Local Church Gives Away One Million Dollars

APTOS – Twin Lakes Church in Aptos gave away over one million dollars in 2015. That eye-catching statistic is one of many stats and stories in the church annual report distributed Sunday February 21 at the congregation’s annual meeting.

The church accomplished the goal by giving grants to local charities like Jacob’s Heart, Siena House, the Red Cross, Freedom Women’s Center and others, and their annual large donation to Second Harvest Food Bank. In addition, the church awarded over $174,000 in local school and camp scholarships.

“For our congregation’s 125th birthday year in 2015, we had the idea of giving away one million dollars toward meeting local and global needs,” said senior pastor René Schlaepfer.

Over half of the million dollars went outside the US, including orphanages, children’s homes, vocational training centers, and churches throughout Africa and India.

“What’s amazing to me is that all this is on top of the very generous way the church is supporting the dual project we are doing on classroom buildings both here in Aptos and in India,” said Schlaepfer. Both projects here in Aptos and India are scheduled to have their grand openings this spring.

“We are so privileged to partner with so many other churches and agencies that help care for the needy. We realize we are just hitting the tip of the iceberg. There’s so much to do. And as we all partner together in our community, amazing things will happen! This is not about ‘look at what we did’ — it’s just one example of people working together to get stuff done.”

Here’s the breakdown: Second Harvest food drive:  $177,990.10 • Global projects (schools, churches, orphanages, clinics, translation projects, etc.) $541,468.92 • Local benevolence (housing assistance, etc.) $55,000 • Refugee fund $42,950 • Camp scholarships $72,102 • School scholarships $102,500 • Community gifts (125th Anniversary Giving: Jacob’s Heart, Siena House, Red Cross, Freedom Women’s Center, etc.) $20,000

Total: $1,010,011.02