ELCA World Hunger is excited to announce the addition of a new staff member, Everdith Landrau. Read more about her below! 

Hi everyone, my name is Everdith Landrau, also known as Evie, and I am delighted to join the ELCA World Hunger as Director of Networking and Engagement.  I am a native of San Juan, Puerto Rio by way of Manhattan (Spanish Harlem), New York.  I am an ordained Minister of Word and Sacrament with the Presbyterian Church, (USA).  My grandmother fostered the love of service early on in my childhood.  Growing up in an urban setting both in Puerto Rico and Spanish Harlem exposed me to the many struggles of hunger, food insecurity and poverty in Black and Latinex communities.

My service to the Church has taken different forms, including ecumenism, inter-faith relations, faith formation, youth and young adult ministry, art/healing movement, and food justice and advocacy.  As an ecumenical leader with my local congregation and the World Council of Churches, I collaborated in various justice service programmatic projects and critical theological reflection.  My doctoral research was focused on the health disparities of African American women in Charlotte, NC.  I researched the realities of how health disparities, hunger, food insecurity, and entrenched institutional racism prevents the flourishing of many Black and Brown communities in the South and the United States.

Much of my passion for prophetic justice has been nurtured by mentors, my spiritual formation alongside Black and Brown siblings and immigrant communities.  I have been honored to be a pastor in North Carolina while participating in community engagement and networking between diverse communities.  In many of our churches, we addressed hunger through soup kitchens, food pantries and intentional advocacy projects with local officials and nonprofit organizations.  I believe in the power of building resilient communities and creating brave spaces of dialogue, action and prayer.

In my free time, I enjoy exercising, creating handmade jewelry, dancing, and playing with my three-year-old daughter, Aluna.

Join ELCA World Hunger in welcoming (back) former intern and current coordinator for network engagement, Petra Rickertsen!

Grateful for your warm ‘welcome back’ to the ELCA World Hunger team, I am elated to announce my graduation from 2018 intern to Coordinator, Network Engagement! My passion for working with the ELCA World Hunger began in high school at an ELCA National Youth Gathering, grew through creating educational opportunities at California Lutheran University, and blossomed through hands-on experiences spreading the news of our work as a Hunger Leader on my Synod’s Hunger Team. Along the way, I also worked with Lutheran Retreats, Camps, and Conferences for five summers (after many seasons as a camper), and Fit 4 The Cause throughout college, drawing camp and fitness close to my heart. Serving through each nonprofit fortified my joy for working with people diverse in their walks of faith and life.

Learning about God’s astounding creation from people to plants also piques my interest. It’s part of the reason why I eat vegetarian and feel so blessed to travel! Two great adventures included studying abroad one semester in Paris, then another semester at Oxford University (Balliol and Saïd Colleges) which included additional travel through Greece, Italy, and Israel. I find the most intriguing part of traveling to be learning about the relationships people create with their food and the communities that flourish around food’s journey from seed to body.

Though traveling abroad is brilliant, I’m just as excited for the adventures happening in my own backyard! As a people-person, everything is more fun with a buddy, whether that is skateboarding, camping, or simply staying in for homemade pizza and movie night. I’ll miss the mountains (and burritos).  However, I am curious about what it will be like to trade warm sandy beaches and palm trees on Christmas for dashing through the snow in Chicago. But, I am elated for the growth this change in scenery will bring! Most of all, I’m grateful to be here, supporting the incredible work you and our shared network is achieving through ELCA World Hunger ministries. I am inspired to be back working with you and this team until all are fed.

I’m excited to work with the ELCA World Hunger network in our shared mission to end hunger, from assisting to plan, manage and answer your questions regarding events like the ELCA World Hunger Leadership Gathering, to sharing on social media the astounding work you’re achieving in your communities, and our companions and partners are working on across the world.

This summer ELCA World Hunger welcomes two interns to the team. We are excited to have them share their gifts and talents with us. Learn more about them below!

Aml Mohamed, ELCA World Hunger Education Summer Intern

My name is Aml Mohamed, and I will be working as the ELCA World Hunger Education Summer Intern. ‘Aml’ means ‘hope’ in Arabic, which is the first language that I speak in my home country of Egypt. I am a student at St. Olaf College in Minnesota, and I am designing an individual major which is titled International Youth Development. The major captures my passion to return home and pursue a career in youth development.

Before going to college, I completed a two-year pre-university program at the African Leadership Academy (ALA) in South Africa, whose mission is to prepare the next generation of African leaders. My experience at ALA motivated me to develop an educational initiative in my home city, Luxor, Egypt, called the “Step by Step Initiative.” The initiative aims to increase young people’s self-efficacy through providing them with life skills such as problem-solving, communication, teamwork and presentation skills. We were able to reach eighty students during the summer of 2018 and hope to continue in the future.

This is my first time in Chicago. While I am here, I hope to explore and learn about the history and the culture of the city. I will use some of my free time to pack my reflective thoughts and luggage, before I go on a St. Olaf College faculty-led study abroad program. The program is called Global Semester, and its theme is Education in a Global Context. During the program, we will visit six countries: France, Egypt, Tanzania, India, China and Argentina.

I am excited for the projects that we will be working on as the ELCA World Hunger Education team, and thankful for the learning opportunities that will come with it.

Joshua Meribole, Community Granting and Community Engagement Summer Intern

The building is tall. The work is important. The learning is endless.

Hello, my name is Joshua Meribole, and I am a Summer Intern at the ELCA in Chicago. I will be working as the Community Granting and Community Engagement Intern with ELCA World Hunger. I am from Nigeria and came to the U.S. to study community development and journalism at Dordt University in Iowa. I will officially finish college at the end of the summer.

In college, I studied the different community development practices that organizations around the world have done to help impoverished communities. I am looking forward to learning how the ELCA works alongside its partners to help communities tackle the multiple and interconnected layers of world hunger.

My work for this summer ranges from organizing events to writing blogs and articles to reviewing documents. With each of the tasks that I will be doing, I am excited to learn and to gain new experiences and skills that will add to my dream and vision to work with community members in the countries I grew up in.

In my free time, I like to read, watch TV shows and video tutorials, and talk to people. However, living in Chicago for the first time, I have had to put visiting iconic landmarks and going to festivals to my list of hobbies. So far, I have enjoyed meeting new people, expanding my taste buds and walking around the city.

After talking to people within the ELCA and hearing about their experiences and projects, I am looking forward to being part of the family.