From left, Good Shepherd Interfaith Volunteer Caregivers board member Shane Marrone holds a check from Women of Shepherdstown Lutheran Parish with Gail Kohlhorst and Kathryn Henry earlier this month. Tabitha Johnston

SHEPHERDSTOWN — In spite of the safety challenges related to the COVID-19 Pandemic, Good Shepherd Interfaith Volunteer Caregivers has remained diligent in their work to care for the health-related needs of local residents. And thanks to a generous donation resulting from an auction held by the Women of Shepherdstown Lutheran Parish, GSIVC will be able to continue providing such help.

According to Women of Shepherdstown Lutheran Parish President Gail Kohlhorst, the group includes women from both St. Peters Lutheran Church in Shepherdstown and St. James Lutheran Church in Uvilla, and is a chapter of the Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. The organization is a conduit for Lutheran women to engage in for service, study, advocacy and fellowship activities, such as by holding charity auctions, like the Women of Shepherdstown Lutheran Parish did in November for GSIVC.

“The chapter held the auction to help further Good Shepherd’s work in Jefferson County,” said chapter treasurer Kathryn Henry.

According to Kohlhorst, the annual baked good auction has been held for many years during the Shepherdstown Volunteer Fire Department’s annual Apple Butter Festival, to raise funds for multiple local charitable organizations. Following social distancing guidelines made it necessary for the festival to be cancelled, and for the auction to be moved online. The chapter realized the cancellation of local fundraisers, like the festival, would negatively impact organizations that were reliant on the funds raised during them, leading them to designate GSIVC as the auction’s sole recipient this year.

“We knew they weren’t able to raise funds like they usually do, because they had to cancel all of their fundraisers this year,” Kohlhorst said, inferring the organization’s fundraisers could not be altered to fit the guidelines.

Since the community was unable to support GSIVC at their annual fundraisers, Kohlhorst said they made up for it, by turning out for her chapter’s auction.

“I think, because people knew this was for Good Shepherd, they wanted to donate more to the fundraiser. Usually, from year to year, we’ll make $600-$800,” Kohlhorst said. “This year, we were able to raise $1,750 for Good Shepherd Interfaith Volunteer Caregivers, which provides essential services for Jefferson County.”

According to Kohlhorst, the funds raised from the auction will help GSIVC provide rides to appointments for Jefferson County’s older and disabled residents, facilitate calls to people who live alone, loan out medical equipment and occasionally help with yard work or house projects, for free.

GSIVC board member Shane Marrone accepted the check from the auction in December, and expressed his appreciation for the community’s generosity.

“I just want to thank you guys for doing it! It definitely means a lot,” Marrone said.

According to Marrone, the community can also support GSIVC through donations, shopping on Amazon Smile with GSIVC as their charitable recipient and joining GSIVC’s board.

“We’re looking for the younger generation to put in some time and give their input on how we can be a better organization,” Marrone said.

To learn more, visit https://gsivc.org/.