NEW ULM — The local office of Thrivent Financial is hosting an event this week that could help soldiers overseas and nonprofits at home.

On Wednesday, June 28, from 5 to 7 p.m. in the New Ulm Community Center (600 N. German St.) visitors can help pack “Care” packages for soldiers in each branch of the military. The event doubles as a nonprofit fair, where volunteer-minded people can find out what organizations need extra hands and sign up.

“Our goal is that members of the community are going to A) get educated on who are the nonprofits in our community and B) have a chance to volunteer with these groups,” Financial Associate Amy Pearson said.

Anyone who signs up to volunteer during the event has a chance to win a grand prize made up of various items, including two tickets to the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre.

While the fair is from 5 to 7 p.m. those times are not hard deadlines, Financial Associate Jeff Amundson said. People are welcome to show up early and stay late.

There will be a light meal offered for a $5 donation to any present nonprofit. Some organizations that will be represented there include: Girl Scouts, Pro Kinship for Kids and Big Ideas Inc.

The care packages will go to soldiers in the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines and the Coast Guard. Thrivent used anysoldier.com which aims to support deployed soldiers with care packages.

The website hosts a list of contacts who describe the needs of the soldiers they represent.

“We picked one person from each branch of the military and combined the things they said that they could most use,” Office Professional Susan Plocher said.

This event is part of a new program Thrivent is piloting called Thrivent Community. Its goal is to attract members and nonmembers to make a difference through charitable, patriotic or religious events that address a broad, communal need, according to a printout from Thrivent’s website.

“Our office was selected as a pilot,” Lead Financial Consultant Tim Reinke said. “They (Thrivent) are piloting this concept throughout Thrivent Financial and through it Thrivent made some funds available to our office to do an event that would have an impact on our community. We chose to go down the military route and the success of this event will dictate the possibility of more events in the future.”

After being selected, the local office decided to reach out to local organizations and businesses.

“We actually invited some business leaders in New Ulm to help us with this decision,” Amundson said. “We all called nonprofits in New Ulm and asked ‘what are your greatest needs?’ and the common thread found with all of those phone calls was volunteers.”

So Thrivent set out to not only support the United States’ troops but also set up a chance to get local people involved in local nonprofits.

ccummiskey@nujournal.com.