Ladies Aid
The Ladies Aid is one of the oldest organizations of the MLLC. The group was organized in February 1914 and received the name the “Tabitha Ladies Aid” in April of 1948. Originally this group of ladies met in each other’s homes or in the church basement on a weeknight. The Pastor of the church, or the President of the group would provide a devotion at the beginning of each meeting and the ladies would discuss and plan ideas in a “quilting circle”.
Through the years, the Tabitha Ladies Aid has continued to provide and pray for the needs of MLLC itself, for local charities, and for the international missions of the Synod to the Glory of God.
Through its “projects”, the Tabitha Ladies Aid has promoted Christian service. The group has made visits to the shut-ins and ill members of the congregation dating back to the 1920’s, along with a card and sunshine basket ministry in the 1950s which continues still today. Donations have been made to various organizations such as the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League and the Marwood Orphan’s Home back in the 1950s, The Bethesda Lutheran Home and World Relief in the 1970s, and to the Synod Missionaries and Seminaries of today. To finance these “projects”, back in the 1920s, the women, most of which were housewives, had bazaars and sold items including the quilts that they themselves sewed by hand, vanilla extract, cleansers, “Ready Jell”, and food. In the 1970s the group has “Rummage” sales and sold Christmas cards, cutlery, and paper napkins. As the women became part of the local workforce, they used these methods less and less and are now making financial donations.
The Tabitha Ladies Aid has promoted Christian Fellowship by providing “tureens” or “potlucks for various occasions, Funeral dinners as well as picnics and ice cream socials to name a few. The women promoted Christian knowledge by teaching and financially assisting the MLLC Sunday School as well as donating to international missions, such as, to Latin America and Asia today.
Lastly, the Tabitha Ladies Aid has served its congregation by providing care and upkeep to the Church, the parsonage, and to the altar and its paraments. These tasks of love have ranged from cleaning the Church, to remodeling the kitchen, to purchasing and caring for the flowers, candelabras, the crucifix, the altar covers, and fair linens. For the past 100 years, the Tabitha Ladies Aid, as Christian stewards, has joyfully used God’s gift to a life in service to Him for the sake of others by promoting Christian service, Christian knowledge, and Christian Fellowship. The Ladies meet the 3rd Sunday each month in the Church Social Room. All are welcome.