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Lutheran-sponsored Amigos center gets $100,000 grant for Collier work
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Amigos en Cristo is one step closer to its goal of raising $140,000 to continue its mission.
Amigos en Cristo, which has a new site in Immokalee at 106 S. Second St., recently received a $100,000 grant from the Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Foundation in Appleton, Wis., designed to generate financial donations to the ministry.
It will allow Amigos en Cristo Inc., a social service agency for Hispanics sponsored by Lutheran churches in Southwest Florida, to hire a new development officer to help raise money for a new multicultural Lutheran church and social service agency in Immokalee.
“This grant is so timely,” said the Rev. Robert Selle, executive director of Amigos en Cristo.
In March, Amigos en Cristo opened its 7,000-square-foot building in Immokalee, offering social services.
The Amigos site in Immokalee is the first center it owns. The other centers, one in Golden Gate, two in Bonita Springs and one in Fort Myers, are rent-free.
“If we don’t have the funding, we have to cut back on the programs and there is such a need in Southwest Florida,” Selle said.
Services offered include assistance with immigration, English classes and humanitarian services.
In 2007, the Amigos en Cristo social services center served 3,500 people in Southwest Florida.
The grant is part of the Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Foundation Charitable Gifting Initiative. It’s designed to educate supporters of Lutheran institutions and ministries about the advantages of charitable gifts.
“This will help achieve sustainable funding not only for what we are doing but for what we want to do in the future,” Selle said.
Currently, the Immokalee center is staffed with three pastors, a director of Christian education and volunteers. There is no paid social service staff yet, Selle said.
The estimated cost to staff and offer programs at the new center per year is $200,000.
To fully staff the center in Immokalee, Selle said more funding is needed. Selle hopes that’s accomplished with the assistance of a new development officer.
To achieve stable funding, Amigos has contracted with Benevon, which trains nonprofit organizations to implement a mission-based system for sustaining themselves with funding from individual donors.
“It is our hope that this grant will strengthen Amigos en Cristo’s ability to inform potential donors of various options available to them to financially support the church’s work,” Brad Hewitt, president of the Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Foundation, said in a prepared statement. “As people come alongside Amigos en Cristo with charitable gifts, Amigos en Cristo will become increasingly effective in carrying out its mission.”
Amigos en Cristo has applied for a $25,000 grant with Southwest Florida Community Foundation, also as part of its development strategy.
They organization has received $15,000 from individual donors.
In 2007, the Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Foundation awarded 62 Charitable Gifting Initiative grants to Lutheran nonprofits, ranging from $8,000 to $100,000.
For more information, visit www.amigoscenter.org.
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