Thank You for Supporting the 2023-24 Wärmestube

As the eleventh season of the Wärmestube has now come to a close, I wish to thank all ESUMC members and friends for your faithful support of this ministry of care and compassion to our neighbors in need.

In partnership with our sister German-speaking Fünfhaus congregation, this season the Wärmestube served more than 1,500 meals to our neighbors, recent migrants, refugees from Ukraine, and others facing difficult living conditions. Additionally, each week we donated hundreds of canned goods, personal care items, and articles of clothing, helping to meet basic needs within our community.

We are so thankful for all our members and friends who volunteered on Tuesdays to help prepare and serve meals and offer Christian hospitality, brought donated items to Sunday worship for distribution each Tuesday, and provided essential financial support for the ministry.

Our volunteer team was led this season by Jutta Dietl from the Fünfhaus congregation. To those who served with us this year, Jutta offers this word of thanks:

"My dear friends, this season of the Wärmestube has brought a lot of new and special moments and we have managed it all with ease. We were blessed to welcome guests every Tuesday with delicious food, wonderful pastries, unique coffee, professional first aid, supportive legal advice, loving words, attentive treatment and emphatic interaction. I wish you all a wonderful spring and say to you all once again YOU ARE A FANTASTIC TEAM and THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!"

Those of you who volunteered at the Wärmestube this year should already have received from Jutta an invitation from Caritas to a seasonal closing party on 24 April. If you did not receive that invitation, please let me know.

In closing, I join with Jutta and Pastor Stefan in offering my heartfelt thanks for your support and encouragement of our Wärmestube ministry. The program will return in late fall 2024, and all are invited to participate!

With thanksgiving, Pastor John