By Louis Tillman

Last week I read an article on JournalStar.com which mentioned that in the city of Omaha, Nebraska there has been talk from legislators to advance a bill called LB543. This bill is purposefully meant to help in eliminating an “asset test” for eligibility of food stamp benefits. Thus, if voted on then Nebraska would join the other 36 states that don’t require an “asset test” for applicant to apply for food stamps. An “asset test” is when applicants are required to list all of their assets when applying for food stamps.

Snapnetwork.org mentions that food stamps, also known as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), help in feeding over 46 million people with healthy food each and every month.  The purpose of SNAP is to provide the means to increase food purchasing power to raise the nutritional level among low income households and is the first line of defense against hunger for millions of families. JournalStar.org mentions that typically speaking; to qualify for Food Stamps family household resources cannot exceed $2,000 per year, or $3,000 a year for those who are elderly or disabled. The resources that are being identified are things such as the following: checking accounts, savings accounts, personal property, vehicles, tangible assets, intangible assets, recreational properties, IRA’s, stocks, bonds, and or cash on hand. There is however a loophole in this system where there are 29 exemptions that includes such things as: applicant’s homes and surrounding property, pets, and or clothing.

This bill was introduced by Omaha’s Senator Tanya Cook in 2011. She let legislators know that even though the program had great benefits in helping those who were less fortunate, that it also had very severe repercussions for those who violated any parts in the system. Thus this should help in administrating the people whose intent is to “cheat” the system by any means necessary. The bill passed on a 35-2 vote, making Nebraska the 37^th state in the U.S. to be able to eliminate an “asset test” for those who wanted to apply for food stamps.

I personally think that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is a phenomenal benefit provided by the government for those who are in dire assistance of this program. There are many positive benefits when it comes to SNAP. Poverty is all around us, wherever we look on a daily basis, and I myself always wonder how people got there to begin with. There are many of those who were born into it, and that makes it quite arduous for them to somehow make a positive future for themselves while they are coming from nothing. Thus I believe that helping those in need of food stamps is a strong benefit by our nation to aid those in need.

For those who were born into poverty or are elderly and cannot provide for themselves, I feel that SNAP is a great program that is definitely intended for them. I mainly say this because there are many elderly senior citizens in the U.S. that have their Social Security check as their only income, and they can never afford to solely live off of that in the long run. With SNAP being in place, it can help them by being able to provide them with more nutrition so that they can live longer and provide for themselves longer. This could raise a serious question: “Could we be one step closer in ending poverty and hunger in the United States?” My answer to that question would be yes, because we now have 37 states on board with this plan which is almost seventy five percent of the nation. I feel that once we get to ninety percent we will soon see an astronomical change in the amount of poverty and hunger that we see in the nation.

I am in favor of this decision by the state of Nebraska because I feel that it isn’t right for those who were born into poverty, those who are mentally or physically ill, and/or those who are elderly to have to go through such a rigorous task in order to receive food stamps just to survive for the month. I feel as though these individuals are those who should be able to easily apply for food stamps to some degree. In essence, I would strongly recommend that everyone who is actively seeking employment should be able to easily apply for food stamps with little to no problems at all.

–Respectfully submitted by Louis Tillman, World Hunger Intern, and Senior at Carthage College pursuing BA in Business Management and Public Relations

By Colleen Peterson

Within the past two weeks, I have been encouraged and inspired by the World Hunger team as well as reminded of a lesson I recently learned in my last semester at college. Through numerous conversations with co-workers in the office, a common theme that came up was the comprehensive approach that ELCA World Hunger uses to assist people in need. While this approach may not seem remarkable to people who have primarily worked for this organization, I recently took a course that explored the various methods of development organizations, many of which harm the most vulnerable people. Although most of these groups have good intentions to assist those in need, I have recently realized that good intentions are not always good enough.

In a time where people are often praised for their good intentions and international service trips, I invite you to think critically on who benefits from your good intentions. Can you think of a time you focused on the personal growth you experienced and failed to see the greater implications of your actions? I do not pose this question in hopes of making you feel hopeless but rather to empower you to see the ways that we can better help those in need. If we are unwilling to humble ourselves and see the ways we may be inflicting harm on those we mean to help, how can we expect to empower and assist the most vulnerable people? I admit that there are numerous incidences in my life where I have spent more time reflecting on the personal growth I experienced rather than seriously contemplating the impact of my actions on those I meant to help. It has been a difficult journey to see the ways in which my actions have likely harmed a community but I am learning to appreciate the uncomfortable reality that good intentions are not always good enough. While ignorance may be bliss, it is much more fulfilling and satisfying to know your actions are indeed helping those you intend to assist.    

If you are interested in reading more about this topic, I encourage you to read Ivan Illich’s speech, “To Hell with Good Intentions,” and look at the blog “Good Intentions Are Not Enough.” There is a good chance you may disagree or feel uncomfortable with the different perspective that is given in the speech and/or blog but it is likely to provide you with a new lens to view your actions and impact on the world.  

Colleen Peterson

ELCA World Hunger Intern

By Kristyn Zollos

I have been interning with ELCA World Hunger for less than a week, and already my eyes have been opened to different things taking place within the world, as well as within myself.  During a meeting with the Reverend Daniel Rift, he made the comment, “God has blessed us with enough food in this world to feed everyone, yet everyone is not fed.”  It’s a simple concept, and one that I understand to be true, yet I had never really thought of it in that particular way. I know there is plenty of food in the world. I see it every time that I walk into my local grocery store or look at the food wasted in restaurants, homes, and often on my own plate. I also know that there is hunger. I have seen it thousands of miles away, as well as down the street. I’ve always known these two concepts, yet when I bring them together into one thought, it really hits me. There is plenty of food, but everyone is not fed. I have to ask myself, where is the disconnect? What am I doing about that disconnect? What are we as a church doing about that disconnect?

There are certainly steps being taken and goals being set. I have viewed that firsthand here with ELCA World Hunger. I have been so impressed by the passion of those around me to aid those in need and to be resources to those individuals or congregations wanting to support the cause.  But being in this office, I have also seen that in the past I have not done enough.  Sure, I’ve given financially and will volunteer when I have the time, but I don’t think I’ve necessarily been living in a way that is in support of the ideals I claim to hold. I so often set my sights on things of this world and forget the real reason I am here.

An individual action that ELCA World Hunger supports is living more simply as well as more sustainably.  I’ve recently realized the amount of clutter I let build up in my life. This clutter is both the literal “stuff” that seems to fill my room, as well as the obligations and commitments I take on too often. I would not consider myself a frivolous spender, but packing up my college home this past semester, I was constantly asking myself, “Why do I have this? Why did I ever buy this? What did I ever use this for?” I need to take a better look at where my time and money are going and where they might be better spent. Am I using them to the glory of the Lord? The more I seem to take on or collect into my life, the less I seem to use to the glory of God who blessed me with those gifts.

I am not saying the more you are in need, the stronger your faith in the Lord, but I do know that I personally get so caught up in what I have and the abundance of “stuff” I’ve accumulated, that I forget their source. I’ve watched on different occasions and on different parts of the globe as a church full of people with so little, glorify the Lord with all their hearts and praise God so deeply for what has been provided. Looking through this blog and some of the posts about simplifying your life really hit home for me. I get caught up in and distracted by all the things in my life and then use them to glorify myself. 

I am excited by the insights I’ve gained within the little amount of time I’ve been here. I feel as if there is so much more I could go on to write concerning what has taken place within this week, but we’ll save that for another post on another day. For now, I’ll just say that I look forward to where the Lord is taking me with this journey and what I will learn throughout my internship, in relation to work, faith, the world, and my individual self. 

Kristyn Zollos

ELCA World Hunger Intern

People who take running water for granted  

use an average of 100 gallons per day

to accomplish the same tasks

that people who carry water achieve with 10 gallons.

For most of us, “carrying water” is synonymous with poverty and exploitation. If you carry water, you have none in your home. If you carry water, you have to walk miles, possibly barefoot. If you carry water, you can’t go to school. If you carry water, you are destitute.

But perhaps what yellow plastic water buckets really symbolize is respect. If you carry water, you use it carefully. Every drop is precious. You take care not to waste a single drop.

Could the kitchen faucet symbolize disrespect?  We turn on a faucet and water gushes out. It runs and runs and runs, while we move away and tackle another task. Because water shows up every time want it, we don’t treat it as precious at all.

Correction. We think it’s precious for other people, so we raise money for things like the ELCA World Hunger 100 Wells Challenge, and get excited when new wells are dedicated. But there’s no Challenge to our own attitudes and water use. Notice (my apologies, colleagues) that the “global water crisis” described on our web site happens someplace else.

If the accompaniment model calls us to mutual mission, shouldn’t our behaviors be part of water ministry? Shouldn’t we be creating an ELCA World Hunger 100 Gallon Challenge focused on us? Couldn’t we be installing water meters on our sinks and showers so we can see our water use in real time? Or plunking yellow water buckets on the counter, so that our companions’ reverence might convince us to turn off the tap?

What—and how—can we learn from the water carriers?

Anne Basye, Sustaining Simplicity

This summer ELCA World Hunger welcomes three quality interns. They will be blogging periodically during the summer, so you will be hearing more from them.

 Hi! My name is Colleen Peterson and I recently graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College with a degree in political science, peace studies, and religion. I am originally from Forest Lake, MN but have had the opportunity to travel to Tanzania, Nicaragua, and study abroad in India. I am extremely interested in why poverty and hunger exist in the world and enjoy understanding things from a different perspective.

For the past three summers, I have worked with children and high school students at various camps (Young Life’s Wilderness Ranch in Colorado, Luther Heights Bible Camp in Idaho, and Lake Wapogasset Bible Camp in Wisconsin). In August, I will be moving to Denver to participate in the Urban Servant Corps, a year-long service program, where I will be working at the Women’s Bean Project and living in community with eight other volunteers.

In my free time I enjoy hiking, yoga, playing with children, and appreciating the small things in life. I look forward to the summer ahead of me and the opportunity to work with ELCA World Hunger. 

Hello my name is Louis Tillman and I will be a senior at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin. I’m pursuing a BA in Business Management and Public Relations with a minor in Religion. My hometown is Atlanta, Georgia.  I am a member of Christ the Lord Lutheran Church in Lawrenceville, Georgia. I have held the position of President in both the Carthage Black Student Union and Carthage National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for the past two years.

I am actively on two church wide committees:  The African Descent Strategy Team and the Lutheran Men in Mission, in which I sit as a Young Men’s Ministry Council Member.

I am currently interning with the World Hunger in the Mission Advancement unit of the ELCA. My position will focus on constituent engagement and interpretation. I will be taking on various projects this summer, one of them being with the Multicultural Youth Leadership Event (MYLE) in New Orleans. I am extremely excited about interning with the ELCA and being a vessel to the world in my faithful works.

I am still discerning about my next path in life after college, one possibility being in pursuit of a Master’s of Divinity degree at an ELCA seminary. Whatever the case, I look forward to using my spiritual gift of ministry.

My name is Kristyn Zollos and I am a summer intern with ELCA World Hunger.  I grew up just outside Cleveland, Ohio and currently attend Purdue University.  I will be a senior this year, studying Hospitality and Tourism Management with minors in Business Management and Spanish.  I was interested in event management, but after several volunteer and mission opportunities I realized that I wanted to use my abilities to work for a non-profit with a cause I was passionate about. 

Having attended a Lutheran church and school since I was born, I was familiar with the ELCA and some of the work done at the churchwide office. When I came across the internship opportunities provided within the organization, I truly felt that God had led me to the experience and now has put me here this summer for a reason.  Within the internship, my focus will be on assisting with planning of World Hunger events. I could not be more excited and grateful for this opportunity and all that I will learn. 

Welcome to the team!

As I’ve discussed here before, I am a student of political science and peace studies. What I have most valued from that formation is the practice of learning the foundations and tools for analysis and then applying them to the social justice issues. I might describe this as a web— the concepts and analysis tools form the strands while issues rest in different places on the web.

One topic in the web is environmental stewardship and creation care. Of all the issues, this is certainly one in my web, but not closest to me. Perhaps I touched it through a reading of Sally McFague’s, Super, natural Christians, though admittedly on my way to a eco-feminist narrative, but it has never sat in a central location for me.

However, last week I was invited to offer a testimony through the National Council of Churches Eco-Justice working group on behalf of the NCC and the ELCA. The NCC mobilized faith leaders to testify at both the hearing inWashingtonDC and in Chicago.

Currently, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is holding hearings on a new proposed carbon pollution rule. This proposed action is designed to help minimize carbon pollution through standards for new power plants. You are welcome to submit your written comments through the process outlined here. You can also participate through our ELCA e-advocacy network, as well.

Mikka McCracken, The Rev. Dr. Clare Butterfield, The Rev. Myriam Renaud

At first, it was a bit challenging to get my head back around, but by the end, I was proudly testifying as a person of faith next to a United Church of Christ Pastor Myriam Renaud and the Rev. Dr. Clare Butterfield, director of Faith in Place and the Illinois Interfaith Power & Light Campaign—both past ELCA World Hunger funded programs. This is not simply “another issue” that sits on the periphery, but one that has been drawn back towards my center as part of the holistic work we do for health and wholeness for all.

The text for my testimony can be found below—thanks to our colleague Audrey for her keen editorial assistance! You can also read the NCC’s news release article or the Interfaith Power & Light article for more information.

—

Good morning. My name is Mikka McCracken, and I represent the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the National Council of Churches USA. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America– the ELCA — is the largest Lutheran denomination in theUS, with more than 10,000 congregations and 4.2 million members. This church is a member of the National Council of Churches, a group of 37 Christian denominations, 100,000 congregations, and more than 45 million people.

Specifically, I serve as a program director with ELCA World Hunger and ELCA Disaster Response. Every year, these related ministries mobilize almost $30 million and countless congregational leaders to make a difference in the lives of families and communities in more than 50 countries, including theUnited States.

As people of faith, we are called to serve as stewards of God’s good creation and to seek justice for those who are hungry, poor, and marginalized. With that call in mind, we speak in support and are particularly thankful for two parts of the proposal before us today:

First, your analysis shows no increase in the price of electricity as a result of this proposal. This is an important piece and will protect families and communities as they work to recover from the economic downturn.

Second, the proposed rule will diminish the carbon output of future power plants. Studies have linked carbon dioxide emissions to increased respiratory illness among children, the elderly, people of color, and people living in poverty. The proposed standard will mean hope for better health among the vulnerable.

Carbon dioxide also contributes to global climate change. We in ELCA World Hunger know that climate change has already begun to affect agriculture in the US and around the world, endangering food security for the people of our nation and all members of the global family. As climate change continues, our work to end hunger and extreme poverty will become ever more necessary – and more challenging.

If you remember anything from my time before you today, remember that Lutherans care and Lutherans make a difference. Lutherans offered the first cups of water to refugees in the Horn of Africa region at the Dadaab camp inKenya—a camp managed by Lutherans. Lutherans, through our Lutheran social service agencies, reach 1 in every 50 Americans each year. But we cannot do it alone. With the EPA’s systemic level help to enact rules that will reduce carbon emissions, we can do more — together.

In the words of Psalm 100, verse 5: “For the Lord is good; The Lord’s steadfast love endures forever, and the Lord’s faithfulness to all generations.”

By ensuring that future power plants will have reduced carbon footprints, you will help protect the most vulnerable and care for God’s good creation for generations to come.

We encourage you to enact the strongest possible rule.

Thank you for your service, and thank you for the opportunity to speak to you on behalf of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the National Council of Churches.

Mikka serves as program director for constituent engagement and interpretation with ELCA World Hunger. To join the network and for more information on how you can get involved, write us at hunger@elca.org.

Like typewriter or answering machine, the phrase simple living sounds a little quaint. Have you noticed how many faith-based and secular organizations devoted to scaling back lifestyles have called it quits? And how energy and attention have been gradually shifting from frugality towards creating sustainable lifestyles?

My life has been following this path, too. The Tightwad Gazette and Your Money or Your Life launched me along the journey described in Sustaining Simplicity: A Journal.  Those years of simple living culminated in the great paring down of 2009 described here and here.

Capturing rainwater for gardens is part of a sustainable NW home. The ReStore in Bellingham uses containers from a food processing plant to catch and store 800 gallons of water.

My early simple life unfolded in a city—a complex system with an infrastructure and buildings shaped around assumptions from a hundred years ago. There wasn’t much I could change about my urban environment (or so I thought), so I focused on decluttering my home and calendar; lowering my expenses; seeing what, personally, my son and I could live without; and organizing our lives around people and personal interests rather than mass market dictates.

All that changed when I moved closer to family in the northwest. Surrounded by fields, hills and rivers instead of brick and mortar, I wondered about the systems around me.  Where did my water, electricity, and propane come from? Where did my garbage go? How did my septic system work? What were my farmer neighbors growing, and who ate it? How could I ride a bicycle in the rain?

To create a life that complemented or enhanced those natural systems, I would need to learn a whole new set of skills around gardening, composting, and reducing and generating energy. That’s why this spring my simple life is way, way over budget. I’m rehabbing a 40-year old, single-story family home into a green, energy-efficient dwelling with the tiniest possible footprint. Everything I’ve read about green building is turning into practice as the rehab team tightens the building envelope, increases ventilation, and adds high-efficiency heating, a 50-year roof, low-flow everything, compact fluorescent and LED lighting and low-VOC or recycled paint. All while reusing, recycling or composting as much construction debris as possible.

In Chicago I did the laundry in a corner of the basement under a single 60-watt light bulb. Now I have daily discussions about ambient versus task lighting for a dedicated bathroom/utility room, dual- versus single-flush toilets, and radiant heat versus heat pumps. A basement washing machine under a dim light feels pretty Lutheran and pretty simple. It’s modest, straightforward, and leaves lots of time for loving your neighbor. Sifting through lighting choices feels scandalously self-centered, self-indulgent, and not Lutheran at all! Is this really me???

Decisions, decisions, decisions!

When pesky building specs overwhelm me, I remember: Changing any life habit takes time and attention. Someday, all of us will live in homes that consume few resources and even produce their own power—in the country and the city. We’ll have made our existing homes greener, and green building practices will be standard. But we’re not there yet. Contractors and customers still face a steep learning curve. Dissecting lighting (xenon, LED, solar tubes?), I hope, speeds it up a little.

Eventually, my house will stop being a full-time project and just be my home. Insides its sustainable envelope I can resume my regular simple life. I can get back to being Lutheran and loving neighbors I don’t know. But for the next nine weeks, the carpenters, the plumber, the electrician, the heating contractor, the roofer, and the insulation/air sealing guy are the neighbors I’m called to respect and listen to with patience as we tackle a million details and create a green home.

Anne Basye, Sustaining Simplicity

Every spring, I look forward to playing outside all summer (some people call it yard work). In among the flowers and trees in my little backyard playground, I grow a few herbs — basil, oregano, sage, chives, thyme and parsley — and, of course, a tomato plant. Last summer’s parsley plant actually survived the winter, much to my surprise, and it’s a lovely dark green lacy ball in the midst of my perennials. The chives put up cheerful little purple pom-poms in early summer, and the glossy bright green of the basil looks sleek and sophisticated next to the white-streaked leaves of the variegated coralbells. They’re all as beautiful in my garden as they are tasty in our salads.

Hyacinth or herb?

Didn’t a poet write something about how if you have only two loaves of bread left, you should sell one and buy hyacinths to feed your soul?  I think the poet was hinting at how the whole person needs to be nourished — both body and soul.

The office building where I work has a spot outside the parking garage with a few tables and chairs where people enjoy their lunch outside.  A pair of big planters make the concrete patio a little friendlier, especially since the management puts some care into their seasonal plantings.  A couple of summers ago, the planters were overflowing with colorful foliage — and a closer look revealed that this riot of color and texture came from a variety of lettuces and other leafy vegetables. I thought that was a terrific idea, but one of my colleagues was appalled. Edible plants as ornamentals? What a waste, he growled; it’s a crime.

Last summer, the Hunger Leaders’ Gathering in Florida visited an organic hydroponic farm in Florida, and I saw more planters overflowing with gorgeous foliage. (The county extension agent complimented the farmer on his lovely ruffly red leaf lettuce, and he answered, “Thank you. I come out and curl them myself every morning.”) They really were spectacular — lettuces, bell peppers, tomatoes, strawberries — all kinds of beautiful and fragrant plants cascading out of their tiers of planters.

A backyard gardener who admires the beauty of her herbs and then puts them in her salads. A building manager who made a patio more pleasant with planters filled with leafy vegetables instead of flowers. An organic farmer whose fragrant and well-tended crops glow with color and texture.

Hyacinths? Herbs?

The experiment that inspires Year of Plenty is one that grows out of a frustration with consumerism as well as a hunger for a sense of connectedness to place and people. Through an accessible and self-aware narrative, Craig Goodwin sketches his family’s year-long journey in sustainable living. Goodwin weaves personal experience with theological reflection (most of which is inspired by Wendell Berry)—an approach that leads him to articulate a rule for living the Christian faith in the midst of a culture and theology that has accommodated consumerism. As Goodwin explains, the rule is less a hard boundary and is more accurately seen as a reorientation to the kingdom of God present in our world. Against this backdrop the family’s explorations into the homegrown, the local, the used and the homemade offer a glimpse at the convergence of theology and practice.

 As a result of both style and content, the book lends itself well to small group study and discussion. The author’s intent is to make a case for a Christian voice in issues of consumption and creation care by means of personal experiment and reflection rather than theological treatise. This does not preclude the author from exploring a “theology of plenty”, where his reflections eventually lead. The book seems to read better as a personal commentary with theological reflection on hyper-consumption rather than the development of a theology. Its strength is in demonstrating a relationship between reflection, theology, and practice through a personal narrative. But as far as developing a theology, Year of Plenty lacks depth for those who cannot tear up their lawn and turn it into a garden or build a chicken coop in their backyard.

As it is, a distinct conversation about hunger, the effects of climate change, or food justice issues is simply beyond the scope of this book. The passing references to these issues serve as a means for understanding how faith is integrated with this personal journey of sustainable living. This strategy works in the author’s favor by making the book more accessible than if it were just a theological project. On the other hand, Year of Plenty illustrates a sense of urgency in the author’s personal life, but is not forceful enough in articulating a sense of urgency for the church. Goodwin offers a critique of traditional dualist theology and advocates for a more holistic one, but this is done in the context of his personal reflections on his family’s experiment. This has the advantage of allowing the reader to make his/her own connections. It has the disadvantage of not being able to speak to a variety of entry points into the sustainability conversation and the urgency required for the church to engage in a deeper theology.

Yet Goodwin reaches a conclusion that is accessible as any for his audience—our decisions and practices, both economic and personal, are matters of faith. Because these are matters of faith the importance of making connections among sustainability and hunger, climate change and food justice are necessary and crucial to the development of a deeper theology in a world of plenty.              

Goodwin’s blog: www.yearofplenty.org

BOOK REVIEW

Year of Plenty 

 Craig L. Goodwin

2011 Augsburg Fortress

Christian Life/Biography

ISBN: 978-1-4514-0074-8

I love things that are good. This gets complicated when one may ask when something is good, is it right? Another may say, who cares if it is good, we want it to be the best!

During the last few weeks in April, I had the chance to travel in Texas with ELCA World Hunger Director Dan Rift visiting pastors, congregations and donors. My travel lasted nearly two weeks from Austin to Fredericksburg to Houston to San Antonio and Dallas. (I drove this route and will have to consider reconciling the carbon footprint left there). 

Popular topics during our visits:

• Issues of water during times of flooding and drought (remember Texas had 100 days of 100+ degree temperatures last year)
• An abundance of wild game in Texas as a possible source of food
• Accompaniment with the companion churches in Ethiopia and Sierra Leone
• Issues related to immigrants and refugees in areas of the US and Mexico border
• Supporting women and girls for employment and education
• Celebrating the multi-cultural mission of the ELCA and new congregations such as Iglesia Luterana Santa Maria de Guadalupe inIrving
• When all are fed, how do we care for the capacity of the earth?

It’s all good!

It is so great to work for ELCA World Hunger, to be in conversation with many individuals and groups about the issues of hunger and poverty in the US and around the world and to encourage how we live and what we can do to make a difference. There is power when we can work together to discuss topics and provide opportunities for engagement. ELCA World Hunger then relies on the leadership of our pastors and synod hunger leaders to keep these issues in front of ELCA members and to understand that we organize a response and action through our church. The financial support and giving that result provide the energy and funding for action and partnership through programs in nearly 60 countries on an annual basis.

But is it right?

There is an incredible dynamic in how each of us is at a different point in our lives and at a different place in learning – in particular about and around the issues we promote through ELCA World Hunger. It is easiest to come together as a group with shared values and interests and giving to similar organizations, but it is a strange ideal. We all have different experiences and strengths, and it is those differences that allow us to bring unique leadership, ideas and understanding when joining a cause or movement.

Our priorities for programs and grants through ELCA congregations and synods, companion churches and partners rely on local, in-country leadership, relationship and expertise. We model our efforts according to accompaniment. ELCA World Hunger funds support local economies. Project requests come to us from the communities that are served.  This methodology is not always perfect, but relationships move forward to the primary objective of sustainable development for the livelihood of communities out of hunger and poverty. ELCA World Hunger is a program of learning, action, and giving to make a difference in so many ways. All are invited into this experience and journey.

We want to be the best!

The ELCA emphasized World Malaria Day on April 25 and is well into the ELCA Malaria Campaign to support essential malaria health services and practices in 11 countries through our companion church relationships.  The campaign aims to raise a minimum $15 million to support these country plans and dramatically reduce occurrence and death by malaria by 2015. Not everyone agrees on our explanation or methodology or program scope or financial goals, but the encouragement is that so many are listening, voicing points of view, and considering how they will act. This is such a poignant moment in the life of our church, for each of us in the ways we live our faith, and in the ways we are active within our world. 

Jesus told us to feed the hungry, give to the poor, befriend the stranger and love our neighbor.  This is the personal, compassionate and very doable call to each of us, and I especially love it when the call brings us back to this center.

Good, Right and Best – participating in these efforts through ELCA World Hunger creates a lot of opportunities and experiences for each of us.  Thank you for your efforts and encouragement.

Peace!

Sharon Magnuson, Associate Director — ELCA World Hunger and Disaster Appeal