Recently we welcomed Rich Duncan as the Director of Mission Funding for the ELCA. We invited him to introduce himself on a guest blog post. Welcome Rich!

“Welcome to Chicago!”  was the emphatic greeting I was welcomed with just a few weeks ago when I arrived  from western North Carolina.  As the new Director of Mission Funding for the ELCA, I was overwhelmed by people excited to share their passion for the ministries of our church. I have never been around a more committed and motivated team of people drawn together, united in their mission to make a difference in the world.

I wish every Lutheran could walk in my shoes at the churchwide offices for one week to see all the outreach both domestically and globally: to see the immediate and compassionate response to victims of tornadoes in the Midwest, to see the impact in the lives of volunteers that went to Africa, to see our work combating malaria and hunger in multiple countries, to hear the excitement and exuberance in the voice of a pastor of a new start congregation, to see pictures and hear the stories of a young adult in global mission sharing Christ’s story and serving others in urban and remote areas of the world, to write a letter to a seminarian congratulating them on being awarded full tuition scholarship….

If every Lutheran could see and experience the incredible scope of what their church does for others, these humble Lutherans would boldly shout from the rooftops, “THIS IS MY CHURCH!” with the same pride experienced as a parent for his or her child.

One amazing thing our church does is help feed the hungry, while also addressing socio-economic issues connected to hunger. So many of us are blessed with abundance (enough money to buy what we eat; enough variety of food to make healthy choices), so it is hard to imagine being hungry for days on end. It is hard for us to imagine how much it costs for others around the world to feed themselves. When I saw this photo essay on the ELCA Wellness Facebook page, it emphasized for me our blessings and abundance compared to others.  So it is after viewing this that I ask you to share your abundance, share your faith, share your love for your church, remembering that the ELCA not only works to feed the hungry, but also works to end the systemic reasons why people go hungry.

We’re excited to have our new interns. They will be blogging periodically throughout the summer, but for now we’ve asked them to introduce themselves.

Hi all! My name is Brittani Lamb and I am an ELCA World Hunger intern this summer. I will mostly be focusing on projects that involve the youth of the ELCA. I am originally from St. Peter, Minnesota and now attend St. Olaf College in Northfield, where I will graduate next spring with a degree in Social Work. Through my coursework I learned how to act on the great passion I have for social justice and how to work to address issues like poverty and hunger.  I knew the ELCA would be a great place to put my new knowledge into practice. I got involved in the larger church in high school when I became a member and then president of my synod’s Lutheran Youth Organization board. As I attended national youth events and learned more about the structure and mission of the ELCA, I discovered that church is so much more than just a service on Sunday! People who work in the ELCA truly see their positions as a way to fulfill their personal vocations and as a way to serve God and the Church. I am excited to be a part of a group that is so enthusiastic about doing God’s work in our world and also learning more about addressing hunger and poverty through relief, education, advocacy and development.

I’m Jesse McClain, intern for ELCA World Hunger. I finished my B.A in Political Science from California Lutheran University in May 2013. I grew up in Hemet, CA and went to school in Thousand Oaks, CA. In high school my mom served as a case manager for a small homeless shelter in my hometown. Through her work there my family was very involved in the day-to-day operations of the shelter and it was my second home. During this time I began to see that the world was so much bigger than just me. It was also the first time I experienced and witnessed how much help the world needed. My passion is for justice and I fight for that with love. I am excited to be part of the ELCA World Hunger team and explore more ways to get involved and help our brothers and sisters around the world. Although it might seem overwhelming, hunger and poverty can end, but it takes passion, tenacity, and a human soul on fire to succeed. I know I can’t change the world alone and the work I do will only make a small dent- but the beauty of a church that works together is that a bunch of small dents makes one giant dent to end some of the suffering in the world, and that is why I am so thrilled to be part of this team!

Hi, my name is Clara Ranaivoson and I am the summer intern for the ELCA Malaria Campaign. I am originally from Madagascar, but I grew up in Papua New Guinea, England, Kenya, and the USA. My father, Mamy Ranaivoson, served as the Program Assistant for the Health Ministry of the ELCA Global Mission and the Regional Coordinator for the HIV/AIDs program for the Lutheran World Federation in Africa. Through his work and my experiences living overseas, I discovered my interest in health project implementation and its role in the alleviation of poverty. Thus, I am interested in pursuing a career in public health or one in the medical field. Currently, I attend Augsburg College in Minneapolis, MN where I plan to graduate with a Bachelor of Science in biology next May. I am thrilled and grateful for this opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of health project implementation and the church’s role in it, and to discover if a career in public health is well suited to my strengths and interests.