Homeless & Hungry 2009

If you live in Dilworth, MN...you may have seen a group of people walking around the town with grocery carts filled with non-perishable foods. Though they may have looked a bit ragged, they were actually collecting these foods and items for the area food pantries and shelters. In a short hour, over 100 pounds of donations were collected from individuals living at Serenity Assisted Living and the other residents of Dilworth.

Homeless and Hungry took place all over the Fargo-Moorhead area this last weekend. Over 750 people participated in a 30 hour fast, slept in cardboard boxes in the rain, attended an all-city worship, collected donations, participated in service projects and more. Serenity Assisted Living was one of many host sites in the area, and the first for Dilworth.

A simulation was held at the Oak Grove school where fleece blankets were being made and deliveries to the area shelters were headquartered. Three large groups including people of all ages were either helping at the area shelters, sorting donations, assembling fleece blankets and more!

Three youth from the Dilworth-Glyndon-High School and Dilworth Lutheran church particpated in this great opporunity. They were Amanda Kennedy, Brooke Bjerke & Amanda Heitkamp. These girls, along with leader from Dilworth Lutheran Church (Tara Ulrich) also prepared three meals and delivered them to the Dorothy Day house to be used in the upcoming days.

To finish off the weekend, everyone attended an all-city soup kitchen at the FargoDome. Food, clothing and blanket donations were available to our guests of the community, those who really needed them.

Thanks to our Dilworth crew and EVERYONE else who made this weekend a possibility. We look forward to another succesful year in 2010!

Food Donations

For Homeless and Hungry, our group at Serenity made a few homemade frozen meals to donate to the Dorothy Day house in Moorhead. Here is one of our recipes below:

Home-Style Meat Loaf

• 3/4 cup ketchup, divided
• 1/2 cup quick-cooking oats
• 1/4 cup minced fresh onion2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 2 large egg whites, lightly beaten1
• 1/2 pounds ground round
• Cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Combine 1/2 cup ketchup, oats, and next 6 ingredients (oats through egg whites) in a large bowl.
3. Add meat; stir just until blended.
4. Shape meat mixture into an 8 x 4-inch loaf on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray.
5. Brush 1/4 cup ketchup over meat loaf.
6. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before slicing.

September Serenade

Happy Birthday, Arlene Tangen!

Happy Birthday, Arlene Tangen!

She looks good for 18 doesn't she?! :-)

Homeless & Hungry Video

Homeless & Hungry Concert

Get your tickets now for the Leeland, Brandon Heath & Francessca Batistelli concert at Concordia to the kickoff for Homeless & Hungry.

The concert is Thursday, September 24th at 7:00 pm in Concordia's Memorial Auditorium.

Tickets are on sale on the Homeleses & Hungry website (http://www.homelessandhungry.org/), First Lutheran Church in Fargo, Family Christian Bookstore, The Rainbow Shop, Melberg's Bookstore and by phone at 701-235-7389.

Even better, sign up for Homeless & Hungry TODAY! Serenity Assisted Living is a host site for Dilworth. You can sign up to particpate, volunteer, bring donations or even to pray for the real homeless and hungry of the Fargo-Moorhead area.

Peace & God Bless.

It's Corn Season

It seems everywhere you look, there's someone on the corn selling sweet corn. Many of the ladies and gentlemen at Serenity remember doing the exact same thing in their younger years.

We often celebrate this past by picking up a big load of corn, sitting outside while listening to Patsy Cline and shucking the corn. Just take a look at our photo!

Happy Grandparent's Day

Oh, it was a glorious day. At about 78 degrees, families and friends came from all over for a BBQ at Serenity Assisted Living to celebrate Grandparents Day!


National Assisted Living Week is always started on Grandparent's Day...how fitting! Jacob Birkemeyer (he prefers to be called, Master Executive Chef) spent the afternoon on the grill making bratwursts, hamburgers and steaks. Even though it was the first day of Sunday football for the year, Jacob gladly slaved over the hot grill. :-)


The food was DELICIOUS. How could we forget Elaine Anderson's famous baked beans...I think I had three servings alone!

Ron Evans, musician extraordinaire, entertained the crowd in the courtyard with famous old time tunes. I think almost everyone was tapping their feet and Ron's wife, Twila, was up and trying to get some dancing going.

And of course, we had to have the Vikings game on in the All-Seasons room!! We couldn't miss Brett Farve's big debut as the Vikings quarterback...too bad Adrian Peterson stole the show! They came out with a win and it added to the terrific day.

The total count for the end of the day? We had over 130 people in and out the doors of Serenity today...we couldn't ask for more. These families are an inspiration to us all! Happy Grandparents Day!!

Pictured above is Esther Olson with her family.

Happy Birthday, Arlene Marshall!

Happy Birthday to you...

Happy Birthday to you...

Happy Birthday dear Arlene...

Happy Birthday to you!!

Now let's eat cake!

Where in the World?

Where in the World? Or should I say,

'Where's Waldo?'

Valerie Bostrom was spotted in London, England recently at Buckingham Palace.

Look closely and you can see a guard in red.