|
|||||||||
|
Colorado West Regional Division Back to 2008 page Fall 2007 Orphan Grain Train Celebrates 15 Years of God’s Blessings at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Loveland, Colorado Submitted by Lou & Anita Boette, Colorado West Division In observance of 15 years of God’s blessings upon Orphan Grain Train, the Colorado West Division (CWD) recently returned to the birthplace of Orphan Grain Train activities in Colorado – Immanuel Lutheran Church in Loveland – to celebrate and acknowledge the congregation’s foundational role in establishing Orphan Grain Train. During the congregation’s annual Wisconsin-style Fish Feed OGT fundraiser held Saturday, Oct. 13, 2007, the 70 people attending enjoyed a formal program carried out under the theme, “Then and Now: Look How Far We’ve Come” presented by members of the Colorado West Division committee. CWD Chairman Lou Boette of Thornton, Colo., longtime supporter of Orphan Grain Train, served as master of ceremonies for the program. It was designed to help those attending fondly recall Orphan Grain Train’s formative years, beginning in 1992, and capture the excitement of getting “on board” this newly formed humanitarian aid “train”, not knowing exactly where or how far the “train” would go, yet knowing they wanted to be a part of those “fueling” the growing movement. In 1992, following the breakup of the Soviet Union, Rev. Ray S. Wilke of Grace Lutheran Church in Norfolk, Neb., joined fellow Lutherans on a mission trip to Latvia and Russia where they met people with "no hope" and in desperate need of spiritual, emotional, and humanitarian aid. In response to requests for help, Rev. Wilke envisioned a train traveling through America's Midwest, picking up cars of donated grain along the way, until it reached a port from which the grain would be shipped to feed starving orphans in Eastern Europe. Upon his return to the U.S., Rev. Wilke and Clayton Andrews, president of Andrews Van Lines, a worldwide transportation company, co-founded Orphan Grain Train. Railroad operating protocol prevented the original grain train concept from being practical, but Orphan Grain Train was born nonetheless. Within a year, ‘Grain Train's first shipment, a container of clothing and quilts, arrived in Riga, Latvia. Today, Orphan Grain Train is a 501(c)(3), recognized service organization (RSO) of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, built on a network of volunteers. Orphan Grain Train’s 18 regional divisions stretching coast to coast collect, pack and ship more than 150 semi-loads of donated clothing, relief supplies and humanitarian aid each year and raise funds to pay shipping costs. Celebration activities at Immanuel’s Fish Feed began with the reading of a “letter of reminiscence” from former member Tim Sweeney, an early-day Orphan Grain Train activist now living in Arkansas, which relayed Immanuel’s initial success in recruiting volunteers, collecting items and securing a warehouse with the goal to ship a container of aid to Latvia – a feat accomplished in 1993. Francis Sedlacek, a member of Immanuel and Orphan Grain Train’s first Colorado “state representative,” added supplemental commentary. Immanuel’s worship service on May 23, 1993, was designated as “Orphan Grain Train Sunday” and thus was founded the Rocky Mountain Division, which at that time encompassed the entire state of Colorado. After a period of inactivity, division headquarters were re-established at Julesburg, Colo. Lanelle Krueger of Longmont, Colo., was on a volunteer team that followed Rev. Wilke’s team into Latvia in 1992. She showed slides of the trip at a potluck that followed Immanuel’s “OGT Sunday” worship service in 1993. She is currently a member of the Colorado West Division committee so returned to Immanuel to participate in the 15th anniversary celebration. Sporting a 1993-circa “OGT-Keep on Truckin’” pink lapel pin, Krueger showed slides of Colorado’s first warehouse in west Loveland and some of the items donated at that time. This prompted the audience to share a few stories of early-day efforts to collect items and medical equipment – very heavy medical equipment before they even had a warehouse! The program continued with a PowerPoint presentation that, with several fun audience participation trivia questions, reflected OGT’s growth and progress over the years up through present-day CWD activities. The presentation included pictures of Loveland’s first collection truck for donated items; early- and present-day warehouse facilities in Colorado and Norfolk; a quick overview of OGT’s website and disaster-response efforts; and several facts and figures such as: OGT began holding national conventions in 1999, shipped its 1,000th container in 2005, and has shipped aid to 40 countries on five continents. It was further explained that the Rocky Mountain Division was divided in the fall of 2005, with the Colorado West Division being chartered at that time. Headquarters for the RMD remain in Julesburg, Colo., and the CWD is headquartered in Arvada, Colo., its warehouse in Thornton, a north-Denver suburb. The presentation also acknowledged those congregations that were particularly helpful in assisting the CWD at the time it was chartered. CWD activities over the past two years include collecting and shipping aid to Ysleta Lutheran Mission in El Paso on a regular basis; shipping organs and pianos to the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina; assisting financially with shipments to the Gulf Coast, Kyrgyzstan and Ecuador; “adopting” students in India by providing them financial support; and providing a financial contribution to the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association to assist ranchers in southeast Colorado following the paralyzing blizzards in the winter of 2007. Chairman Boette, speaking on future activities, encouraged support for OGT’s “Adopt-an-Orphanage” program. The program recruits individuals and groups to financially support orphanages in the former Soviet Union with monthly contributions. Hundreds of orphanages await adoption. The celebratory program concluded with announcing the winning silent auction-bidder of a handmade quilt and the audience standing and singing the common doxology as its way of acknowledging from whom all blessing flow to, through and from Orphan Grain Train. For additional information on how to actively engage with Colorado West Division, or to schedule a presentation or Fish Feed fundraiser, persons may contact Chairman Lou Boette at (303) 453-1270, or e-mail colorado-west.div@ogt.org. Summer 2007 Teamwork is the name of the game and we are anxiously awaiting our first pickup at our warehouse in Thornton, Colo. Working conditions are not as favorable as they were at Bethlehem. However all members are adjusting. SO PLEASE KEEP YOUR EYES AND EARS OPEN for us for better and larger warehouse space. We did have a chance to ship all accumulated donations to Norfolk on Tuesday, August 7, 2007. After a trip to Ysleta Mission in El Paso, Texas, Lloyd Dennert stopped at the Thornton warehouse. His next stop was Loveland, Colo. at a paint store that has been donating paint to Orphan Grain Train. It is always a thrill to see the truck with the Orphan Grain Train logo. Many volunteers stepped up to help load.
We also had some special help from our grandsons Garrett and Nolan. Daniel and Steven, grandsons of Janet and Dave Gordon along with their friend Mitchell were put to work too. It opened the door to encourage more work for the Lord. The loading went very fast.
Now we can start over and hopefully do a good "housecleaning" before we get set to pack again. We shipped approximately 412 boxes and 60 bags of pillows and mattress pads. The later was a donation from the Doubletree Hotel. We sort directly to Ysleta Mission and 37 of the 412 boxes will be sent on the next trip to El Paso from Int'l Headquarters, Norfolk Neb. Our fundraisers are continuing and another garage sale was held on July 20th and 21st. It requires much work for Dorothy Curtis and her family. More volunteers seem to be there when needed and the CWD of Orphan Grain Train thanks all of them. Another great success. Please call Dorothy if you would like to assist: (303) 424-4074. Some funds are realized with sale of Casserole carriers and potholders. Norman Nehrig is our seamstress for these. Quilt kits all assembled are available at our display table. Mt. Hope in Boulder, Colo. came through as usual and hosted a Wisconsin-Style Fish Feed - the Christian Fellowship under Pastor George Hesse was a blessing. We are planning to go back next year. July 29th was the long awaited Fish Feed in Cortez, Colo. at Trinity Lutheran. The event was to have been held at the City Park but a scheduling conflict meant it was moved to the church. Kurt Jostes from Norfolk made the trip with us as did Dick and Ursula Tuers and Arlene and Bob Swenning. We were thankful for all of the help that the congregation supplied. We were all pleasantly surprised at the response to the "feed". Bill and Pat Heinicke are the leaders of the CWD Orphan Grain Train satellite in the Four Corners area. A quilt was made by a member of Trinity Lutheran and auctioned off at the Fish Feed. We hadn't realized that Mesa Verde National Park was so close to Cortez. On the way back to Thornton we were able to stop by and see the ruins. Lanelle Krueger our newest member from Messiah Lutheran in Longmont, Colo. is in Kampala, Uganda on a Mission Trip. She has been looking forward to this trip. They visited a village called Kateete and were greeted by 50-60 children who were very anxious to touch them and shake hands too. Lanelle has been sending updates almost every day and she will have a full account when she returns. This is all for now. The summer is almost over and of course we pray for cooler weather and more energy to do the Lord's work. The Annual International Convention for Orphan Grain Train will be held September 21 and 22, 2007 in Norfolk, NE. Click here for details and registration information. "I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you." John 14:18 Spring 2007
We were quite by accident able to find a different place for our sorting and packing. The son of one of our members was given some information about a storage unit for rent. The address is 145th and Washington St., Thornton, Colo., just a hop and skip for some of us to get to. We did have quite a time moving and getting organized since this is one big room. All the packers do not seem to mind the change of pace and adjusted quite well to the new surroundings. This warehouse has a country atmosphere and it gives us a sense of freedom. However this will not last long as across I-25 about 1/4 mile away we can see the shopping mall coming our way. Otherwise we are just moving forward. We have shipped over 500 quilts now since we became a division. We received 435 lbs. of canned items from Peace of Christ in Ft. Collins and were able to transfer this to the Road Runner Van for delivery to Ysleta. We have done two Fish Feeds this 2007 and will do the third on April 15th, at Peace Lutheran in Arvada, Colo. The next one will be held at Peace with Christ in Ft. Collins at noon. This is their third one and we hope to continue yearly. Public Relations-Anita Boette Winter 2007 “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.” James 4:10 Welcome 2007! We have been a regional division for a little over a year. With the Lord's help and guidance we pray that our effort has been God pleasing. We are a group of energized Christians working well together with great joy. We love to do Fish Feeds!! We can also always fill in at LWML meetings, schools, Sunday School class etc. to tell the Orphan Grain Train story. We try to keep up with Katrina Relief and DVD's are available as well. Call Lou Boette for a speaking or fish feed date at 303-453-1270 or rm2ss@msn.com. We continue to collect clothing. We are always in need but are concentrating mostly on children's and men's. We always take new and nearly new items and are also a drop site for Global Care Packages. In addition to collections we are raising funds that make it possible to be of financial aid and will continue to support efforts such as Katrina Relief. We have funded the shipment of a container out of Norfolk to Kyrgyzstan and at our monthly meeting voted to send financial help to the blizzard stricken area in Colorado for losses suffered by the farmers and ranchers. We also assist the Sudanese families that Bethlehem Lutheran is sponsoring with clothing as well. The Ysleta Lutheran Mission in El Paso, Texas is another of our recipients. The Brown Palace and the Doubletree hotels in Denver continue to give us their linens that they no longer use. Of course we do still receive quilts as one of our top priorities. We are so blessed in having a charming volunteer that does much of our quilt tying. I do not want to exclude Exempla St. Joe's Hospital for their donations of medical supplies. Bill and Pat Heinicke in Cortez, Colo. (members of Trinity Lutheran) are keeping up their end of the Division. They are sharing the Katrina story with groups such as LWML women. Bill also is going to local hospitals. Pat has a group of women that are making fleece mittens and some quilts also. As soon as we receive a report we will share it with you. It really is quite an event when Dorothy and Jim Curtis along with their daughter, Jana decide to hold a garage sale. The Lord is working through these people and has blessed Orphan Grain Train with funds to be used for various projects. Items that are in good condition can be donated for the sale. We had a big scare about one month ago when we received a message that we might have to share our warehouse space with the pharmacy. It appears that the committee that oversees our space has rented all available units and now may need half of our area. We were very disturbed as that would be a definite negative for us. Bethlehem Lutheran in Lakewood, Colo. has allowed us to use an unoccupied unit in their medical building just south of the church, rent free and with all utilities paid. However they were very concerned that we maybe could not carry on the Orphan Grain Train mission if our space was compromised. After some discussion and the possibilities of doing some minor remodeling they came up with some plans that will be passed on to their rental committee. If these plans are accepted then we can stay. Please keep us in your prayers. |
|||||||||
 Colorado West Regional Division
Home | About Us | Latest News | Ways You Can Help | Get On Board |
|||||||||
