Sending warm thoughts ... and blankets
SAXONBURG — It's a rite of spring: the snow melts, the days get longer and a shipment of blankets made in Butler County gets shipped all the way to the Indian subcontinent.
The women of the Sewing Ministry of St. Luke's Lutheran Church, 310 W. Main St., are doing their part in the South East Asia Prayer Center (SEAPC)'s world missions as they reach out to Kashmir, India and Nepal.
The women have been making blankets, which are collected and hand delivered to places in the Himalayan Mountains, through the efforts of SEAPC for the past four years.
Gayle Gundlach of Clinton Township, a member of the sewing ministry, said, “We just gave them 14 (on March 4) and we've given them 50 all together.”
Recently Kashmir has been subjected to wide spread violence, said Matt Geppert, president of the Oakmont-based SEAPC and needs to see the love of Jesus in action.
“This is the fourth year we have taken blankets from St. Luke's,” said Geppert. “They are so incredible and amazing.”
Gundlach said the sewing ministry learned of SEAPC's mission after Geppert was introduced to St. Luke's pastor, the Rev. Roger Keller.
“He comes and talks about SEAPC's mission. The church gives them so much money every year. Every spring we make them blankets,” said Gundlach.
“They are lap blankets. They are not too hard to make,” said Gundlach. The ministry meets every other Thursday for four hours to make blankets and other items for donation to a variety of charities.
There's something about giving a gift in the name of Jesus that opens the door for ministry,” said Geppert, whose parents, Mark and Ellinore Geppert founded SEAPAC in 1990.
Geppert said, “We have a team leaving March 11 going to Kashmir. We have a medical team that will go in May as a follow-through.”
Bill Richardson, a SEAPC staff, is one of those leaving next week.
“I will be in Kashmir next Tuesday taking hospital supplies,” said Richardson. “We make trips to China, Kashmir and Nepal. I do about six trips a year.”
“Blankets are important,” said Richardson. “We give them to nomadic shepherds who could freeze. They are very important.”
Geppert said Kashmir is a mostly Muslim area in the north of India, sections of which are claimed by three countries, India, Pakistan and China.
According to Richardson, “The area is an active conflict zone since 1947.”
In fact, SEAPC works with a blind school to aid some of the 1,500 people who have suffered eye injuries in the violence.
Last week, according to news reports, tens of thousands of angry protesters poured onto the streets throughout Indian-controlled Kashmir, hurling rocks and shouting anti-India slogans after soldiers killed four civilians and two suspected terrorists.
Geppert said, “In Kashmir, there are men of peace trying any way they can to stop violence and outside influences that come into Kashmir and stir up the youth.”
SEAPC has four ministry platforms: health care, education, parenting and mico economic development initiatives to break the cycle of poverty.
Geppert said anyone wishing to help SEAPC's mission should call 412-826-9063 or visit SEAPC.org.
