ELCA NEWS SERVICE

July 25, 2005

ELCA Synod Leaders Gather To Help End World Hunger
05-131-MRC/KB*

     FARGO, N.D. (ELCA) -- Leaders from 55 of the 65 synods of
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) met for the
ELCA World Hunger Synod Leadership Gathering July 13-17 here at
North Dakota State University.  About 150 participants from all
over the nation discussed world hunger and the ELCA's fight
against it, took part in devotions and music, and attended
workshops.
     "It is in good faith that we're here to serve people who are
hungry" in North Dakota, said Marcia Paulson, director of
marketing and development, Great Plains Food Bank, Fargo.
Participants toured the food bank and learned the process of how
food is donated, tested, weighed, packaged and distributed.
     "We're having more people coming (for food) than ever
before," said Paulson.  "Over 40 truck loads of food are stored
here," Paulson told the participants during the tour.
     In 2004, 5.4 million pounds of food valued at $8.4 million
was distributed, feeding an estimated 55,495 individuals, Paulson
said.  Only 3 percent is food collected at food drives.  Cash
goes a long way, she said.  Paulson told the participants that
much more food can be gathered using cash to buy nutritional food
at a reduced price, rather than receiving non-perishable food
items from a food drive.
     "Poverty is intolerable," said Dr. Nancy D. Arnison,
director, ELCA World Hunger Program, during the opening remarks
of the gathering.  Arnison was formally introduced at the
gathering.  She started in her position July 5.
     World Hunger "is a violation of human dignity and human
rights.  Poverty is intolerable but not intractable," Arnison
told participants.
     As "advocates, we have a powerful voice.  Use it at national
and international levels," she said.  "It's up to us to make sure
all are invited to this table and that all are fed."
     Currently, we are witnessing an "attention to poverty like
never before," Arnison said, citing the G8 meeting and pop
culture.  There is a momentum presenting "an opportunity for
Lutherans to be a public church."
     Kathryn Sime, director, ELCA World Hunger and Disaster
Appeal, provided an update on the church's world hunger
ministries.  The 2004 ELCA World Hunger Appeal earned $16.25
million, she said.  More than $10 million was raised by Lutherans
in response to the Dec. 26 tsunami that claimed more than 200,000
lives in several coastal countries of the Indian Ocean.  "We are
still continuing to respond to the tsunami," she said.  "We are
there for the long haul ... (and) are helping communities rebuild
themselves stronger than they were before."
     "We have sufficiently funded" a five-year plan for long-term
rebuilding in tsunami-affected areas in Asia, said Sime.  "The
plan includes partnership with Lutheran World Relief, Church
World Service, United Evangelical Lutheran Church in India, Huria
Kristen Batak Protestan -- the (Lutheran) Protestant Christian
Batak Church, Sumatra, Indonesia -- and other trusted partners,"
she said.
     "We are a generous church, with a heart and passion for
hunger and disaster ministry," Sime said.
     Luther Snow, Decorah, Iowa, led a hands-on activity designed
for synod hunger leaders to organize the assets of their synod
and congregations, making them more able to combat world hunger.
In small groups, participants formed an imaginary synod and,
using their individual "assets" or strengths, put together a plan
to raise money and/or create awareness to end hunger.
     "One project might be the thing that catches fire and turns
the community around," Snow said.  "To take action on hunger,
we've got to use what we've got."  Snow is an author and
consultant on asset-mapping for congregations.
     "World hunger is in our psyche," said participant Donna
Norell, Hinsdale, Ill.  She said Leo Burnett, an international
advertising firm, recently reported results of a survey among men
from 13 countries.  When asked about their ultimate male fantasy,
28 percent (the top answer) of men said "ending world hunger."
Twenty-six percent (second most popular answer) was "being a
world famous sports star."
     The Rev. Harvard Stephens, dean of the chapel, Carthage
College, Kenosha, Wis., served as the gathering's chaplain and
offered reflections throughout the event.

White Earth Land Recovery Project
     "Indigenous people throughout the world are fighting to
protect local biodiversity and traditional food production," said
Sarah Alexander, who led a presentation on the White Earth Land
Recovery Project -- a project committed to the biodiversity of
the Anishinaabeg (Ojibwa) agriculture in northern Minnesota.  The
mission of the project is to recover the original land base of
the White Earth Reservation, restore and preserve traditional
practices of food production and sound land stewardship.
     The Ojibwa community owns 9 percent of the original land,
said Alexander.  "Without land, we cannot have sovereignty."
     On the White Earth Reservation there is 60 to 70 percent
unemployment, Alexander said.  "When the reservation system took
place, poverty and hunger came along with it," she said.  "The
high level of poverty on reservations means (a) high level of
food dependency."
     Ojibwa communities in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and
parts of Canada harvest and process wild rice, following the
traditions of their ancestors, Alexander said.  A directive of
the White Earth Land Recovery Project is to protect wild rice
from genetic engineering and "bio-piracy."  She said there are
companies and organizations "harvesting the knowledge of what
native practices have been (in wild rice production) and labeling
and patenting those practices."
     Wild rice is a central part of the Ojibwa culture and
tradition, said Alexander.  The White Earth Land Recovery Project
is one of the largest Anishinaabeg food producers on the
continent, producing food items for sale through its Native
Harvest program and for local consumption.  "Wild rice has
medicinal incentives for people with type 2 diabetes," she said,
citing that Native American populations have the highest rate of
type 2 diabetes in the world.
     The traditional diet of Native Americans has been gradually
supplemented by highly processed and refined food products, said
Alexander.  The switch from a traditional diet -- which was high
in dietary fiber and lean sources of protein -- to a diet rich in
sugars, refined carbohydrates and fats has fueled the diabetes
epidemic.  Through the "Mino-Miijim Program" of the White Earth
Land Recovery Project, the Ojibwa communities seek to re-
introduce a healthy lifestyle centered on traditional foods.

ELCA Presiding Bishop Speaks at Hunger Gathering
     The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the ELCA, told
participants, "I'll be your cheerleader," as he thanked ELCA
synod hunger leaders for their "perseverance in addressing
hunger, poverty and justice issues."  Hanson also serves as
president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), a global
communion of 138 Lutheran churches in 77 countries, with 66
million members.  The LWF is based in Geneva, Switzerland.
     Hanson offered three signs of hope in the ELCA's fight
against poverty and hunger: the ONE Campaign and Millennium
Development Goals, the "One Table, Many Voices" meeting and the
"Hunger No More" event.  The ONE Campaign, supported by many
organizations including the ELCA, is an effort to rally people
"ONE by ONE" to fight global AIDS and extreme poverty.  A goal of
the campaign is to convince U.S. political leaders to give an
additional 1 percent of the U.S. budget to the causes of poverty.
     Hanson noted two "interesting" dynamics regarding the G8
meeting -- a July 6-8 meeting of political leaders discussing the
U.N.'s eight Millennium Development Goals addressing poverty and
hunger in Africa.  "Around this issue political leaders are
looking to religious leaders as a unifying voice.  (It is) also
interesting that the G8 meeting took place in Great Britain,
which is not known as a religious community," he said.  Hanson
noted the Bush administration's commitment to the Millennium
Development Goals and plans to "hold the current administration
(accountable) to those goals."  A priority of the development
goals is to "eradicate extreme poverty and hunger."
     The "One Table, Many Voices" conference brought together
religious leaders of several faiths including Christian, Muslim
and Hindu, Hanson said.  The conference was held June 4-7 in
Washington, D.C., resulting in a call to end hunger and poverty
in the nation and in the world.
     The "Hunger No More" event gathered religious leaders in
"saying we need to join hands" and recommit to fighting hunger,
Hanson said.  The event took place on June 6 at the National
Cathedral in Washington, D.C.
     Hanson offered "eight assets" in the ELCA's fight against
poverty and hunger.  He cited the church's global companions; the
ELCA World Hunger Program, which is "core to the church's life
and identity in the larger society," he said; Lutheran theology,
which undergirds the church's public life; global connectedness
grounded in accompaniment; networks and partnerships, such as the
Lutheran World Federation, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee
Service, Lutheran Social Services and others; the "Plan for
Mission," which identifies the ELCA's five strategic directions;
ecumenical partnerships; and the witness of youth and young
adults.
     Hanson also cited some challenges the church faces --
globalization, learning the "art of public discourse and moral
deliberation," and confronting terrorism.  "How do we confront
the reality of terrorism and not let terrorism become the
defining reality of our day?"  Hanson asked.  "If we let this
happen ... allow walls of separation ... we will not be living
in community with the world," he said.
     "We will not end world hunger until we learn the art of
public leadership, moral deliberation and how we can take that
moral deliberation and turn that into bold, prophetic action,"
Hanson told participants.

Synod Leaders Attend Hunger Workshops
     A series of workshops was held on topics ranging from the
"ONE Campaign" and the "Millennium Development Goals" to "Make
Hunger History."  Tamela Walhof, regional organizer, Bread for
the World, led the "Make Hunger History" workshop, where
participants discussed hunger statistics, Millennium Development
Goals and the Hunger-Free Communities Act.  The act "calls
Congress to recommit to the goal of cutting hunger in half by
2010" and "to give $50 million in small grants to community
organizations," and calls for "research and data to allow
communities to plan and do more," Walhof said.  She encouraged
participants to get their congregations to write letters to their
members of Congress for support of the bill.
     Participants of "The Hairy-Nosed Wombat" workshop, led by
Robert Sitze, director for hunger education, ELCA Division for
Church in Society, and the Rev. Steven R. Herder, Whittier,
Calif., designed their own "wombats" or "the strange animal known
as hunger education," Sitze said.
     Synod leaders openly discussed ways to educate congregations
on world hunger through witnessing, sharing experiences, making
changes, setting goals and more.  For hunger education you need
to "involve your whole brain and your whole spirit," Sitze said.

Lutheran World Relief
     "For people living in conflict, peace is three meals a day
and a safe place to sleep," said Kathyrn Wolford, president,
Lutheran World Relief (LWR), in a special banquet honoring LWR's
"60 years of service."  LWR is the overseas relief and
development ministry of the ELCA and Lutheran Church-Missouri
Synod.
     Wolford said one-third of every dollar collected through the
ELCA World Hunger Appeal is allocated to LWR.  "Funds go to
places like Sudan, a country recovering after 30 years of war,"
she said.  "We're also in places that never make the headlines."
     "LWR not only leverages, it listens.  We're in it for the
long haul, and 60 years of service has taught us a few things,"
Wolford said.
     "If we're at the frontlines, you are at the frontlines on
the battle to motivate, equip and encourage the church to be at
the frontlines," she said, "not only to tolerate but to see the
God-given gifts in all of us."
---
     Information on the ELCA's World Hunger program is at
http://www.ELCA.org/hunger on the Web.

* Kirsten H. Boettner is a senior communication major at Luther
College, Decorah, Iowa.  This summer she is an intern with the
ELCA News Service.

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