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Title: ELCA AWARDED $648,000 ELCA AWARDED $648,000 The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America received block grants totaling $648,000 from two Lutheran fraternal benefits societies in 1995. Lutheran Brotherhood Foundation, Minneapolis, awarded $398,000, and Aid Association for Lutherans (AAL), Appleton, Wis., awarded $250,000. Lutheran Brotherhood Foundation said it supports "creative projects which address multicultural ministry, evangelism and church growth, wellness and leadership development." AAL Churchwide Grants Program targets "projects that strengthen ELCA congregations as well as the leadership within the ELCA." Lutheran Brotherhood grants funded 18 ELCA projects, such as helping Southeast Asian clergy and lay leaders acquire the biblical and theological foundations and skills needed for effective evangelism and outreach, exploring distance education techniques to meet the growing educational needs of Hispanic lay leadership across the nation, and producing a Spanish Lutheran worship book. AAL money backed projects to help families deal with violence, to help congregations heal after clergy sexual misconduct, to promote evangelism communication within Spanish communities and to establish the ELCA clearinghouse for HIV/AIDS program materials. Both Lutheran Brotherhood and AAL fund select national and inter-Lutheran projects of the ELCA and other Lutheran church bodies, such as the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. For information contact: Ann Hafften, Dir., ELCA News Service, (312) 380-2058; Frank Imhoff, Assoc. Dir., (312) 380-2955; Lia Christiansen, Asst. Dir., (312) 380-2956