News

First Lutheran serves meal fit for a hero

By Scott Wagar

04/28/2015

It was a day of thank you for Bottineau’s First Lutheran Church on April 22 which provided a Local Heroes Thank You Luncheon in association with local businesses to show their appreciation to area people who serve the public.

“The Local Heroes Thank You Luncheon was intended to celebrate all of the people in this community who work to help the public in some way, either in a paid or volunteer capacity.

This includes a large group of people, because we live in a very caring community,” said Pastor Desiree Uhrich of Bottineau’s First Lutheran Church. 

“First Lutheran Church wanted to acknowledge people who give of themselves and say thank you. We invited people to come and have lunch, which included a taco bar and Pride Dairy ice cream sundaes. More than 150 were served, including take-out for those who were unable to leave work to attend,” she continued.

“There were employees and volunteers from a wide variety of organizations who attended, including: VFW Auxiliary, city council, hospital auxiliary, social services, Lions and other service groups, veterans, hospital and other medical people, nursing home, law enforcement, states attorney’s office, park district, library, EDC, fire department, churches, courts, city of Bottineau and Bottineau county.”

This event originated this past February when the First Lutheran Church held its annual retreat and where the church’s leadership begins to discuss ways they and their congregation can live in Christ’s call through love and services to His people. 

“Some of those things included outreach ministry, such as: a campaign to stock the local food pantry; a day in the fall to help DCB college students move into the dorms; and efforts to show hospitality to new Bottineau residents and help them become acquainted with local resources and community groups,” Uhrich said. 

“The other ideas were ways we could celebrate our congregation and community, and one of the ideas was hosting a Local Heroes thank you luncheon. Out of the top ten list the luncheon was actually number one,” she stated. 

“A team was formed from our church to plan the luncheon. We also invited members of Independence, Inc. to partner with us. Independence, Inc. is an organization that serves people with disabilities. We sought funding to pay for the meal through a memorial fund of our church, and a couple of our team members approached Thrivent Financial about forming a Thrivent Action Team, which allowed for some additional funding.” 

Since the decision has been made to hold the luncheon, First Lutheran Church has been busy planning the event, which continued right to the last minute before the thank you event took place.

“The night before the event, eight volunteers prepared the food and decorated the fellowship room. On the day of the event, 19 volunteers served, greeted and cleaned up,” Uhrich said.

“Participants had the opportunity to enter their name for door prizes, many of which were donated by local businesses, including: Johnson Sport Center, Nodak, Dairy Queen, New Dimensions Fitness Center, Moum’s Tesoro, Theel’s, Spectrum, Turtle Mountain Floral and Pride Dairy. Mattern Family Meats also donated a portion of the meat used for the tacos.”

Uhrich stated that she was pleased with how the luncheon went for everyone involved. 

“The response was very positive from those who attended and from the volunteers, and many comments were made about doing this again next year,” she said. “I think it is highly likely that this could become an annual event.”