GSS Way Committee’s variety of projects supports world’s refugees
“In Christ’s love, everyone is someone” is the belief of the Good Samaritan Society (GSS).
And they mean it – by doing it daily in word and deed.
Aside from daily service and care to GSS residents and tenants, the organization is reaching far out beyond the walls of its various centers to extend that belief to the world’s refugees – with the support of the communities in which they are located.
Last November, the National Campus completed a Mission Project, assembling school kits, personal care kits and fleece blankets for refugees around the world, to be distributed through the ministry of Lutheran World Relief.
Nine GSS care facilities in southwestern Minnesota – including the Good Samaritan Society of Mountain Lake (The Village and The Lodge) – have now come together to offer a Project Outreach-Refugee Support pilot program.
A team of eight employees from the local GSS – pulled from all areas of patient and facility care – have organized as the GSS Way Committee. Its members include Pam Radtke (Activity Department), Barrie Wright (Dietary Department), Mary Lopez (Nursing Care Department), Heather Fredericksen (Nursing Care Department), Alyssa Nesmoe (Front Office), Sue Larson (The Lodge Housing Director), Reva Hulebos (Human Resources) and Anne Reese (Administrator).
The goals of GSS Way are to provide assistance to those in need, to support those who serve, to enable those they serve to also serve others, to host activities that reach out to families and the community and to recognize goodness in their own care centers.
The GSS Way is another vehicle through which to recognize and help those ministries involved in refugee relief. These include Samaritan’s Purse, Lutheran World Relief, Voice of the Martyrs and GEM – Greater Europe Mission – all with the assistance of Thrivent Action Teams.
The Mountain Lake GSS Way Committee has tapped into two current projects supported by Lutheran World Relief – fleece-tied blankets and personal care kits.
With the help of GSS Way Committee and other volunteers, 90 personal care kits were able to recently packaged in order to send to refugees. Each kit contained a bath towel, two bars of soap, toothbrush, comb and nail clipper. The number of kits was thanks to donations from various staff, residents, tenants and community members – along with Thrivent Financial dollars. Tim Swoboda will deliver the packages to the mission office in the Twin Cities.
Work on the fleece blankets continues, and they will be sent at a later date.
Says Reese about the joint effort, ‘There is truly no place like home. And no one knows this fact more than refugees who have been displaced from their homes by conflict or catastrophe. While we cannot fix all of the problems they currently face, we can reach out in compassion and share the love of Christ in tangible ways. Something as simple as a towel and a bar of soap can help a hurting person know that he or she is not forgotten – and that someone cares.
“And,” Reese stresses, “When we help others, we are also giving to Him who said, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these My brothers, you did it to Me.”’
When these projects are completed, that is not the end of the story. The GSS Way Committee will look for new projects to undertake as the circle of hope continues. These new projects could include the creation of baby care kits and school kits, perhaps involving the Mountain Lake Public High School and Mountain Lake Public Elementary School Student Councils.
Following is a photo gallery of the care kit-packaging work day:
