LRAC to present $100K to domestic abuse shelter Dec. 7
The Lewes Rehoboth Association of Churches board of directors will present a check for $100,000 to help What is Your Voice, a local domestic abuse shelter, purchase land to expand its ministry.
The presentation will be made Wednesday, Dec. 7, at New Life Thrift Shop, an LRAC-sponsored ministry that raises funds for board grants to organizations that share LRAC’s mission to serve Cape Henlopen School District neighbors in need of housing and food. Jacqueline Sterbach, What is Your Voice founder and board president, will accept the check on behalf of the shelter. The grant comes with an additional $36,000 a year for the next three years to support operations at What is Your Voice.
New Lift Thrift Shop, managed by Andrea Caswell and staffed by more than 100 volunteers, has grown from passionate beginnings in several area churches to a six-day-a-week ministry that has facilitated grants of over $500,000 to ministry partners in 2022. Nearly half these funds support the Community Resource Center, a ministry started as LRAC’s Lend a Hand outreach program in 1985, which offers financial assistance to over a thousand families annually, runs a day center and job center for people who are homeless, and oversees a food rescue program distributing more than 30,000 bags of food each year.
Other ministry partners supported by New Life Thrift Shop proceeds in 2022 include Family Promise of Southern Delaware, addressing root causes of family homelessness; Lighthouse for Broken Wings, homeless shelter and transition housing; West Side New Beginnings, enrichment for youth in West Rehoboth; Cape Henlopen Food Basket, a USDA food distribution program; The Way Home, helping previously incarcerated citizens transition back into the community; the Lewes After School Program; and most recently, What is Your Voice.
The Lewes Rehoboth Association of Churches was established in 1983 as a collaborative effort of nine local churches to serve community members in need. Each church had some form of outreach to the community, and members decided to combine and coordinate their efforts to better assist and support individuals and families in the Cape Henlopen School District. In January 2022, LRAC transitioned its leadership to a nine-member board of directors, elected annually by representatives from the 11 current member churches: the Episcopal Parish of All Saints’ Church & St. George’s Chapel, Bethel United Methodist Church, Coolspring Presbyterian Church, Epworth United Methodist Church, Faith & Israel United Methodist Charge, the Lutheran Church of Our Savior, Metropolitan Community Church of Rehoboth Beach, St. Edmond Roman Catholic Church, St. Jude the Apostle Catholic Church, St. Peter’s Episcopal Church and Westminster Presbyterian Church.
For more information on LRAC, go to Facebook.com/LRACHelps.
