Twenty-three Lutheran congregations received grants totaling $100,500 from LIRS's Bernthal Fund for Congregational Involvement in the spring of 2000. These were the second annual grants from a fund honoring a veteran LIRS board member, now retired, the Rev. August "Gus" Bernthal of Winter Haven, Fla. The full partnership of Wheat Ridge Ministries of Chicago allowed LIRS to double the grants in 2000.

Following are brief descriptions of this year's Bernthal projects. They are presented alphabetically by states and cities.

Chinese Life Lutheran Church, Alhambra, Calif., for starting a new immigration services center. The center is seeking accreditation from the Board of Immigration Appeals.

Grace Lutheran Church, Washington, D.C., for developing on-site legal services through a part-time attorney named to the staff of its newly incorporated Jubilee Center. Help with starting this holistic ministry for immigrants came last year from the Bernthal fund.

Iglesia Luterana Santa Maria, Washington, D.C., a new mission congregation made up of immigrants from Mexico and Central America, for tripling from 10 to 30 the number of students served through an after-school program. The program operates four days a week and offers tutoring along with college orientation and counseling.

The Amigos Center, Bonita Springs, Fla., which was inaugurated last September by the Hispanic ministry office of the Southwest Florida Outreach Council made up of 13 congregations of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, for such services as classes in English and Spanish, translation and legal help. The latter is being given in partnership with the Miami office of the LIRS affiliate Lutheran Services Florida.

Salem Haitian Lutheran Church, Lake Worth, Fla., for start-up help for newly arrived Haitian refugees. The help covers temporary housing, finding a first job, finding affordable permanent housing once the refugees are working and ongoing counseling on how to maneuver through life in the United States.

First Lutheran Church, Moline, Ill., for an educational and recreational program on summer weekdays for school-age children. Started last year with a Bernthal grant, the program permits parents to study English without interruption when their children are not in school.

Faith Lutheran Church, Mundelein, Ill., for two programs serving a growing population of Mexican migrants. One is English as a Second Language classes. The other aims to improve health care in cooperation with the Open Door Clinic in Mundelein.

Windsor Heights Lutheran Church, Des Moines, Iowa, for an expansion of a computer-based ESL program offered in cooperation with the LIRS affiliate Lutheran Social Services of Iowa. The number of participants would double from 150 to 300. In addition, one-on-one "survival sessions" would be offered concurrent with the ESL classes in an adjacent room.

Christ Lord of Life Hispanic Mission, Hyattsville, Md., a Spanish-speaking congregation, for weekly classes for persons pursuing U.S. citizenship, child care for those in its ESL classes, and clerical assistance with such matters as notarizing documents and filling out job applications.

Zion Lutheran Church, Takoma Park, Md., for support of a legal services program begun last August to serve Hispanic immigrants in the community. In addition to legal counseling, the program expects to offer workshops on the rights of the immigrants and opportunities to legalize their status.

Christ Lutheran Church on Capitol Hill, St. Paul, whose membership includes speakers of 10 different languages, for expanding the services of its parish nurse. The plans call for more health education, home and hospital visits and contacts with appropriate health resources.

Hmong Central Lutheran Church, St. Paul, for expanding its tutoring ministry offered weekdays from 3:30 to 6 p.m. and adding a social component. Serving the children who make up two-thirds of the congregation's membership is a priority. A Scouting ministry supported last year by a Bernthal grant is flourishing.

Amigos de Cristo Mission of St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Sedalia, Mo., for a full-time resource coordinator. This previously part-time position combines doing social work with the community's Mexican and Central American immigrants and getting volunteers from St. Paul's and the community to give help.

Lord of Mercy Lutheran Church, Sparks, Nev., for establishing a partnership with Nevada Hispanic Service in Reno primarily to expand the legal services available to immigrants and offering ESL classes. A goal would be to gain accreditation for the service from the Board of Immigration Appeals since northern Nevada has no BIA-accredited help.

Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, Trenton, N.J., for expanded services to the Liberian refugees resettled in the community. The services would include ESL and literacy training, tutoring, job-readiness classes and transportation.

Salam Arabic Lutheran Church, Brooklyn, N.Y., whose members are Arabs who have immigrated to the United States within the last five years, for instituting an evening ESL program at both beginner and advanced levels.

Christ Assembly Lutheran Church, Staten Island, N.Y., made up of some 250 African immigrants, for classes in such subjects as survival skills, ESL and bookkeeping.

Our Saviour Lutheran Church, Staten Island, N.Y., for the ongoing work of the cooperative Liberian Outreach Ministry started in 1997 and based at the church. This is the second Bernthal grant for the ministry, which includes the services of a lay evangelist, parish nurse, caseworker, job developer and immigrant consultant.

Iglesia Luterana Cristo Redentor, Reading, Pa., which has a large number of Spanish-speaking immigrants among its members, for offering more ESL classes. Another repeat Bernthal grantee, the congregation is also involved in such services as food distribution, transportation and citizenship instruction.

Zion Lutheran Church, Sioux Falls, for establishing a Sudanese Refugee Assistance Center administered by an outreach coordinator. The center will help with problems related to housing, budgets, utilities, emergency cash, school enrollment and employment.

Cristo Rey Centro Luterano, El Paso, for pretraining for 16-20 immigrants from Mexico to bring their education up to the ninth-grade level and for support of a volunteer to help immigrants access legal and social services. The pretraining would make the immigrants eligible to enter a local job training project.

San Miguel Lutheran Church, Fort Worth, half of whose predominantly Mexican membership need legal status, for its accredited immigration services and for such additional help as computer classes and a referral network.

St. John Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas, for developing an English-Spanish training institute to offer such subjects as computers, oral and written translation, ESL for Spanish speakers, Spanish for English speakers, grant writing and getting a job.

Read about the 2001 Bernthal grantees.