United Lutheran Church provides support to a diverse array of human needs through its mission of the month program. The congregation highlights one specific ministry or organization in each calendar month. The congregation provides financial and/or material offerings to these organizations in the given month (designated "mission of the month" on the memo line of a check or the outside of an envelope), and on occasion someone from the respective organization speaks about that ministry during a moment for mission at Sunday morning worship. A number of United members also contribute to these missions of the month throughout the year as volunteers. Missions that the congregation is supporting in 2017 include the following:

January Mission of the Month: 
Prevail

Prevail provides emergency assistance and referrals to individuals and families in times of financial crisis and struggle by assisting with emergency food, clothing, shelter, transitional and permanent housing and lots of emotional support. Prevail volunteers also lay the groundwork for future stability. Since Prevail’s inception, its volunteers have assisted clients with needs ranging from affordable health care, to identification assistance to eviction prevention. Clients are referred to Prevail from local townships, social service agencies, area faith communities and businesses, as well as through word of mouth on the street. In 2015 Prevail became a program that is part of the Housing Forward organization.
 

February Mission of the Month:
​Oak Park-River Forest Food Pantry 

Oak Park-River Forest Food Pantry provides hunger relief to families from Oak Park, River Forest, and the surrounding communities within Cook County. In 2015 the Food Pantry provided groceries to 15,574 local families, comprised of 48,028 individuals. Your monetary contribution is particularly valuable since the Food Pantry is able to provide $140 worth of groceries at a cost of only $15.87.

2017 Souper Bowl of Caring offering went to Oak Park-River Forest Food Pantry

​March Mission of the Month:
​Housing Forward

Housing Forward provides overnight shelter and meals for homeless people in volunteer-staffed shelters in Oak Park, Berwyn, and Forest Park churches and synagogues from mid-September through mid-May. On several Wednesday evenings United members deliver food that is served to people at an emergency housing site in Oak Park the following morning. Once a month a crew of United volunteers serves breakfast and cleans up the site. In the summer Housing Forward serves lunch on weekdays. Year-round, it offers counseling, transitional housing, and other services for the homeless and those in transition to employment and independence. Housing Forward depends on financial support from grants, groups and individuals. Since 2015, United Lutheran Church has provided the location for Housing Forward's transitional housing program for a two-week period of time each summer. 

April Mission of the Month:
​Double Value Coupon Program/Link Card

Join several congregations in the Oak Park area in providing double value coupons to LINK card holders, who shop at the Oak Park Farmers’ Market. The program helps low-income households purchase fresh and nutritious food, plus it supports a great Saturday tradition! Read more about the double value LINK card program at Shawnash Institute. 

May Mission of the Month:
​Lutheran Social Services of Illinois

Lutheran Social Services of Illinois provides a wide range of services for individuals and families through 100 sites across the state. These services include counseling, mental health services, substance abuse treatment, residential treatment for children and adolescents, early childhood education and child care services, programs for adults and children with developmental disabilities, foster care and adoption, nursing care, and programs for prisoners and their families. Each year on the fourth Sunday of Easter (in 2017 it's in May), Lutheran congregations throughout the three ELCA synods in Illinois highlight their relationship with LSSI and make contributions to support its work. 

June Mission of the Month:
​House to Home Kits

United Lutheran Church is collecting items during the month of June to be included in a House to Home Kit that will be used by a family moving from emergency housing into a more stable home. Through a combination of public and private funding, qualified families are able to move into furnished apartments, but they need additional household items in order to make the home a complete living environment. The House to Home Kit is a program of Housing Forward. Items needed in the House to Home Kit will be posted on a bulletin board in the fellowship hall at United Lutheran Church.

July Mission of the Month:
​Lutheran Day Early Childhood Center

Since 1911, Lutheran Day Early Childhood Center has provided high quality childcare services and early childhood education at affordable rates to families in the Logan Square, West-town and Humboldt Park communities of Chicago. Their philosophy is that children learn best by being active participants. They believe that children develop through their play and that a child-centered environment stimulates children’s social, emotional, physical and intellectual development. As a nonprofit organization serving at-risk children and families, the Lutheran Day Nursery depends upon the generous contributions of its partners to fulfill its mission.

August Mission of the Month:
​Vital Bridges 

Vital Bridges Center on Chronic Care helps people living with HIV/AIDS throughout metropolitan Chicago improve their health and build self-sufficiency by providing housing, case management and counseling services. Vital Bridges is additionally the largest provider of food and nutrition education services in Chicago. By choosing to support Vital Bridges, you are also serving the more than 2,000 clients the agency serves annually.

September Mission of the Month: 
​Quilt and Kit Shipping Fund 

The Quilt and Kit Shipping Fund helps send the school kits, personal care kits, and baby kits that we assemble in September to the places that Lutheran World Relief (LWR) can use them. Material processing and shipping costs are $1.5 million each year. By paying for the shipment of a kit, you can help LWR send comfort to those who need it most.

October Mission of the Month:
​Holiday Food and Gift Basket

Holiday Food and Gift Basket (HFGB) seeks to brighten the holidays for those who are suffering from financial hardship. Last year Holiday Food and Gift Basket provided gifts and food cards to approximately 2000 people in our community. For well over a decade United Lutheran Church has served as the single drop-off point for all the gifts that are distributed to people in the community each December. You can participate in the HFGB program in several ways:
Sponsor: Sign up to purchase gifts for a family or single person. You can plan on spending about $50 per person that you sponsor. HFGB will provide you with names and gift wish lists. You shop, wrap, and drop off the gifts in early December at United. For more information, contact HFGB at holidaybasket@hotmail.com or 708-771-6159 x244. Please provide your name, street address, email address, and phone number. Let them know how many individuals you would like to sponsor, and they will mail all the details.
Volunteer: Drivers are needed to deliver the gifts. Please contact HFGB for details.
Donate Money: HFGB relies on donations from congregations, businesses, and private donors to help fund the food cards, which cost the program about $35,000 each year.
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November Mission of the Month:
​Companions Journeying Together

Companions Journeying Together seeks to reach incarcerated women and men through a variety of programs designed to build healthy relationships and foster positive communication. These programs include Aunt Mary’s storybook Project, Father Read, and Mother Love Parenting classes.
​

December Mission of the Month:
​ELCA World Hunger

ELCA World Hunger is a comprehensive and sustainable program that uses mutliple strategies to address the root causes of hunger and poverty. ELCA World Hunger responds to neighbors around the corner and around the world.