Group busy with 125th anniversary projects

by Women of the ELCA

The Women of the ELCA unit of First Lutheran Church, Pipestone, Minn., celebrated the church’s 125th anniversary this year with a list of 125 “things to do.”  

When planning for the anniversary began over a year ago, Kristy Henriksen, president the Southwestern Minnesota Synodical Women’s Organization and the church’s Women of the ELCA group, came up with several ideas to mark it. 

“I threw out the idea of 125 things to do: kits, quilts, members at worship, attendance at events,” she said. “We settled on doing 125 school kits, personal care kits, baby care kits and quilts. 

“I wasn’t sure we could do it, but any increase would be great,” she added. “We had 10 women who met during the year, more often than we used to. And we’ll continue to do that. We have a good time.” 

[bctt tweet=”We love that our anniversary coincides with the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.” username=”womenoftheelca”]

The group of 10 finished its 125th quilt on Nov. 1, just in time for a quilt blessing service Nov. 12, she said. The group met most of its other goals as well, Henriksen said. 

In May, the women assembled 138 personal care kits for our synodical convention, and in September, they assembled 144 school kits for Lutheran World Relief and four for local school children.  

As they displayed the quilts in the sanctuary, Henriksen said they all remarked how surprised they were at meeting the goal. 

“That Holy Spirit is something,” she said. 

Now, they are getting started on their 125 baby care kits, she said. “Who knows how many we’ll get?” 

The group is donating the quilts to their graduates, Lutheran World Relief, the Pipestone Sheriff’s Department’s children in crisis program and other local charities. 

“We love the fact that [our church’s anniversary] coincides with the 500th anniversary of the Reformation,” Henriksen said. 

Photo: From left, Martin Luther, Barb Benz, Nancy Finzen, Nyla Schumann, Darlene Muller, Kristy Henriksen, quilters from First Lutheran, Pipestone, Minn.