SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Mennonite Mission Network) – For a dozen years, a Sioux Falls, S.D., congregation and Mennonite Voluntary Service have provided workers for a local agency. This year, the agency offered its thanks.
At its annual staff and volunteer banquet January 24, Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota selected Sermon on the Mount Mennonite Church as its 2007 “Distinguished Congregational Partner of the Year.”
The congregation has been involved in various aspects of Lutheran Social Services’ ministries. Members have helped to furnish and set up apartments for refugee families and supported these families as they settle into life in Sioux Falls.
“I think Sermon on the Mount has fingers in the community everywhere. They help with prison ministry, they provide volunteers to a number of organizations, including Lutheran Social Services. They are involved in social action all over the community,” said Fred Schroeder, current Sioux Falls MVS participant of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Ashtabula, Ohio.
For 12 years, Sermon on the Mount Mennonite Church also has sponsored MVS participants who have worked alongside them in ministry. More than 20 of these participants have served with Lutheran Social Services’ Refugee and Immigration Center program, providing more than 47,000 hours of service.
“Sermon on the Mount has been a wonderful resource for us and a great partner. They always help to provide an additional helping hand to the services that we provide,” said Donna Magnuson, director of the Refugee and Immigration Center.
Cheryl Lehmann, a member of the congregation and the local MVS unit coordinator, accepted the award on behalf of the congregation.
“Lutheran Social Services is a program that is definitely helping people. The directors know and understand the Mennonite philosophy, and there’s a good working relationship. The volunteers have received and learned as much as they’ve given,” said Lehmann.
In the last dozen years, MVS participants have helped to set up apartments for refugee families, coordinated job interviews and transportation, served as case managers and tackled other tasks to help immigrant families settle into life in the United States.
Eileen Rolon, a former MVS participant, helped to start a community interpreter service in 1998 that is still in existence today. Two current participants – Schroeder and Ryan Troyer of Ephrata (Pa.) Mennonite Church are serving with Lutheran Social Services.
Mennonite Voluntary Service, one of Mission Network’s Christian Service programs, invites adults of all ages and backgrounds to spend a one or two year term living in community and serving in a variety of locations across the United States. For more information, visit Service.MennoniteMission.net.