Community Service
DECA Prep Elementary School weekend food program: DECA Prep is an intercity charter school serving grade K-4 students. We provide weekend food supplement packs to students who experience food insecurity on the weekends. Packs include food for breakfast, lunch and snack. Students are selected by their teachers. LCOS members donate food items and families, service organizations and individuals sign up to pack and deliver the packs.
New Hope Food Pantry: Located in North Dayton off of Catalpa Drive at New Hope Lutheran Church, New Hope Pantry provides free food to the families living in the neighborhoods that qualify. The pantry is open 3 Thursdays a month.
For over 30 years LCOS has collected food and delivered it monthly to the pantry. LCOS members also work at the pantry; helping to unload and stock the shelves and helping families select products. We also financially support this mission.
Adopt a Family: Every year at Christmas time, LCOS selects and adopts up to 18 families. The families are recommended by local social workers and then a member of LCOS is assigned to the family to confirm their needs. Members then donate needed items for each family and they are delivered to the family right before Christmas. Typically gifts include: clothing, toys and household items. We also give each family an ALDI gift card to buy food. At Easter time we support the family with another Aldi gift card.
Clothes for Christ: We keep an open clothing donation barrel near the main office entrance. All donated clothing is taken to Christ Lutheran Church in Old North Dayton to support their clothing closet program.
College Program: Every October the Community Service Committee sends a gift to all LCOS college student members. We include a note of encouragement and let them know their church family is thinking of them. This year the committee sent Chipolte gift cards.
We provide financial support to the following organizations:
Christ Lutheran Church of Old Dayton: We support Christ Lutheran Church to run their children oriented, weekly Makery Program. The Makery Program brings neighborhood children into the church for activities.
Jeremiah’s Letter, Inc: We support JLI to help run programs benefiting the needy in East Dayton. JLI programs include: Passages, a program providing state ID and birth certificates to people who are trying to get social services; Starter Packs for clients who are moving off the street to public housing; and emergency food boxes for case workers and referred clients.
Oesterlen Service for Youth Inc. of Springfield: Oesterlen is a mental health treatment and social services agency serving youth and families. Full range of services include: residential mental health treatment, foster care, outpatient counseling, in-home programs, and in-school program.