2023–2025 LWML Mission Grant #23 A Legacy of Love for Special Needs Children — Lutheran Special Education Ministries, U.S. — $100,000

A Legacy of Love for Special Needs Children

By Caitlin McCallum with Mission Editor Brianne Stahlecker

Lutheran Special Education Ministries (LSEM) is incredibly grateful for the support they’ve received from the ladies of the LWML. Funding Mission Grant #23, “A Legacy of Love for Special Needs Children” has enabled them to serve children who learn diversely in Lutheran schools across the country. This means that more children were able to attend, remain, and be successful in their Lutheran schools while experiencing God’s love in a supportive Christian environment. 

LSEM’s vision: every child, no matter their learning need, has access to a Christian education. 

Support from donors like LWML enables this vision to become a reality.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 19:14, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” Read on to see how LWML mission grant support has helped these children come to Jesus.

One teacher, Sandi Goerish, in Anchorage, Alaska, shared that she had a sixth grade student with autism who had many struggles. Notably, he never learned how to properly form his letters and couldn’t write legibly. He struggled with spelling, despite being a good reader, and he had no idea how to add, subtract, multiply, or divide. In a matter of a few short months, he became confident in his ability to write, his spelling abilities improved, and he learned the four basic math operations. This student made tremendous strides, showing how resilient kids can be if someone takes the time to work with them.

Robert Hoch, teaching in Macomb, Michigan, read the chapter book, Hannah, with two fourth grade students. The story tells about how Hannah, a blind girl in 1887, was made fun of and excluded by fellow students when she attended the one room school. They talked about how handicapped children are not always treated nicely and how we should treat everyone kindly. The students realized that if people get to know you, others are ready to accept you and include you, whatever your handicap.

In Minnesota, LSEM teacher Terri Bentz saw a child and parent fighting to win battles together. Terri worked with the kindergartner to overcome large learning gaps and give him the building blocks for successful learning. Simultaneously, the child’s mother was fighting breast cancer, requiring many treatments and several surgeries. Together, this mother and son team faced their troubles, were encouraged and supported by their Lutheran school and community, and, with God’s grace and blessing, won their respective battles.

These are just a few of the small moments of making a difference in the lives of children. Lutheran Women in Mission, your mission grant support enabled LSEM to continue to reach out and serve these children in their local Lutheran schools, so that they can be academically successful while being spiritually filled in a Christ-centered learning environment.

Caitlin McCallum is the Donor Relations Specialist of LSEM and celebrates the impact of stories and the written word. She hopes these words inspire hope, foster joy, and impart gratitude.

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This story was originally featured in the Spring 2025 Lutheran Woman's Quarterly. Order your subscription here.

For more information about this mission grant, view the individual mission grant page here.

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2023–2025 Mission Grant #27: Siouxland Lutheran Hispanic Ministry — Hope Lutheran, South Sioux City, NE — $50,000

On December 5, 2024, the LWML Nebraska North District was honored to present a check on behalf of Lutheran Women in Mission for $50,000 to Siouxland Lutheran Hispanic Ministry. District President LaDonna Stanosheck and District Vice President of Gospel Outreach Pam Williams presented the check to Yasmin Osterholt, who is a worker for the ministry, an ESL teacher, and a DCE student. Others present were Rev. Michael Awe, pastor of Hope Lutheran, and Rev. Henry Witte, vacancy pastor for the ministry, as well as ministry board members.

From left, back row: Ed Stone, Ruth Witte, Sheila Floyd, Rev. Michael Awe, Rev. Henry Witte Front row: Pam Williams, Yasmin Osterholt, LaDonna Stanosheck, Pat Glover

This ministry serves the Hispanic people in the surrounding area. Services in Spanish, confirmation classes, ESL classes, and fun are just a few of the activities of this ministry. This is a much-needed ministry for this area, and prayers are always needed for its success to share the Good News of our Lord Jesus.

For more information about this mission grant, view the individual mission grant page here.

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2023–2025 LWML Mission Grant #31 Breaking Generational Poverty in Detroit — Camp Restore Detroit, MI — $58,988.62 (partial)

Stories from Camp Restore Detroit

By Amy Fanta with Mission Editor Brianne Stahlecker

I often wonder whether the women of the LWML understand the magnitude and impact of their mite offerings. It's in part because of those mite offerings that we at Camp Restore Detroit (CRD) have been able to impact our community, as can be seen in the following stories.

Last Christmas, a good friend from our community passed away. Her three young children and husband were left heartbroken. A week later, their grandma, who was helping with childcare, suddenly passed away as well. While nothing could take away the heartache, these kids were met with the love of Christ in the Little Blue House at Camp Restore. Miss Clare, who also lost her mom at a young age, was waiting with open arms to love on these kids and help them as they struggled with their questions for God. Because of Camp Restore’s literacy program, run by Miss Clare, their dad received respite while the kids were fed, taught, heard about God’s love, and felt the love of retired educators in our community. God’s love and your mite offerings enabled the Little Blue House to be finished and educational materials purchased.

In March 2023, a young man in foster care became involved in a situation that led to his early exit from foster care. The police, who know and love this young adult from a community youth program, attempted to find him a home, to no avail. They approached Camp Restore Detroit, asking for housing for a short time. While short term housing was not an intended use, this young man moved into the Little Blue House.

Now, more than a year later, he is still living with us through the help of a ministry partner. Through mentoring and training, he has learned to cook, drive, and save enough money to buy a used car and even to go on a cruise! The unimaginable has become reality. Soon, we hope to launch him to college, changing the trajectory of his life. Most importantly, he daily reads the Bible with the team, learning of God’s love — something entirely new to him.

These two stories illustrate what happens at CRD each day and the ways we get to experience the mite offerings at work. Most recently, we have been blessed by the 2023 mission grant, enabling us to look forward to the day when we have a computer lab, cafe, and a play area for the children. In this space, community members will be able to have coffee, enjoy time with friends and neighbors, use technology, and even learn skills to open a small business. These things allow families to break the generational cycle of poverty. Most importantly, as we work with families and individuals to gain skills, jobs, and income, we can interact with each person, sharing God’s love. We can only imagine the new stories we will be telling about the ways God has blessed our community because of these new mite offerings. 

Amy Fanta is the Executive Director of Camp Restore Detroit. She and her family of five have a passion and love for working alongside community leaders and supporters to share God’s love and restore hope, home, and community. She is a graduate of both Concordia, Seward and Ann Arbor.

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This story was originally featured in the Winter 2024 Lutheran Woman's Quarterly. Order your subscription here.

For more information about this mission grant, view the individual mission grant page here.

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2023–2025 LWML Mission Grant #2: A Healing Space for At-Risk Children — Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch, ND — $100,000

Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch — Hope Chapel dedication — August 16, 2024

Vice President of Gospel Outreach Karen Morrison had the honor and the privilege to be in Bismarck, North Dakota to attend the Hope Chapel dedication at Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch. Lutheran Women in Mission supported this project through Mission Grant #2, A Healing Space for At-Risk Children, in the amount of $100,000 this biennium. Joy Ryan, President and CEO for the Ranch said, “We could not have done this without you. No, really, we could not have completed this project without Lutheran Women in Mission.”

Joy Ryan, President and CEO of Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch, brought greetings to those in attendance before the worship service started.

The altar area and stained glass 
of the new Hope Chapel.

The dedication worship service opened with "Lift High The Cross" and ended with "Here I Am Lord." Scripture readings were read before the blessing of each part of the chapel, including the building, baptismal font, stained glass window, lectern/pulpit, and altar. A student from the Bismarck campus participated in the service, reading two of the Scriptures.

Spiritual Life Team — Rev. Thomas Marcis Jr., Chaplain Rick Jones, Rev. Vince Otto, Vicar Dylan Meyer, Deaconess Stephanie Wilde (Fargo campus), and Deaconess Kelly Bristow (Minot campus)

Chaplain Jones' sermon, "Hope: From Yesterday for Forever," talked about many types of hope. There is a fulfillment of hope from 72 years ago when the Ranch began. Children and youth who come to the Ranch have lived in darkness, but then learn that with Jesus there is always hope. Hope is what they deal with at the Ranch. They work every day to show these children the hope of our Lord — hope fulfilled by a loving God who gave himself to a torturous death for us, his broken and lost children. Now, Hope Chapel will be a permanent place of peace and comfort for each child who is at the Ranch now and every child that will enter here in the future. The sermon hymn, "My Hope is Built on Nothing Less," reinforced the message of the sure and certain hope of eternal life with the following words: 

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest from, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand: all other ground is sinking sand.

Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch is a place of caring, comfort, peace, and hope for every student who resides on one of the campuses or attends school as a day student. Thank you, Lutheran Women in Mission, for supporting this much needed ministry in North Dakota with your mite offerings.

Musicians for Worship — Vicar Dylan Meyer and Deaconess Kelly Bristow

Dedication Bookmarks — Youth from all three Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch campuses colored bookmarks for the Chapel Dedication.

For more information about this mission grant, view the individual mission grant page here.

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2023–2025 LWML Mission Grant #14: Enhancement of Deaf Ministry and Outreach — Ephphatha Lutheran Mission Society, U.S. — $47,000

On Sunday, October 6, Michigan District President Ruth Steele presented the Ephphatha Lutheran Mission Society (ELMS) with the check for LWML Mission Grant No. 14: Enhancement of Deaf Ministry and Outreach at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Flint, Mich. 

Pictured left to right. Rev. Brant Engel, Ephphatha Lutheran Mission Society President, and pastor at St. Paul, Flint, MI. Kaye Wolff, Michigan District Deaf Advocate, (grant writer). Ruth Steele, Michigan District President. Rev. Thomas Dunseth, Ephphatha Lutheran Mission Society Vice President, and pastor at St. Paul, Flint, MI.

Ruth Steele and Kaye Wolff speak during the worship service. Rev. Thomas Dunseth translates in ASL for the 9 Deaf members in attendance.

This $47,000 grant will help provide interpreters and resources to spread the Gospel message to deaf people in the United States by allowing ELMS to expand its Church Interpreter Training Academy to several satellite locations, potentially training more than 100 new interpreters. It will also enable them to continue interpreting the Lutheran Service Book settings 1, 2, 4, and Matins into American Sign Language for the benefit of all those who are deaf.

ELMS is dedicated to serving and supporting the deaf and hard-of-hearing community with the Gospel, especially to the many who have never been evangelized in their language. 

For more information about this mission grant, view the individual mission grant page here.

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2023–2025 LWML Mission Grant #21 Healthy Together: Healthy Workers, Healthy Church — Lutheran Family Services, U.S. — $106,000

Healthy Together: Healthy Workers, Healthy Church

By Rev. Max Phillips with Mission Editor Brianne Stahlecker

Lutheran Family Service has served the LCMS for more than a century, always with the caring heart of Jesus. As a Recognized Service Organization of Synod, they provide excellent care with professional expertise and solid faithfulness centered in the Word of Christ. Since 2020, that work has recognized the unique needs of church workers and their families who suffer under burdens of anxiety, depression, stress, and other challenges related to ministry, marriage and/or family life ― situations which cause many to consider leaving the ministry or to experience diminished joy in serving.

In partnership with the LWML, Lutheran Family Service has increased their efforts to serve the church and its neighbors through the Healthy Together: Healthy Workers, Healthy Church initiative, adding counselors, expanding geographically, and growing their focus on wellness. LWML grant funds have helped build their counselor capacity, and counseling sessions with church workers have grown by 48%. Of their 23 counselors, five (including two pastors and two pastors’ wives) serve on the Church Worker Wellness team. Workers bring a passion assuring those who are, as the Psalmist says, brokenhearted and … crushed in spirit (Psalm 34:18), know that God is always near, providing them with His love and support.

Also benefitting from this new ministry expansion are those served through webinars, seminars, and group presentations which focus on wellness, resiliency grounded in faith, and those things that consistently attack God’s people, including grief that couples suffer silently in stillbirth and miscarriage. Tools to help strengthen marriage are given. Help for faithful people sorting through sinful gender confusion issues is provided, and God’s healing is applied. Lutheran Family Service brings awareness of the evil power of pornography, as well as the incessant use of technology and its impact on children, adults, and marriages. They offer God’s help with these and many other tools which are delivered, either in person or through the various avenues of social media, to congregations, networks of church workers, and individuals.

LWML’s gift has helped lay the groundwork for new service in the South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa East and West, and Nebraska districts of our church. Every day, in counseling offices and through telehealth, one-on-one and in groups, those at Lutheran Family Service join with the Psalmist to assure God’s people that the Lord hears and delivers the righteous when they call for help.

These servants know, not only from their personal relationships with God, but from their experience in His service, that the Lord is near (Psalm 34:18a). All praise be to God for Lutheran Family Service which continues to share the caring heart of Jesus.

Rev. Max Phillips serves in God’s Kingdom through a variety of ministry roles including Senior Pastor of Christ Lutheran Church/Bouton and Zion Lutheran Church/Ogden, Iowa, Executive Director of Lutheran Family Service, CEO of Perry Lutheran Homes, and President of the Board of Directors for Lutheran Church Extension Fund. In each role, Pastor Phillips blends a love for serving God’s people and pointing them to Jesus with a rich background of learning and leadership experience in ministry, community, and business settings.

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This story was originally featured in the Fall 2024 Lutheran Woman's Quarterly. Order your subscription here.

For more information about this mission grant, view the individual mission grant page here.

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LaDonna Etzel

LaDonna Etzel had a problem. 

With her husband Harold deceased, LaDonna found herself the manager of an estate that included the large piece of Montana farmland that they had lived and worked on together for years.
 

The property needed work and upkeep that she couldn’t perform in her retirement years. She was moving to North Dakota and wanted to find the best way to turn her farmland into income, inheritance, and a charitable gift.

Help came in the form of Pat Bilow, a gift planning counselor working with the LWML Gifts of Love program and the LCMS Foundation. Pat and LaDonna met numerous times to talk about the best way to establish a gift plan that would help her manage the difficulties of her estate. With prayerful planning, LaDonna decided to turn the land over to the LCMS Foundation so that the sale could be tax advantaged, and the proceeds used to establish a charitable remainder trust. By creating this trust, LaDonna could reduce capital gains tax, receive income for life, leave an inheritance to her daughters, and make a gift to the ministries that she cared about.

LaDonna’s daughters L to R: Janet, Carmen, Lynette, and Melanie

The support of LaDonna’s four daughters, Carmen Madler, Janet Koppinger, Lynette Coop, and Melanie Kuca, meant a lot to her. In a 2013 interview, LaDonna recalled that “it made me feel better knowing that my girls were behind my decision.”

With all the trust documents signed, it was time to sell the Montana farmland. “The land was valued at roughly $250,000,” recalled Rev. Phil Krupski, Senior Vice President of Gift Planning for the LCMS Foundation. “When it went up for auction, a neighboring landowner purchased it for double its assessed value. That is unheard of! But look what a difference it made to God’s work on earth.”

A GIFT FROM THE HEART

LaDonna’s husband Harold had dreamed of working with Laborers for Christ in his retirement. Laborers for Christ is an organization of retired volunteers that traveled the country building, remodeling, or updating facilities for LCMS ministries. Things didn’t go as planned for Harold, as his asthma and a lack of funds prevented the Etzels from volunteering.

When LaDonna established her gift plan, she chose Laborers for Christ and Lutheran Women in Mission as the recipients of the charitable part of her estate. She had always been an active LWML member. By leaving a generous gift to these two ministries, she found a way to continue supporting the parts of God’s work that were closest to her and Harold’s hearts.

HONORING THE GIFT

LaDonna’s charitable remainder trust provided income for her remaining time on earth. The trust was established in 2012 and it helped take care of LaDonna’s financial needs until she died in 2014. When she was called home to heaven, the LCMS Foundation made sure that LaDonna’s plans for regular payments to her daughters were followed. When the trust matured in 2024, it was time for the remainder of the gift to be distributed to the ministries that LaDonna had designated.

When LaDonna established her charitable remainder trust, Laborers for Christ was a thriving ministry. But by 2021 Laborers for Christ had discontinued operations. This left a hole in LaDonna’s plan. More than $250,000 from her trust could not be distributed as intended. The LCMS Foundation’s Gift Acceptance Committee met to find a solution that would honor the gift that LaDonna had made, even in the absence of Laborers for Christ. After discussing options and contacting the Lutheran Church Extension fund (the entity under which Laborers for Christ operated), as well as LaDonna’s family, it was decided that the money would be distributed to Lutheran Women in Mission and designated specifically to help fund brick-and-mortar Mission Grants in the spirit of the gift.

That meant that Lutheran Women in Mission would receive two very important gifts from LaDonna Etzel. LaDonna’s original trust gift to Lutheran Women in Mission was unrestricted, which allowed LWML to invest a large portion of the assets in their endowment, per their gift acceptance policy. And then LaDonna’s Laborers for Christ gift would be designated to fund very specific mission grants.

THE IMPACT OF THE GIFT

When the LCMS Foundation notified LWML of the brick-and-mortar portion of the gift, the LWML Board of Directors approved four qualifying grants that were a good fit for that portion of LaDonna’s gift. Reflecting on the recipients of these gifts, Rev. Phil Krupski pointed out that “some of these ministries didn’t even exist when LaDonna’s gift was made. It is incredible to look back and see that, years and years ago, God was creating funding for future ministry.”

Camp Restore volunteers ready to give a tour of ‘Red House’ which is currently under construction.

One of those newer ministries is Camp Restore Detroit. Camp Restore Detroit is working with Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church to reinvigorate neighborhoods in downtown Detroit. Their work to create a safe environment for the families living in these difficult areas includes building a community park, patrolling neighborhoods to ensure safe passage to children, and cleaning out abandoned buildings. Camp Restore Detroit was initially granted nearly $59,000 as the final grant selected at the LWML convention in Milwaukee. When LaDonna Etzel’s gift came to LWML, they were awarded an additional $30,727 to continue their work of caring for the people of Detroit. This brought their funding nearly to the $90,000 originally requested.

Another recipient was St. Paul’s Lutheran Church and School, located in Cullman, Alabama. The $50,000 they received will help renovate their aging school building. St. Paul’s was established 135 years ago and is currently only one of two Lutheran grade schools in northern Alabama. The grant money will help replace windows, update the HVAC, and replace their broken emergency doors. According to Mandi Easterwood, the school secretary, “This money is life-changing for St. Paul’s.”

St. Paul’s check presentation. (left to right) Brenda Piester, Recording Secretary and LWML Board member; Dana Kritner, PK-4th Teacher; Emily Trahan, School Alumni and Parent; Amanda Lee, PTO Officer and St. Paul Church Council, Alumni; Cherie Endrihs, LWML Gulf States District President; Mandi Easterwood, St. Paul School Secretary

A third recipient, Ministry in Mission, is an organization that partners with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Haiti and its president, Rev. Marky Kessa, to spread the Gospel in Haiti. Recent hurricanes and earthquakes have caused damage to many preaching stations and churches throughout the country. Through their grant of $85,000, three Haitian churches are being rebuilt, and two churches are being repaired after suffering significant hurricane damage.

Ministry in Mission check presentation group singing the Doxology

The Dame Marie ELC church repaired with grant funds.

LWML Board of Directors presented mission grant check to Rev. Ray Wilke, President, Orphan Grain Train, also present was Craig Stirtz, Sr. Gift Planning Counselor, LCMS Foundation.

Finally, the fourth recipient was Orphan Grain Train, a ministry based out of Norfolk, Nebraska. Orphan Grain Train received a grant of $100,000. This money will help with the expense of constructing the Orphan Grain Train Servant Center. This will expand the meal packing area, doubling the meal output of the facility to more than ten million meals packaged per year. It will also provide break and training space for volunteers. Orphan Grain Train is a Christian volunteer network that ships donated food, clothing, medical and other needed items to people in 71 different countries, including the United States.
 

Reflecting on the impact of the gift, LaDonna’s daughters shared that “we are filled with joy that even in our parents’ death, they are still spreading the Gospel. That is the true gift to us girls.”

MAKING AN ETERNAL DIFFERENCE

LaDonna Etzel had a heart for God’s work on earth and, through Lutheran Women in Mission’s Gifts of Love program, made a plan to help fund that work after she was called home to heaven.

Gifts of Love was established to help individuals and couples put a plan in place for blessing family and ministry with the assets that God provided during their lifetime. The partnership with the LCMS Foundation assures that these gifts are established, executed, and distributed with the highest integrity.

Working with a Gifts of Love gift planning counselor is easy, informative, and free of charge. Counselors have years of experience crafting charitable gift plans that will support Lutheran Women in Mission and the other ministries close to the hearts of LCMS members. Look what LaDonna was able to do through her gift plan. Now imagine what you might do with yours!

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For more information about these mission grants, view the individual mission grant pages here: Camp Restore Detroit, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church and School, Ministry in Mission, Orphan Grain Train.

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