Members In Action
 Walk This Way - Thrivent Financial members in Montana take steps to support cancer treatment.
When Louise Nissen heard about Hi-Line Sletten Cancer Center, a new treatment facility coming to Havre, Montana, she knew what it meant: more health care options closer to home. And when the fledgling center issued a call for fund-raising help, Nissen knew just where to turn: her Blaine-Phillips County Chapter of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.
Nissen, records director for the chapter, also approached the nearby Hill, Liberty and Chouteau county Thrivent chapters about supporting the center, scheduled to open in August 2008. The Rev. Michael O’Hearn, Hill County Chapter president and pastor of First Lutheran Church in Havre, was on board immediately. “I have volunteered to drive people hundreds of miles to get their chemotherapy and radiation,” he says. “It’s a real hardship for them to have to travel that far for treatment.”
Together, the chapters organized the Walk for the Hi-Line Sletten Cancer Center. To raise funds, 158 participants walked three or more miles in various locations on a mild September day. Some drove more than 110 miles just to walk! About 60 participants then gathered in Havre, where they walked to the site of the future center, ate lunch and released balloons holding the names of friends and family affected by cancer.
The group raised $18,715 and received an additional $7,500 from Thrivent Financial. For Nissen, whose family has been affected by cancer, the walk showcased the best of small towns. “Our communities really pull together to help out people in need,” she says.
—Holly O’Dell
Find out how you can connect with your local Thrivent chapter. Click on Chapter Locator at www.thrivent.com/members.
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