanks to Thrivent Financial for underwriting several of these community service projects. Here’s a summary of how ILS was able to make a difference in people’s lives:
Our PK students created beautiful note cards with encouraging words that were sent to residents at Foxbridge Assisted Living.
Kindergarten and 1st grade students sorted used crayons for “The Crayon Initiative”, a unique charitable organization that recycles crayons and distributes them to children’s hospitals.
Our 2nd and 3rd grade students wiped down touch surfaces throughout the school and church with Lysol wipes. They also cleaned pews and straightened hymnals and Bibles in pew racks in the church. These students will be going to the Quail Ridge Assisted Living and Memory Care facility to serve residents in the near future.
Students in 4th and 5th grades prepared and served a taco bar lunch for the officers of Memphis Police Department Appling Precinct. Students made individual placemats with personal notes of thanks and Bible verses. They greeted officers at our on-site Cop Stop, prayed for the officers and sang a blessing, served beverages, and conversed with the officers. This was a great opportunity for the officers to meet our students and to visit our facility, especially the STEMM Lab. Surplus food was delivered to the Precinct for officers who were unable to come to ILS.
Our 6th grade class visited the Memphis Union Mission. These students participated in the chapel service and then served lunch to about 160 homeless men and women ministered to by the Mission. This is an opportunity that offers some unique life lessons and truly demonstrates what Jesus said about “serving the least of these”.
Students in 7th and 8th grade sorted food at the Mid-South Food Bank, an important part of the process to help fight food insecurity (which means you don’t know where your next meal is coming from) in 31 counties throughout the Mid-South. Food donated to the Food Bank by businesses and individuals is sorted before being sent on to food pantries, soup kitchens, and other agencies to feed the need.