Summer Service Week Benefits Local Groups

​SSLC parishioners and their friends stuffed backpacks, made greeting cards, created no-
sew quilts, turned paper bags into art projects and filled them with snacks at the annual Summer
Service Week earlier this month. The 4-evening program addressed themes of hunger, health and
wellness, education, and kindness. Following a light supper each night, Pastor Rheanna,
accompanied by youth members Kaili Goodrich and Lily Ruggiere, presented a Bible-based skit
on the day’s theme before the service project began. Stephanie Ruggiere, Dianne Bruno, Beth
Warner, and Heidi Richard organized and coordinated the Summer Service Week program.
A variety of local organizations, children, families, and seniors will benefit from the
activities of nearly two dozen church volunteers. Forty snack bags were targeted for Our Father’s
Table; 10 completed fleece quilts, many in kid-friendly patterns went to Fresh Start Furniture
Bank, along with 25 bags of toiletries. The United Way will distribute the 26 backpacks, filled
with pencils and sharpeners, rulers, calculators, scissors and more to children who can’t afford
school supplies. Greeting cards and bags of treats were delivered by the pastor to the Lutheran
Rehabilitation and Skilled Care Center in Worcester.
Summer Service Week was a Thrivent Action Team event. Thrivent is a Fortune 500
financial services company that sponsors generosity programs. Thrivent members from St.
Stephen applied for funding for materials and supplies for the various projects. Thrivent also
provided the Live Generosity tee shirts for the volunteers.