Local church reaches out to community providing gifts and encouragement

In January 2020, Bethany Lutheran Church launched the L.E.S.S. program which stands for Loving Everybody by Simply Serving.

“Our goal is to help people reach out with loving and caring gifts to people in the community,” said Pastor Jon Coyne.

The first couple of months included a gift of home baked cookies and treats for seven Menlo Park and Atherton fire houses, a care package for college students, and a gift of baby supplies for teenage mothers. However, when the shelter in place orders arrived in March, the L.E.S.S. program was suspended.

“We were able to create a couple of ‘Covid safe’ projects during the months since March,” said Mele Fifita, who runs the program. “One project was to provide small gifts of encouragement for a group of nurses at Stanford hospital who were tasked with scheduling doctors and nurses during the pandemic.”

The program relaunched this month, where it began, at the firehouses. Mele is pictured with the fire fighters from station 77.