Following worship on September 10, the people of Advent, Charlotte, walked into the church’s fellowship hall for the 10th anniversary of God’s Work Our Hands and found choices! Opportunities to use our hands and feet to serve God and His people were set up throughout the gym, and everyone could select one or more projects to celebrate the day.

At the far wall, two long tables were filled with hundreds of donated books. Every book was to be cleaned and all names or personal markings removed. They were then packed up to be distributed to area children and adults through the organization, Promising Pages.

On the right were more than 1,700 diapers and 1,300 adult Depends diapers to be repackaged for distribution through the local Diaper Bank to people who need them.

If volunteers wanted to help refugees seeking asylum at our southern border, they could move to the stage and help pack up 52 LIRS Fresh Change bags, each with a sweatshirt, sweatpants, socks, and underwear. Bags were then sent to Border Service Corps in Las Cruces, NM, as part of a Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services (LIRS) program.

Children and adults joined together to decorate place mats to be used for our Room in the Inn program serving those without a place to sleep during the winter months. Another group cleaned out and reorganized Advent’s storage closet for this winter program.

A group of youth enthusiastically sorted cans of food donated by the congregation during the past month and refilled cabinets that feed Advent’s Little Free Pantry.

Projects were completed within a couple of hours and the results of Advent’s projects were delivered the following week. We were humbled and excited that our hands were able to serve God’s people of so many ages and walks of life.