Meet Diane LaFontaine- St. Luke's Stewardship Council Representative

My name is Diane LaFontaine. I didn’t have any say about coming to St. Luke’s. In 1955 my parents moved to a house a block away.

After several years of continuing to drive to my mother’s home church in south Minneapolis, she realized having a Lutheran church a block away made more sense, so I’ve been here since 1959.

​I was confirmed here, I was married here in 1972 under that skylight when the sanctuary faced the other way. My children were baptized and confirmed here and some of my grandchildren were baptized here. My parents and husband’s funerals were held at St. Luke’s.

None of that is really important. What’s important is all of you. You’re why I stay. Over the years I’ve spent time with so many wonderful people on committees, in classes and bible studies. I’ll echo Becky Olson from last week: if you don’t feel like you know people, get involved! Join a group! There’s bible study on Wednesday night, you can learn to quilt, help out with property, be an audio visual volunteer, be on a committee, help with kids on Sunday mornings or Wednesday nights. As Rob says, there are 100 ways to participate in this congregation. I can guarantee you’ll be glad you did and you’ll make some good friends.

I’m your representative for Stewardship, after much thought and prayer. I’ll admit I never thought I would be on church council for Stewardship! I’m not 100% sure what all I’ll be doing.

There was no talk of money growing up. I got married right out of high school and had kids right away, we spent what we made - child care, mortgage, old cars. I still wasn’t really saving much for a number of years.

I took a class at church that emphasised saving, - I can never remember the name of the class - but it gave real ways to make savings happen. I had always known we should have savings, it just was hard to make it happen.

Now I have $1000’s in savings instead of $100’s, I’ve got CD’s which I never could have had and locked up 1000’s of dollars for any period of time before. I’ve got peace of mind if we have an emergency, and an interesting side effect is that as my savings have gone up, so has my credit score.

Best of all, I’ve been blessed to increase my giving to St. Luke’s in the last few years, and that’s wonderful. I love this church, and I’ve always wanted to be able to give more.

I think we’re so blessed to have this lovely building to worship and meet in, the talented musicians, a pastor who challenges us to grow closer to God and be better people. Most of all, we’re doing things in our community and the world that are making lives better. I hope you read the annual report that lists all the organizations that we support with your giving. It’s not just the visible gifts and collections at Christmas time, but the monthly gifts to places like the Synod that supports many organizations and congregations, Lutheran Social Service, and a host of others. The support that the recipients of those ministries receive doesn’t happen without us, and means we’re fulfilling our mission.
I realized that I did have a place on Stewardship after all. You may too!

---