At the end of 2014, Holy Trinity received a most generous and unexpected bequest from Dan and Emma Hettler.
The first thing Holy Trinity’s Council decided to do with this gift was to give 25% of it beyond the needs of our congregation. Council decided we did not want to put that money into our own Outreach Fund where the interest is distributed to benevolent projects in perpetuity; that seemed too much like keeping it ourselves. Instead, the Council created the Mission Commitment Fund and set up a special task force to oversee the disbursements from the fund. This way the entire 25% would be completely given away. Council designated Linda Cassady, our President of the Congregation, to Chair the task force; then Council selected several Council members to serve on it; finally, Council allowed members of the congregation to self-select to serve on this task force — allowing on the task force any member who had special interest in how this money would be disbursed. Council then began the publicity that would invite all members of Holy Trinity (and ONLY members of Holy Trinity) to apply to this fund for grants to be given to their favorite charity beyond Holy Trinity.
Council spent most of the spring and summer of 2015 publicizing this opportunity within the congregation through the bulletin, newsletter, and special church-wide meetings. Council designed a form that every applicant (including the pastors) needed to use to apply for grants to their favorite beyond-Holy-Trinity charities. Each applicant (including the pastors) could apply for grants to no more than three non-profits.
By December 31, 2019, all of the Mission Commitment Fund grant money had been disbursed.
All grants had to meet three criteria which were listed in bold print at the top of every application:
The Three Criteria that must be met for a fund request to be considered by Council & the Mission Commitment Task Force:
A) The fund request must be for a Christian organization (church or parachurch)
B) The Christian organization must be a 501 (c) 3 – ( tax-exempt)
C) The Christian organization must either be listed on Charity Navigator or be a Christian organization that Holy Trinity has supported in the past.
Grant Request Form — Updated by Council 6/1/2016
Cover Letter to Accompany each Grant — Updated by Council 6/1/2016
The non-profit charitable organizations that received grants in 2019 were:
Asia Harvest
Bread of Heaven Food Pantry
Carson Simpson Farm
Coalition for Christian Outreach
Compassion International
Cradle of Hope
Emmanuel Lutheran Church, State College
First Lutheran, Kirkland Illinois
Harvest USA
Holy Trinity Parish Relief Fund
Kensington Ministries of Holy Trinity
Logan Hope School
Lutheran World Relief
NALC Disaster Response Fund
NALS (North American Lutheran Seminary)
Samaritan’s Purse
Silver Springs/Martin Luther School
St. Joan of Arc/Holy Innocents Parish
St. Mark’s Reformed Episcopal Church
The Cole Family/Guatemala Mission
Wayne Hall
Valley Christian School
Voice of the Martyrs
Water Mission International
World Mission Prayer League
Wycliffe Bible Translators
Young Life of Montgomery County
The non-profit charitable organizations that received grants in 2018 were:
AIDS Dinner
Asia Harvest
Bread of Heaven Food Pantry
Carson Simpson Farm
Coalition for Christian Outreach
Compassion International
Cradle of Hope
Emmanuel Lutheran Church, State College PA
First Lutheran Church, Kirkland Illinois
Harvest USA
Holy Trinity – Parish Relief Fund
Kensington Ministries of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church
Logan Hope
Lutheran World Relief
NALC — Disaster Response Fund
NALS (North American Lutheran Seminary)
Samaritan’s Purse
Silver Springs / Martin Luther School
St. Joan of Arc — Holy Innocent’s Parish
St. Mark’s Reformed Episcopal Church
Sunday Breakfast Mission
The Cole Family Foundation / Guatemala Mission
Valley Christian School
Voice of the Martyrs
Water Mission International
World Mission Prayer League
Wycliffe Bible Translators
Young Life of Montgomery County
The non-profit charitable organizations that received grants in 2017 were:
Asia Harvest
Carson Simpson Farm
Compassion International
Cradle of Hope
First Lutheran, Kirkland, Illinois
Harvest USA
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church – AIDS Dinner
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church – Parish Relief Fund
Immanuel Lutheran Church State College
Interfaith Food Cupboard
Logan Hope
LC-MS (for missionaries Bill & Nicole Lohmeyer)
Lutheran World Relief
NALC (toward operating costs)
North American Lutheran Seminary
Samaritan’s Purse (Operation Christmas Child)
Silver Springs – Martin Luther School
St. Mark’s Reformed Episcopal Church
Sunday Breakfast Mission
Trinity Seminary (for Seminarians Caleb and Lynnae Douglas)
Valley Christian School
Voice of the Martyrs
Water Mission International
World Mission Prayer League
Wycliffe Bible Translators
Young Life of Montgomery County
The non-profit charitable organizations that received grants in 2016 were:
AIDS Dinner
Asia Harvest
Carson Simpson Farm
Compassion International
Cradle of Hope
Emmanuel Lutheran Church – State College
First Lutheran, Kirkland Illinois
Harvest USA
Holy Trinity Parish Relief Fund
Interfaith Food Cupboard
LC-MS (Missionaries Bill & Nicole Lohmeyer)
Logan Hope
Lutheran World Relief
NALC
North American Lutheran Seminary
Samaritan’s Purse
Silver Springs – Martin Luther School
St. Mark’s Reformed Episcopal Church
Sunday Breakfast Mission
Trinity Seminary, Ambridge (Seminarians Caleb and Lynnea Douglas)
Valley Christian School
Voice of the Martyrs
Water Mission International
World Mission Prayer League
Wycliffe Bible Translators
Young Life of Montgomery County
The non-profit charitable organizations that received grants in 2015 were: (name of the member requesting the grant)
AIDS Dinner (Maryann Leventhal)
Asia Harvest (Rosemary Hinkle)
Carson Simpson Farm (Danielle Rowley)
Compassion International (Deb Mumford)
Cradle of Hope (Rosemary Hinkle & Katie Beyers)
First Lutheran Church, Kirkland Illinois (Heide Caputo)
Harvest USA (Rosemary Hinkle)
Holy Trinity Parish Relief Fund (Danielle Rowley)
Interfaith Food Cupboard (Judi Reeder)
Lutheran Church Mo. Syn. — Missionaries Bill and Nicole Lohmeyer (Pastor L. Guenzel)
Lutheran World Relief (Pastor Mandy)
Logan Hope School (Judi Reeder)
NALC North American Lutheran Seminary (Pastor Mandy)
Silver Springs/Martin Luther School (Heide Caputo)
Samaritan’s Purse — Christmas Child (Rosemary Hinkle)
Society of the Holy Trinity (Pastor Mike)
Sunday Breakfast Rescue Mission (Alan Hinkle)
Trinity Seminary — Seminarians Caleb and Lynnae Douglas (Linda Cassady)
Valley Christian School (Terry Rowley)
Voice of the Martyrs (Deb Mumford)
Water Mission International (Pastor Mandy)
World Mission Prayer League — Missionary Didi Panzo (Pastor Mike)
Wycliffe Bible Translators (Kathy Ingerson)
Young Life of Montgomery County (Alan Hinkle)