Noisy Offering
In 2015, the children of Gethsemane Lutheran Church started collecting a Noisy Offering. That is, they have been collecting loose change in tin cans after the children’s time. So, on the second Sunday of the month, immediately after the Children’s Time, the Pastor tells the children to pick up one of the offering cans on the front pew and the children go around and collect everyone's loose change. We generally collect for 6 months at a time and then donate it to a charity.
The first collection for 2015 was given to Keenan Graves, he is a teenage boy from Salem, IN who suffers from seizures and is being treated at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. Two church members, Missy Bussabarger and Judy Ackerman, know Keenan’s mom.
The second collection for 2015 was given to the American Cancer Society – Hope Lodge in Lexington, KY. It is a facility that offers free stays to cancer patients and their caregivers while they are being treated at the University of Kentucky. Church member, Patty Bussabarger, had been treated at the Markey Cancer Center that year and stayed at their facilities.
The first collection for 2016 was given to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. One of the children at Gethsemane, Eleanor Pendleton, who was 7-years old at the time, had seen a commercial for St. Jude on TV and asked that the Noisy Offering go to them.
The second collection for 2016 was given to Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church in Georgetown, IN. It is a LCMS church that runs a preschool. Two of the children at Gethsemane, Jacob Bussabarger and Emmett Pendleton, attended their preschool and were doing a project to help a boy named Abraham from South Sudan attend school.
The first collection for 2017 went to K-9 Comfort Dogs run through Lutheran Church Charities, based on a request by church member Greg Linker. Greg scheduled a visit where K-9 Comfort Dog, Mercy, and her handlers came and visited the church and explained what she did.
The collection for the second half of 2017 was designated to go to Harrison County Animal Control. One of the children at Gethsemane, Emmett Pendleton, asked that we collect for them.
The Noisy Offering for the first half of 2018 was given to the WHAS Crusade for Children in honor of Jon Saulman. The church decided to donate to them when the Harrison Township Volunteer Fire Department Chief Jon Saulman climbed up into the vestibule of the church to re-attach the rope to the bell.
Judy Hardsaw requested that the Noisy Offering for the second half of 2018 go to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Good Gifts Program. Through this program, the children of Gethsemane purchased animals (piglets, chicks, roosters, goats), water filtration systems, school supplies, and food for refugee families, for those in need around the world.
The Noisy Offering for the first half of 2019 was donated to Mallory Mae Sims. She is a local 10-year old girl who has Cerebral Palsy and is in need of a wheelchair-accessible van. Maria Bussabarger and her mom took her 4 boys to Hayswood Park in the fall of 2018 and they were having Mallory Mae Day to raise money, so Maria asked that our next Noisy Offering go to Mallory Mae.
Our Noisy Offering for the second half of 2019 was given to the REMC Electric Assistance Program per the request of Paul Binkley. This program is designed to help REMC members who are below 150% of the poverty level pay their electric bills in times of need. Our donation will be matched by equal funds from the Harrison REMC.
Our Noisy Offering for 2020 went to 4:34 Ministries at the request of our Church Council. The mission of 4:34 Ministries is to address the needs of the homeless in Southern Indiana. Acts 4:34-35 (NIRV) There were no needy persons among them. From time to time, those who owned land or houses sold them. They brought the money from the sales. They put it down at the apostles’ feet. It was then given out to anyone who needed it.
Our Noisy Offering for 2021 is going to support K-9 Comfort Dogs run through Lutheran Church Charities. They've had a difficult 2020 and a rough start to 2021. K-9 Comfort Dogs Susie, Louie, and JoJo have passed away and they lost one of their founders and a beloved handler in December 2020 to Covid.
The Noisy Offering for 2022 is going to support Big Brothers Big Sisters in Memory of Judy Ackerman. Every year, Judy would put together a team from Gethsemane to bowl in the Big Brothers Big Sisters Bowl for Kids Sake. Judy was a long-time member of Gethsemane who passed away in 2020.
As members of the ELCA, we believe that God is calling us into the world – together. And with generous, loving hands, we can make a difference.