Fraternal Advantage - Fall 2009

Dryden Resident Honored for Her Volunteer Service
Ada Jarmosevich honored as third runner-up Fraternalist of the Year by the National Fraternal Congress of America.

The National Fraternal Congress of America (NFCA) recognized Ada Jarmosevich—a member of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, Chapter #30814 in Lapeer County, Michigan—for her outstanding volunteer efforts.  Jarmosevich was recently named third runner-up for the NFCA’s 2009 Fraternalist of the Year award, recognizing the nation’s top volunteers among the almost 10 million members affiliated with NFCA’s member-societies.  She was recognized at the 123rd NFCA Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas.

“Ada Jarmosevich is a shining example of what it means to be a fraternalist,” said NFCA President and CEO Joseph J. Annotti.  “We are pleased to honor Ada for selflessly giving her time to serve her community in so many ways.”

Jarmosevich serves the role as financial director of the Lapeer County Chapter; Jarmosevich is a driving force behind her chapter’s success and the raised awareness of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans in the area.  She has promoted use of Thrivent Financial Care programs, and spearheaded Care Abounds in Communities® and Care in Congregations® activities to help others in the community.

Jarmosevich’s chapter relies on her to bring forth new project ideas.  For JOIN HANDS DAY (a national day of service that brings together youths and adults to make a difference in their communities through helpful projects), she spearheaded a chapter activity where they hosted a community-wide prom for individuals with special needs.  For many of these individuals, this was their one and only prom.  One of the best features of the event was the recruitment of local high school students to share the evening with the guests.  For some of these students, it was their first opportunity interacting with individuals with special needs.

In addition to her work with her Thrivent chapter, Jarmosevich is very active in community organizations and her church.  She has been instrumental in the development and promotion of Linked Hearts, a community food bank and emergency help center that has grown from a partnership of community churches that addresses the needs of the cities residents.

Through her church, Holy Redeemer Lutheran Church, Jarmosevich volunteers at The Refuge—a traveling shelter for the homeless hosted by area churches.  She helps address the various needs of the homeless and makes sure they have warm meals.

She’s also responsible for filling Holy Redeemer's food pantry and coordinating their food drives to keep the pantry full.  For the past four years, she has served as the church’s Christian Community Service Director where she was the steward of the “The Love Fund,” which is designed to help the church members and the community in emergency situations.  She coordinated and distributed food baskets for people in need especially for Easter and Christmas.

She has trained leaders for Holy Redeemer's Stephen ministries, which offers one-on-one assistance to people needing support.  She led a baby bottle drive in her church for the Pregnancy Resource Center in Lapeer.  This activity gave Jarmosevich the opportunity to bridge the gap between her church and the community.  This created a new level of awareness and a new level of caring for some church members that have not volunteered for an activity outside the church before.

About Thrivent Financial for Lutherans
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans is a not-for-profit, Fortune 500 financial services membership organization helping approximately 2.6 million members achieve financial security and give back to their communities.  Thrivent Financial and its affiliates offer a broad range of financial products and services including life insurance, annuities, mutual funds, disability income insurance, bank products and more.  As a not-for-profit organization, Thrivent Financial creates and supports national outreach programs and activities that help congregations, schools, charitable organizations and individuals in need.  For more information, visit www.thrivent.com.