Quilters
Mondays until December 29 2025
This event is from 9:15 AM to 12:00 PM at Fireside Room
Contact Joann Weberg
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Each Monday morning, a group of dedicated women meet in the Fireside Room from 9:15am to 12pm to create beautiful quilts for Lutheran World Relief (LWR). The quilts are distributed overseas by LWR to remote villages, refugee camps, hospitals, and disaster sites, wherever there are people in need. You can help by donating fabric and/or by helping with design, sewing, tying, etc. Contact Ordetta Hovland or Anna Hoegel via the office for more information.
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WOW
Wednesdays until June 12
This event is from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM at Fireside Rooom
Contact Kathryn Montano
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Wednesday Morning Bible Study and Book Study meets weekly.
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Cupertino Earth Day Event
Saturday, April 5
This event is from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM at Cupertino Library
Contact Pr Ben Sandin
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Members of the Community Outreach Team and Pastor Ben will be hosting a table at the annual Cupertino Earth Day Celebration on the Cupertino Library field.
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Service Sunday
Sunday, May 4
This event is from 9:45 AM to 12:00 PM at on and off campus
Contact Hella Blumh-Stieber
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As part of Bethel's Community Engagement, Bethel will be "Doing Service Together." This will be a service opportunity for all members. We will have projects starting between services and continuing after the 10:45am service. In addition to projects on the Bethel campus, there will be a creek clean-up and gleaning at the Cupertino Farmers Market to support West Valley Community Services. Questions: contact Mark Evashenk or Hella Bluhm-Stieber
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Ministry Lead: Mark Evashenk
The following list of local, national, and international outreach &
service ministries contains information on organizations that we
actively support either by providing funds for their work or
through volunteering locally.
Local Ministries
CIC (Correctional Institutions Chaplaincy) Ministries
Contact Chris Christensen
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CIC (Correctional Institutions Chaplaincy)![[Offsite Link]](/graphics/offsiteLink.gif "Offsite Link")
is a non profit agency formed in 1962 by Council of Churches and Evangelical Association to serve
inmates in the Santa Clara County jails and juvenile facilities.
CIC Ministries depends on donations from local congregations and individuals to bring the Good News of the gospel to those behind bars.
CIC’s Programs Provide:
- Weekly Bible Study provided by volunteers in the community
- Coordination of Special Events (such as concerts, weddings, etc.)
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Creek Clean Up
Contact Hella Bluhm-Stieber
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A local project inspired by “God’s Work Our Hands” sponsored by ELCA.
www.elca.org/dayofservice
Watch for details in the Sunday bulletin, weekly enewsletter and the top of this
web page.
Family Supportive Housing (San Jose Family Shelter)
Contact Chris Ford
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Family Supportive Housing (San Jose Family Shelter) provides temporary housing and assistance for homeless families in Santa Clara Co.
The shelter serves more than 150 families each year; over two-thirds of its residents are children.
In addition to housing in individual family units, 3 meals per day, infant and toddler care, and Head Start schooling, the shelter provides counseling, employment and housing search assistance, access to computers, parenting and life-skills classes, and aftercare case management for families who have left the shelter.
Every other month, a meal team from Bethel provides groceries and cooks breakfast for families at the shelter.
Volunteers are needed for these breakfasts. Watch for specific dates in the Sunday bulletin, weekly enewsletter and at the top of this
web page.
To help with a Sunday breakfast, contact
Chris Ford.
Designated offering for February.
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Help One Child, November 2015
First Immanuel Clothes Closet
Contact Angela Brown
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Bethel collects new and gently used clothing weekly to be given away to low-income families in downtown San Jose.
Clothes Closet is a service of
Community Outreach Ministry Endeavor
Habitat for Humanity
Contact Chris Sudarsanam
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Habitat for Humanity (East Bay/Silicon Valley) works in partnership with low-income families to build affordable, decent housing in Santa Clara County.
Volunteers work side by side with homeowner families, using current skills or learning new ones.
Watch for details in the Sunday bulletin, weekly enewsletter and the top of this
web page for information on how you can help build homes in the upcoming months.
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Help One Child
Contact Mark Evashenk,
Danielle Pickard
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Help One Child is a local ministry to children in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties who have been abandoned, abused, drug exposed, or endangered.
Their primary goal is to encourage individuals and families in the Christian community to become licensed foster parents.
Help One Child provides a network of support to these children and families, and teaches congregations how to be part of this network.
Bethel hosts a Giving Tree each December to give Christmas gifts to foster children.
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The Lord’s Pantry
Contact Mark Evashenk
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The
Lord’s Pantry is a nonprofit, emergency food program located at 121 S. White Road in San Jose on the
Gloria Dei Lutheran Church campus.
They are an agency of
Second Harvest Food Bank, and provide groceries to families in need by referral.
Bethel members donate food, using the large donation bin in the narthex.
Each November, we hold a turkey drive to support the families using the pantry.
Mount Cross Ministries
Contact Holly Lofgren (Camp Contact)
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Mount Cross,
a Lutheran camp in the Santa Cruz Mountains with summer camps and retreat opportunities for congregations and groups,
was dedicated in 1948 by a group of Lutheran pastors seeking a venue for youth to explore the outdoors and their faith.
In addition to financial support, Bethel holds our annual Labor Day Retreat at Mt Cross.
Our first LDR was held in 1959, and we have been going every year since.
For more information visit the
Mount Cross website.
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How we assemble our quilts
Click to read
Quilters
Contact Joann Weberg
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The Bethel quilters create and send hundreds of quilts locally and all over the world through
Lutheran World Relief.
Read details at the top of this
web page.
This album![[PDF Document]](/graphics/pdfLink.png "PDF Document")
shows how we assemble our quilts.
There is more information about Lutheran World Relief in the International section, below.
Sacred Heart Community Service
Contact Mark Evashenk
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Sacred Heart works to build a community free from poverty.
Bethel participates in events sponsored by Sacred Heart,
e.g., assembling layettes for expectant mothers.
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Packing carrots for Second Harvest
Second Harvest Food Bank
Contact Alice Isaacson
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Provides food to over 320 non-profit agencies in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties, including The Lord’s Pantry.
Groups from Bethel sign up for shifts to sort donated food.
Bethel participates in food sorting at the warehouse several Saturdays a year.
Watch the Sunday bulletin, weekly enewsletter and the top of this
web page for upcoming dates and details.
For additional volunteer opportunities at Second Harvest, visit their web site at
www.shfb.org.
West Valley Community Services
Contact Mark Evashenk
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West Valley Community Services, Inc. (WVCS) is a private non-profit, community based agency that has been providing direct assistance and referral services to the community for more than 35 years.
Bethel participates in events sponsored by WVCS—a non profit dedicated to providing food and housing services in the West Valley community.
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National and International Ministries
Quilts & backpacks for Lutheran World Relief, October 2015
Lutheran World Relief (LWR)
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Lutheran World Relief
works with Lutherans and partners around the world to end
poverty, injustice, and human suffering.
2025 marks the
80th anniversary of LWR ministry.
Bethel volunteers create quilts, school kits and health kits for LWR to be distributed worldwide.
This video shows quilts and kits being distributed in Tanzania.
The quilts help to
reduce stunting in cold regions.
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Mexico 2005
Mexico: Esperanza International — Bethel Mission to Mexico
Contact Tom Hoegel
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Adult Mission to Mexico (Fall). Youth Mission to Mexico (Spring).
Since 1990 Bethel Youth have taken an Alternative Spring Break and traveled to Tijuana, Mexico to join forces with
Esperanza International, or “Hope”,
an organization that works to build houses, schools and centers for the local community.
Bethel volunteers work side by side with low-income families and the Esperanza staff, mixing concrete, pouring tiles and beams, digging trenches, and a host of other challenging work.
In the process, families learn the building process, which helps make their community more self-sufficient, and Bethel volunteers practice their Spanish, and touch the lives of our neighbors south of the border.
In 1995, due to popular demand, an Adult Trip was added.
This is scheduled for 3 to 4 days in the Sep–Oct timeframe.
Both drive or drive/fly options are available.
These three days of work, laughter, growth and fun lead to changed lives on both sides of the border.
Contact
Tom Hoegel for more information.
Tanzania:
Bethel financially supports 2 ministries in Tanzania.
Contact Lois Brouillette.
Bethel School in Himo, Tanzania
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Bethel School in Himo, Tanzania, was started by Pastor Godbless Mamkwe and his wife, Neema, to serve the AIDS orphans in their area. The school has both a preschool and primary school. 70% of the 200 students are AIDS orphans on scholarship.
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The MaaSae Girls Lutheran Secondary School (MGLSS)
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