This year, in my weekly devotion, I will start a new practice of occasionally offering MIAs, Ministry Information Articles. The purpose will be to keep you informed and help celebrate the many great ministry activities carried out by amazing St. Luke’s servants. To start us off, I want to spotlight the work of our Creation Care folks. John Dane, member of our Trustees and loyal volunteer who collects our recycle waste each week and oversees many of our creation care efforts, wrote a recent message to volunteers in this area. He celebrated the work of our Electronic Waste collection trailer located next to The Lodge. This has been a place where people can leave discarded electronic items. It is a wonderful and very important way to care for the earth beyond the usual recycling of paper, plastics, and glass. Here’s his message:
I am pleased to report that RecycleForce picked up 19 tons of e-waste from our e-waste trailer in 2024. In 2023, they collected 18 tons from the trailer and 17 tons in 2022.
The trailer serves our surrounding community 24/7 by providing a recycling alternative for "anything with a plug." RecycleForce provides a weekly pickup of e-waste and re-processes these materials at their Indianapolis facility. Recycle Force is also a social enterprise that employs recently incarcerated individuals to facilitate their reentry into the workforce.
Special thanks to John Young of the Creation Care Ministry who regularly maintains the trailer and assures its accessibility for donors and RecycleForce staff.
With the spring construction of a new storage building near the Lodge we are working with our valued partner, RecycleForce, to replace the existing trailer with a newer one that fully meets our growing e-waste requirements!
Thanks to John Dane and his great leadership. He and his team help us live out our first occupation. In Genesis 1 we are called to be caretakers of the earth. That was the first responsibility placed on humans by God. Stewardship begins with being good caretakers of our “home.” We will think Sunday about practicing kindness toward one another. Let us also be mindful of practicing kindness toward the earth.