ELCA NEWS SERVICE
May 10, 2007
Michigan Lutherans Help Collect Thousands of Pharmaceuticals
07-082-GP*
MARQUETTE, Mich. (ELCA) -- Lutherans in northern Michigan
helped collect more than one ton of medicines and personal care
products April 22 during the third annual Earth Keeper Clean
Sweep. The pharmaceuticals had an estimated value of $500,000.
The pharmaceuticals will be taken to an EPA-licensed
incinerator near St. Louis. The EPA is funding the collection of
pharmaceuticals and personal care products because trace amounts
of chemicals from those substances are turning up in U.S.
drinking water.
The public had an "eagerness about being a part of the
solution," said the Rev. Thomas A. Skrenes, bishop, Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Northern Great Lakes Synod.
"It was a morning of solutions to difficult problems, and I am
proud of my church," he said.
More than 400 volunteers participated in the clean sweep --
including 150 members of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, a not-
for-profit financial services membership organization and
fraternal benefit society. Thrivent also provided financial
support.
"We are in trouble with the way we live with the Earth" but
the clean sweeps are humans correcting human-made problems, said
the Rev. Jon W. Magnuson, co-organizer of the clean sweeps and
director of Lutheran Campus Ministry, Northern Michigan
University.
- - -
Information about the ELCA Northern Great Lakes Synod is at
http://www.nglsynod.org on the Internet.
A complete list of participating communities and Earth
Keeper collection are at http://www.superiorwatersheds.org under
"Earth Keepers."
* Greg Peterson is a freelance reporter in Michigan's Upper
Peninsula and volunteer media advisor for the Earth Keeper
Initiative.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
http://www.elca.org/news
ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog
