Day 97: Ring of Care

Just as the Holy Spirit has been working through each member of the Hunger Relief Community over these last 100 days, the Holy Spirit has been busy feeding and guiding the members of Metro CareRing for nearly 40 years.

Today, we give thanks for these dedicated employees, volunteers, and caregivers who strive to meet basic human needs, promote self-sufficiency, and advocate for social change right here in our own community. The tireless efforts and genuine care of Metro CareRing has given us new understandings into what it looks and feels like to truly be hungry, and their tangible example of feeding one's neighbors will live within us, well beyond the 100th day.

Formed with Care: Metro CareRing is a non-profit organization, offering food and personal items, utility payments, transportation assistance, and identification documentation. Utilizing over 150 regular volunteers and eight staff members, Metro CareRing serves over 119,000 individuals each year. Metro CareRing strives to create a "ring of care" around the people in the community most needing emergency assistance.

Rooted in Care: Metro CareRing was initiated in 1974 by five downtown Denver churches to offer a comprehensive response to people in need. Thirty-six years later, partnerships and funding sources include foundations, businesses, faith communities, agencies, schools and individuals.

Serving with Care: About one third of the households receiving services at Metro CareRing are considered “working poor”: they are working, but do not earn enough to meet their basic needs. Over one third is on fixed incomes, and while their incomes never change, the cost of living in Denver continues to rise.

Other clients have experienced a financial setback, such as unemployment, loss of a family member, or medical emergency. Many have physical or mental disabilities and cannot work. Most have little or no money for food, clothing, child or health care, or transportation.

Providing Care: Metro CareRing provides bags of food, toiletries and work-related resources to meet immediate needs. They also provide a listening ear and short-term solutions to current situations. Educating and mobilizing the community to affect long-term solutions to hunger, poverty and homelessness is also a goal.

Day 97. Dollar 97. God of unity and peace, you give each of us grace through the gift of Christ. We give you thanks for associates in ministry, especially Metro CareRing, through whom your people are equipped for the work of ministry and for building up the body of Christ. With your Holy Spirit empower your servants in their calling, so that together we come to the unity of the faith and to the measure of the full stature of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen. (Additional prayers, ELW)