8:41 PM --- Thanks to you, we've hit our goal of $1000 (post-match)!
I am the assistant director of my church's food pantry.
No, we are not a megachurch unless your definition of megachurch is a weekly attendance of 40 people.
We're traditional in worship style (I play the 1919 J.W. Steere & Son, 33-rank pipe organ each week), but we're modern in belief.
No, we do not hold fundraisers to proselytize, make videos, or buy a new luxury car/yacht/supersonic jet for our pastor. She would refuse it anyway.
We're one of the oldest churches in the Upper Ohio Valley, namely the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia. We were founded in 1856 for two reasons: 1) We opposed slavery, and our "parent" church was pro-slavery to the point that the pastor owned slaves, so we broke off. 2) We drank alcohol, and I mean drank. The wealthiest founders of our congregation owned breweries.
We're Lutheran (ELCA), and if you'd like to know the difference --- Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) is an ELCA Lutheran; Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) is not. I know that many on DKos rightfully raise an eyebrow or furrow their brows at organized religion in America. So, just in case you're wondering, I am a member of the ACLU, Human Rights Campaign, People for the American Way, and Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and I have donated to the Freedom from Religion Foundation. I believe religious instruction is the sole responsibility of parents, pastors, and parishioners NOT public school teachers. School prayer nauseates me.
The most people we have in our beautiful 1860-built (1891-remodeled) structure each month is on the 4th Tuesday, when 120+ families from three local counties come to get an allotment of food items both perishable and non-perishable. We're one of a very few pantries in the area to provide meats, fish, pork, and poultry to our recipients. We serve anyone in the three county area regardless of race, ethnicity, age, gender, actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or religious belief or non-belief, or any other category you can think of.
Now that I've tried to assauge any concerns you may have, back to the appeal....
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