ELCA NEWS SERVICE

November 22, 2004

Lutherans Provide A Solution To Avoid Holiday Shopping Rush
04-223-MR

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- To give to "the person who has everything" and
people who have very little this holiday season, the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA) offers some "alternative" gift-giving ideas.
Through the ELCA World Hunger Appeal, members of the church have the
opportunity for one-stop shopping that honors family and friends this
holiday season with exclusive gifts that can change lives.
     "Giving a donation to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal in honor of family
and friends is a gift that means more than one extra tie or pair of
slippers," said Kathryn Sime, director, ELCA World Hunger and Disaster
Appeal.  "In this case it's the thought and the gift that count," she
said.
     To help break out of the frenzied "spend-give" cycle, Sime suggests
that Lutherans give to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal.  This form of
gift-giving offers Lutherans a chance to purchase animals, water supplies,
health kits and more to help people in need across the United States and
overseas.  "Animal husbandry, water projects, health care and assistance
to refugees are key elements of the ELCA's world hunger ministry," she
said.
     "A gift can be designated to support animal projects, for example,
knowing that the World Hunger gift doesn't just 'buy' an animal," said
Susan Edison-Swift, director of World Hunger and Disaster Appeal
communication, ELCA Department for Communication.
     "Donations support projects that help villagers [around the world]
farm in earth-friendly ways and sell their produce at a fair price, so
they can break the cycle of poverty.  Since so much work of ELCA World
Hunger is done in rural areas, animals are key parts of these projects,"
said Edison-Swift.
     A $10 to $15 gift can buy a pair of rabbits in Peru, or a loan to
start a duck-raising business in Cambodia, said Edison-Swift.  A $30 gift
can buy chickens in Kenya, and a $100 gift can help communities in
Bangladesh start small businesses that rely on insects like bees or
silkworms, she said.
     "Animals play critical roles in the battle against hunger, when they
are part of comprehensive programs that move whole communities toward
sustainable economic development," said Edison-Swift.
     "I had the privilege of visiting projects supported by the ELCA World
Hunger Appeal in East Africa earlier this year, and I saw the
transformational impact of animal programs," she said.  "Chickens, pigs,
goats, cows and more provide food and income for the family and fertilizer
for their crops.  Even I could quickly spot a banana tree that had the
benefit of a farm animal nearby."
     "Alternative gift giving adds some fun to the joy of giving to the
ELCA World Hunger Appeal," said Edison-Swift.  "Telling Aunt Jane that her
gift supports a child going to school is more fun than just telling her
she's received a donation to ELCA World Hunger."
     To help personalize the donation, "alternative Christmas gift cards"
can be used to notify gift recipients that a donation has been made in
their honor.  A collection of "seven perforated card enclosures range in
sentiment from the serious to the silly," said Edison-Swift.  "New and
blue 'Go and do likewise' gift cards come ready for you to personalize,"
she said.
     Alternative gift-giving ideas are available in the "ELCA World Hunger
Alternative Giving Ideas Catalog."  The catalog is free and offers
gift-donation ideas ranging from $1 to $16,000.  It provides direction on
how to give, additional resources and information.
     "Churches, Sunday school programs and other groups can use the
catalog to learn about ELCA world hunger work in concrete, understandable
ways," said Edison-Swift.
     The catalog is available from Augsburg Fortress Publishers,
Minneapolis, the publishing ministry of the ELCA.
     If "alternative gifts to ELCA World Hunger won't satisfy your whole
Christmas gift list, purchases on the Internet can be made at Barnes &
Noble, Lands End and other retailers that will give a percentage of the
online purchase to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal," said Edison-Swift.  A
list of retailers is available on the Internet at
http://www.elca.org/hunger/howtogive.html.  The Web site also offers
"e-cards" to announce gifts made to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal, she
said.
     According to the Rev. Howard "Howie" Wennes, Ascension Lutheran
Church, Thousand Oaks, Calif., alternative giving is one way the church
can achieve its goal of raising $25 million for the annual ELCA World
Hunger Appeal.  The 1999 ELCA Churchwide Assembly voted to bring the total
of the appeal to $25 million.  The 2003 World Hunger Appeal and Stand With
Africa garnered $18.2 million.
     "We are a consumer-oriented society, and people are going to spend
money this holiday season.  So how do we take that impulse and turn it
into significant giving that honors the person we are giving a gift and,
at the same time, work to bring new life?" said Wennes, a member of the
ELCA World Hunger Appeal staff and former bishop of the ELCA Grand Canyon
Synod.
     "Stand With Africa is another enterprise that can catch people's
interest and attention" to achieve the $25 million goal, he said.  Stand
With Africa is a special "second-mile" Lutheran-led campaign designed to
bring focus on issues significant to Africa, including HIV/AIDS, food
security, and peace and reconciliation.
     "We care about Africa.  Anyone can grab onto the essence of the Stand
With Africa campaign and give.  It fits right into our culture" and offers
an opportunity to "redeem our spending and make gift-giving resemble the
spirit of Christ.  It is about converting our consumerism to serve the
spirit of Christ, acknowledging the gift of Christ and what that gift has
meant to us," Wennes said.
     Wennes' wife, Mary, has been honoring her family with alternate gift
giving.  She also has led Ascension Lutheran Church and Spirit of Grace
Lutheran Church, Sun City, Ariz., to earn a combined total of $50,000 for
the ELCA World Hunger Appeal via alternate gift-giving, Stand With Africa
and other giving opportunities.
     "Five years ago, I approached my then seven-year-old and
nine-year-old grandchildren with a birthday gift idea for me.  I gave them
the alternative gift-giving catalog and told them to select a gift for me.
With the assistance of their grandfather, they chose to buy an artificial
limb for a child, who lost [an appendage] from a land mine in Angola.
They also selected to buy fresh water for a village," said Mary Wennes.
"Those are two of my most memorable gifts.  The value system that we pass
on to children makes an impact.  [One of my grandchildren] never heard of
a land mine, so it also served as a learning opportunity," she said.

ELCA Marks 30th Anniversary of its World Hunger Appeal
     This year marks the 30th anniversary of the ELCA World Hunger Appeal.
The appeal was established at the 1987 Constituting Convention of the
ELCA.  Churches that formed the ELCA launched a world hunger appeal in
1974.
     The ELCA's predecessor church bodies developed a world hunger
emphasis "to address the needs of the world and invite the church to
respond to those needs intentionally and actively," said Wennes.
     Howie and Mary Wennes developed a 30-day devotional guide designed to
look like a banking checkbook.  "The checkbook format to the 30-day
devotion is a reminder that gifts to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal make a
life-saving difference around the corner and around the world," he said.
     "Go and do likewise" -- from the Gospel of Luke in the Bible --
serves as the theme for the ELCA World Hunger Appeal's 30th anniversary.
_ _ _

     Information about the 2004 ELCA World Hunger and Disaster Appeal and
the "Alternative Giving Ideas 2004 Catalog" are available at
http://www.elca.org/hunger on the Internet.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
http://www.elca.org/news