July Compassion Offering:

The Good Shepherd Lutheran Church (GSLS) Food Pantry

Good Shepherd Lutheran Church (GSLC) offers a weekly food pantry serving the Orchard Ridge neighborhood and surrounding areas. Located at 5701 Raymond Road in Meadowood, the GSLC pantry currently serves up to 75 eligible individuals and families every Thursday.  Rick Thomas, GSLC Outreach Director, reports that local pantries continue to see reduced food availability from Second Harvest due to high demand and threatened reductions in federal funding. Donations from the July 2025 compassion offering will go toward purchase of food items and essentials that best meet the needs of food pantry clients.

Simply stated, this mission eases suffering and addresses basic human needs at the local level.

In addition to giving generously this month, here are additional ways that you can help:

● Food, paper goods or personal items are also accepted year-round at the GSLC Donation Room during weekday hours.

● Volunteer at the GSLC Food Pantry: Assist with registration, act as a host or help with stocking the shelves. Thursdays, 9:30am-Noon or 5:30pm-7pm. Familiarity with languages is a bonus, such as Spanish, Middle Eastern dialects, others.

● Volunteer your time in the ORUCC Veggie Village garden where we tend and harvest fresh vegetables for the GSLC food pantry.

For more information, see the YouTube video on the GSLS Food Pantry at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpvOgdNSeAE

Friday Breakfast Group – August 1, 9:00 am

The next Friday Breakfast is set for August 1 at 9:00 am at Denny’s, 433 S. Gammon Road! All are welcome. The group meets on the first Friday of the month and includes both men and women. Join us for this informal chance to connect and converse on many topics. Contact Louise Jeanne, Link for more information.

Announcement from the ORUCC Palestinian Justice Mission Team about an upcoming opportunity for ORUCC members to join our Mennonite friends in solidarity with those starving and dying in Palestine. 

*****  

Public action of hunger surrounded by plenty

Saturday, August 9th, 10-11 am

Dane County Farmers Market

Corner of King Street

We invite you to join us at an empty table surrounded by plenty. Bring your signs, bring your empty pots, bring your grief and anger, bring your hunger for justice.

Truckfuls of aid are being left to rot while people are left to starve. We call for a release of the aid and an end to the violence that causes the need for aid. End the blockade, end the genocide.

Kind regards,

Ruth Ann Berkholtz, Mennonite Action Madison

For questions, contact [email protected]

Sponsored by Jewish Voice for Peace, Madison for a World BEYOND War, and Mennonite Action Madison

Ideas for Signs 

• Food blockade / Feeds genocide
• Genocide in Gaza: Starving children / Killing doctors / Bombing hospitals / Targeting food sites
• Feel like a snack? People in Gaza subsist on 250 calories per day.
• Feeling hungry for peace? Kids in Gaza are dying of starvation.
• Starvation as a weapon of war = Genocide in Gaza. OUR SHAME.
• Food sites as targets: that’s how US weapons kill people in Gaza. OUR SHAME.
• They said, “I was hungry …” Did our money give bread or did we finance starvation?
• They said, “I was thirsty …” and our bombs destroyed water stations in Gaza.
• Send Food, Not Bombs

Come get your reading glasses!

For some time we have had three pairs of reading glasses (probably left in Worship Hall) waiting in the church office for their rightful owners to claim them. If you believe you have misplaced your reading glasses in the church, please come by the office and see if they are on the front counter next to the red tray.

Stay up to date on ORUCC Children and Youth happenings

Want to stay up to date on the latest with children and youth at ORUCC? Check out our weekly updates here:

https://orucc.org/keeping-current/children-and-youth-news//

MOSES’ Racial Justice for All Children Task Force is seeking volunteers

MOSES’ Racial Justice for All Children Task Force is looking for people who are passionate about addressing disparities in literacy among our students, promoting wellness and restorative practices in our schools rather than exclusionary discipline, and ensuring that our young people are in safe, stable and affordable housing. For more information, please visit our page on the MOSES website: https://www.mosesmadison.org/rjac/ Or contact Shel Gross, [email protected] 608-250-4368. ORUCC members Barbie Jackson [email protected] and John Lemke  [email protected] participate in this task force and can give you more information as well. 

Please Sign Up to Volunteer on Sunday Mornings!

AT ORUCC, the Members are the Ministers!

We are seeking volunteers to serve on Sunday mornings for in-person worship. You need not be a member, simply a person who loves ORUCC and is eager to find a place to serve! Young people are welcome to sign up, too!

Would you consider serving one or more times as a Welcomer, an Usher, a Lay Liturgist or to assist with Holy Communion?

Feel free to sign up as an individual, a couple, or a family!

Click here to sign up as a Welcomer

Click here to sign up as an Usher

Click here to sign up as a Lay Liturgist

Click here to assist with Holy Communion

• Page #1: Choose the date you are available to volunteer and select the box that says “SIGN UP“.  Then, at the bottom of the page select the box “SAVE & CONTINUE“.
• Page #2: Enter your first/last name and your email address. Then select the box at the bottom of the page “SIGN UP NOW“

Questions or problems signing up?

Contact Ken Pennings at [email protected] or 608-556-2371.

Spiritual

Nourishment

for you!

Daily Reflections for July

We are grateful for the ministry of Jeanne Moberly, who is a member of Adult Faith Formation, as she puts together a set of fresh readings every month for our devotional practice at Orchard Ridge UCC. If you know someone who needs encouragement and would like the devotional mailed to them, please contact the church office.

Daily Reflections for July 2025

Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ

1501 Gilbert Road

Madison, WI 53711

608-271-7212

Office Hours: M-Th 8:30-12:30