Power for the Cause—Thrivent Financial Volunteer Excellence Award recipients talk about what drives their efforts, and why each cause is near and dear to their hearts.

With a background in education and church youth work, it’s only natural that many of Bob Morgenthaler’s volunteer activities would center on children and youth.

“I have a great love for youth and helping them grow, in their physical being but also in their faith and understanding of God and how they should be living their lives,” Morgenthaler says.

When his daughters were preschool age, the Morgenthalers, who were living in Mahopac, New York, searched for a Christian preschool but couldn’t find one. They found plenty of preschools based in a church, but none provided the Christian foundation they were looking for.

“So when our church, Grace Lutheran in Yorktown Heights, New York, started a building project, it was heavy on my heart that we also needed to provide a Christian preschool as an added value,” Morgenthaler says. “My wife and I prayed about it and decided to help make it happen—both financially and in terms of sweat equity. It’s now in its fifth year, and the children are not just hearing about Santa Claus but they are hearing about the birth of Jesus. At Easter, it’s not just the butterfly, but they are learning about the death and resurrection of Jesus.

But Morgenthaler doesn’t limit his activities to children. When the American Cancer Society needed help with the local Relay for Life in Mahopac, he pulled together 120 walkers, including 60 Thrivent Financial members, to participate. He didn’t have a personal tie to cancer when he began participating in the annual walk, which raises funds for the cancer group, but since then several close family members have battled the devastating disease. “It’s very important that this work continues,” he says.

The Morgenthalers moved from New York to Tulsa, Oklahoma, earlier this year, and Bob already is finding ways to get involved, although minimally at first as he gets his Thrivent Financial business established.

“I appreciate my work with Thrivent Financial that allows me a flexible schedule,” Morgenthaler says. “My volunteer work doesn’t have to be confined to evenings and weekends. I also appreciate that my position as a field representative gives me the added opportunity as I meet with pastors and community leaders to find out where the needs are. And once I start hearing about needs, they start tugging at my heart.”

Morgenthaler already is plugging in with the youth group at Immanual Lutheran Church in Broken Arrow and is actively volunteering with Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity, which is participating in two builds in Oklahoma in 2006.

Why does Morgenthaler volunteer?

“Certainly it’s what Jesus would want us to do, but it’s not totally why I volunteer,” he says. “It’s the enjoyment factor that I get out of it. My goal is to retire comfortably and get into some type of ministry work—work where the ministry doesn’t have to support me but I can support it.”