Alleluia! Lutheran Church shares ‘A Ton of Love’ with Loaves & Fishes

Back in June, Joel Vander Wal, pastor at Alleluia! Lutheran Church in south Naperville, set an ambitious summer goal for the Alleluia! congregation: Collect one ton of nonperishable food and household goods for Naperville’s Loaves & Fishes Community Services over a five-week period ending July 31.

Contributions to social services organizations like Loaves & Fishes can decline over the summer, Vander Wal knew, as families travel and most school and business groups plan their charity activities for during the school year.

But the need for donations is constant: Loaves & Fishes currently serves around 10,000 residents of DuPage, Kane, Will and Kendall counties each week.

So the last weekend in June, Alleluia! launched the “A Ton of Love” drive to benefit Loaves & Fishes. Members of the congregation were invited to bring different items to the church each week — breakfast foods, packaged dinners, canned goods, household cleaning and personal hygiene items, and diapers and other baby items.

Each Monday, a group of Alleluia! volunteers drove the collected items to Loaves & Fishes to donate them and for an official weigh-in.

The grand total, as of July 31: 2,535 pounds of items donated by Alleluia! members and friends — more than 25% over the church’s goal.

Vander Wal shared the good news with the congregation on Aug. 2. “I just want to say thank you for all who have brought items in to share that love, to share that light with our community,” he said.

Tracy Katschke-Goss, events and stewardship manager at Loaves & Fishes, expressed gratitude as well and noted Alleluia!’s status as a longtime Loaves & Fishes community partner.

“We continue to be grateful for all the ways that Alleluia! supports Loaves & Fishes,” she said. Katschke-Goss, an ordained deacon, will be a guest preacher at Alleluia! at the church’s 10 a.m. service on Sunday, Aug. 16.

Alleluia! Lutheran Church, a member of the Chicago-based Evangelical Lutheran Churches in America, is located at 103rd Street and Book Road in south Naperville. It has served the communities of Will and DuPage counties for more than 30 years. For information, visit alleluialutheran.org.