Loretta Wolf and Glenna Thompson on Dec. 30, 2025, concluded their work with the Church of the Brethren Material Resources program at the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md. These layoffs were due to the closing of the Material Resources program at the end of 2025.
Loretta Wolf had served as the longterm director of the Material Resources program. In total, she worked for the Church of the Brethren for almost 50 years, since beginning her service on July 12, 1976. She led the Material Resources program for more than 40 years, beginning in 1984.
Glenna Thompson worked for the church for 44 years. She began at the Brethren Service Center in September 1980 as a SERRV sales representative. In 1982, she became a records secretary, working in that position for 23 years. On Jan. 21, 2014, she was rehired as office assistant for Material Resources.
“This brings to an end the employment of a Material Resources team whose years of service total 233 years,” reported the December 2025 issue of Messenger magazine, in a retrospective of the program.
“It has been the hands, the arms, and the backs of the staff that have kept the ministry going for so long,” said Roy Winter, executive director of Service Ministries for the Church of the Brethren, as he recognized the Material Resources staff during the October 2025 meeting of the Mission and Ministry Board. “It has been their dedication and service that loaded the trucks so that aid will get to the pier and its final destination on time. Amazingly, all the staff have faithfully stayed with us through this difficult time, when it may have served them better to move on.”
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