At Home Service Projects for Families

So now that you are home, how can you still serve your neighbors?

Need some options of things to do?

Lutheran World Relief Care Packages

You can create care packages for people in need all around the world.  These packages will be collected at church for shipping after Corona Virus precautions are lifted.  Go to this website for instructions: https://lwr.org/instructions.  Depending upon what you have at home, you can make School Kits, Baby Care Kits, Personal Care Kits, Fabric Kits, and Quilts.

 

Making Face Masks

Have a sewing machine and some cotton fabric?  You can make some washable face masks.  Here are some detailed instructions with pictures: Click Here.  Here's a separate video tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kwFaRFHKhY.  Please note that both design creators stress that these masks are not a subsitute for the protection of medical masks and provide only limited protection against Covid-19.  However, these cloth masks are still helpful and hospitals across the country are asking people to pitch in to make masks like these to help nurses experiencing shortages.

The Dayton Sewing Collaborative is coordinating efforts in our area.  They have some info on facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/daytonsewingcollaborative/.  

Masks can be dropped off Monday through Friday from 8AM to 4PM at St. Vincent de Paul Community Store (945 S. Edwin C Moses Blvd., Dayton OH).  

 

5 Gallon Bucket Composting

Lutheran's Restoring Creation (https://lutheransrestoringcreation.org/stewarding-your-property-as-an-earth-community/) mentions composting as great way that you can serve God's creation.  Composting replenishes soil while keeping trash out of the landfill.  There are lots of plans online for building elaborate composting systems but all you really need is a 5 gallon bucket!  Here's a basic plan to make a household composting system out of a 5 gallon bucket: Click Here.

 

Plant a Tree!

Martin Luther is famous for saying something like, "if I knew the world was ending tomorrow, I'd plant a tree today."  What a great idea!  You can plant a tree in your yard and help to care for God's creation by absorbing carbon dioxide, creating animal habitat, and strengthening the ecosystem in your own back yard.  

1) Commit to Growing a Tree and Learn about the Process

Here is a basic introduction to planting a tree: https://www.treedom.net/en/blog/post/how-to-plant-a-tree-from-the-seed-in-5-steps-565.  It's possible you already have seedlings or saplings growing in your yard.  You can choose a couple to protect and nurture or you can choose to germinate a seed for planting.

2) Choose A Native Tree Seed

Here is a list of trees native to Ohio: http://forestry.ohiodnr.gov/trees.  There are probably native tree seeds already in your yard.  

3) Germinate Your Seeds

Here is a guide to naturally and artificially germinating tree seeds so that they can be planted in a pot or in the ground: https://www.wikihow.com/Germinate-Tree-Seeds.  

Planting and growing a tree is not only a great way to serve God through caring for creation, it's also fun and a great anxiety reducer.  God gave us trees as a restorative gift.  They restore the earth and they restore our souls.  

 

Is Your Home Accessible?

Make an accessibility plan for your house so that you are ready to show hospitality to anyone who shows up at your door.  Here are the steps:

  1. Draw a map of every floor of your house.
  2. On the map identify all the most important parts of your house for a guest: entrance/exit to the house, bathroom, place to sleep, place to eat.
  3. Next consider how you would make your house accessible to each of these people.  Accessible means that they could get to and use each of the most important places you identified in step 2. 
  • A person who is blind.
  • A person who is in a wheelchair.
  • A person who is deaf.
  • A person who uses a walker.
  • Anyone else you can think of.

Stairs are probably the hardest thing to figure out.  It's up to you whether you want to focus on the ground floor of your house, which might eliminate the need to think about stairs unless someone would have to use stairs even to get into your house.  Just make sure whatever plan you come up with includes access to the house itself, a bathroom, a place to sleep, and a place to eat.  Saying that a person would just have to stay outside does not cut it!!!

 

In-home Book Drive

Now is the perfect time to do some cleaning and some collecting.  Peace Lutheran church is connected to several schools and churches that will be in need of books as soon as Covid-19 precautions are lifted.  You could have your very own book drive at home!  Go through your shelves, closets, cabinets, attics, garages, basements and look under your beds, in your old backpacks, behind your desks for books to donate.  You can collect all of these books and more:

  • Toddler Board Books
  • Kid's Picture Books
  • Chapter Books
  • Pre-teen Dramas
  • Sci-fi Action Stories
  • Fantasy Adventure Stories
  • Bibles!!!

 

In-home Clothing Drive

Now is the perfect time to do some cleaning and some collecting.  Peace Lutheran church is connected to several churches and clothing rooms that will be in need of clothes as soon as Covid-19 precautions are lifted.  You could have your very own clothing drive at home!  Go through your closets, cabinets, attics, garages, basements, laundry rooms and look under your beds, in your old gym bags, behind your washer and dryer for clothes to donate.  You can collect all of these clothes and more:

  • Socks
  • Hoodies
  • T-shirts
  • Pants
  • Onesies
  • Overalls
  • Shorts
  • Nice Easter and Christmas Clothes!!!