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Immokalee’s Amigos en Cristo recently received a $100,000 grant from the Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Foundation, Appleton, Wis., designed to generate thousands more in financial gifts to the ministry. The grant will allow Amigos en Cristo, Inc. to hire a new Development Officer to help raise funds in support of a new multicultural Lutheran Church and Social Service Agency in Immokalee.

The grant is part of the Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Foundation Charitable Gifting Initiative designed to educate supporters of Lutheran institutions and ministries about the advantages of tax-wise charitable gifts.

“We are thrilled to receive this well timed and generous investment from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans,” said Rev. Robert V. Selle, executive director of Amigos en Cristo.

“This will help us to carry out our vision of establishing a thriving Lutheran Word and sacrament ministry in English, Spanish and Haitian Creole in the Farmworker community of Immokalee, Florida.”

“It is our hope that this grant will strengthen Amigos en Cristo’s ability to inform potential donors of various options available to them to financially support the church’s work,” said Brad Hewitt, president of the Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Foundation. “As people come alongside Amigos en Cristo with charitable gifts, Amigos en Cristo will become increasingly effective in carrying out its mission.”

In 2007, the Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Foundation awarded 62 Charitable Gifting Initiative grants to Lutheran nonprofits ranging from $8,000 to $100,000. Those grants are expected to generate more than $177.6 million in immediate or deferred monetary gifts to Lutheran institutions in the coming years.

“Helping organizations communicate the benefits of tax-advantaged charitable giving to their potential donors is what this grant is all about,” said Karen Coonen, executive director of the Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Foundation. “We are delighted to support Amigos en Cristo through this grant as we know it will greatly multiply the support it receives from those who believe in its work.”