1. Keys to the Future
More than 150 Thrivent Financial members, their families and friends from North and South Carolina and Georgia poured into Biloxi, Mississippi, for a week last October to help build homes for Hurricane Katrina victims.

Also during the week, the team assisted two families whose mobile homes had been destroyed by a tornado the day before the team arrived. The team also contributed an additional $1,000 to help an elderly woman purchase basic household goods and clothing.

2. Canned Good
What do you get when you place a shopping cart decorated with a Thrivent Financial for Lutherans banner in front of a grocery store? A heaping cart of groceries to benefit a local food pantry.

Members of the Jerauld County Thrivent Chapter asked the owners of TJ’s Food Store in Wessington Springs, South Dakota, if they could invite shoppers to purchase an item to donate to the Jerauld County Food Pantry. Shoppers simply dropped their item in the cart as they left the store. At day’s end, the overflowing cart was wheeled to the food pantry to be unloaded.

3. 150 Meals a Minute
More than 180 chapter leaders and their spouses joined a team of local Thrivent Financial leaders in Toledo, Ohio, to pack 18,000 meals in two hours for Kids Against Hunger, a nonprofit organization that feeds hungry children in the U.S. and around the world.

“Everyone was excited about being educated on the issue of hunger globally and being part of a project where they could make a difference in a short amount of time,” says Peggy Kalis, manager of Lutheran community services for the area. A similar event involving more members is planned for April.

4. Making Music
Contemporary Christian band Caedmon’s Call headlined the annual picnic of the Upper Montgomery County and Lower Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Thrivent chapters in September. The event, which also featured the music of local praise bands Spirit of Grace and Set Apart, drew about 750 members and their families to Augustus Lutheran Church in Trappe, Pennsylvania.

There were chapter elections, information booths, music, food and games for the kids. The picnic also was a fund-raiser for Camp Victor Ministries, a disaster response camp in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. More than $2,500 was sent to Camp Victor.

5. In the Red
A day at the Houston Zoo last May was about more than seeing the animals. It was about celebrating Thrivent Financial members and recognizing their efforts in raising more than $1.26 million the previous year for organizations and individuals in the greater Houston area.

More than 600 members from nine Houston-area Thrivent chapters and their families, along with more than 15 Thrivent Financial representatives, all donning red Thrivent Financial visors, participated in the event that recognized 466 benevolent activities in 2006. The $1.26 million included dollars donated by Thrivent Financial. At the zoo, they also collected truckloads of food and donations for a local food pantry and the local Humane Society.

6. Buy Me Some Peanuts
The John O’Donnell Stadium in Davenport, Iowa, was filled to capacity as Thrivent Financial members and their families and friends came out to cheer on the Swing of the Quad Cities baseball team at the 14th annual Thrivent Financial Night at the Ballpark. It was a chance to celebrate being Thrivent Financial members but also an opportunity to raise more than $14,400 for four regional Special Olympics divisions.

The crowd, numbering more than 5,700, included participants from nine Thrivent chapters, 84 Lutheran congregations and four Special Olympics divisions. It also included community business partners and local Thrivent Financial representatives and leaders.

7. Summer Fun
About 7,000 people passed through Chippewassee Park in Midland, Michigan, to enjoy food, games and the sounds of Christian artists Todd Agnew, The Turning and Rush of Fools during the first Thrivent Financial Rocks the Park event. The faith-based family fun day in July also included inflatable toys and games for the kids, and a professional skateboarding show.

“We wanted to create a buzz in the community about Thrivent Financial for Lutherans,” says Mike Redford, manager of Lutheran community services for a large part of Michigan. “About 75 percent of our 37 chapters in the state participated.”

8. Art of Saying Thanks
Hors d’oeuvres. Exclusive art gallery tours. Music. It was all part of the gala event, The Art of Saying Thanks, at the Denver Art Museum. More than 1,100 Thrivent Financial members from the Lutheran community celebrated their contributions to the efforts of agencies and ministries serving Colorado. The evening included opportunities to connect with leaders from Lutheran colleges, social ministry organizations and outdoor ministries.

The Denver Art Museum provided many opportunities for members to visit galleries, enjoy four distinct musical styles and engage in informal conversations with their financial representatives in gathering rooms decorated in Thrivent Financial red and gold.

9. Financial Fitness
A new club was started at Bethlehem Lutheran Church and School in Kennewick, Washington, in October. It’s the Thrivent Financial Fitness Club—the first in Kennewick, says Thrivent Financial representative and club trainer Michelle Clary, who is planning to start another soon.

“It’s such a huge need from a ministry standpoint,” says Clary of the club, which focuses on financial topics such as “Balancing Your Must Haves, Wants and Savings,” “Taming Your Spending Triggers,” “Preparing for the Unexpected” and “How to Read and Correct a Credit Report.”

Twenty people attended the first four-week club. More information on the clubs can be found at www.thrivent.com/magazine/fitnessclub.

10. Baby Steps
Imagine being able to hand a check for $11,000 to a nonprofit group that means the world to you. That’s exactly what Thrivent Financial member the Rev. Joe Strandjord of Bigfork, Montana, was able to do, thanks to sales and concerts from his CD “Olivija’s Lullaby,” named after his daughter, Olivija, who was born four months premature in 1998.

The money will benefit Precious Beginnings in Portland, Oregon, an organization that supports families in the neonatal intensive care unit. The production of the CD was made possible by the North Oregon Coast Chapter of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. Strandjord, formerly of Clatskanie, Oregon, continues to do concerts for the cause.

11. Road to Change
Partially patterned after the American Cancer Society’s signature Relay for Life, the Rock-n-Relay for the Rose in Greeley, Colorado, garnered just as much enthusiasm from its participants. But no one was as excited as the benefit’s beneficiary, Breanna Rose Martinez, who rode the relay route on a special bicycle with her dad.

More than 250 people, as well as many area businesses and churches, participated in and donated to the relay to honor Breanna, 14, who was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2005. The event, sponsored by the Weld County Colorado Chapter of Thrivent Financial in partnership with other area organizations, raised $21,000, including $5,000 from Thrivent Financial.

12. Tribute to Heroes
In its 17-year history, the Veterans Memorial Museum in Fresno, California, had never been honored by a fund-raiser. Instead, it has survived on a shoestring budget and the help of numerous volunteer veterans.

That changed when Thrivent Financial representatives Glenn Dembroff and Mike Fitzgerald of Clovis, California, rallied Thrivent Financial members and museum volunteers to host “Heroes of the Valley—A Veteran’s Day of Recognition.” The gala event paid tribute to America’s heroes in stories, music and speech. More than 150 people volunteered for the event, which drew more than 500 attendees and raised more than $15,000 for the museum.