ELCA NEWS SERVICE

May 5, 2009  

Small Town Lutheran Impacts World with Big Heart
09-106-SH

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Maryn Olson grew up in an Iowa town of
300 people, but her world is anything but small.
     Although not yet 30, many consider her a model of "faith
in action" because of her tireless work battling social
injustices rooted in a compassion for others.
     At Olson's alma mater, Indiana's Valparaiso University,
financial aid officer Phyllis Schroeder remembered the 2002
graduate's involvement on the prayer team.
     "We could count on Maryn to keep us alert to those social
justice issues that needed to be addressed," Schroeder said.
"She knew what was going on in the world, the nation and on
campus."
     Over the years, Olson's worked to end childhood hunger in
Vermont. She's rallied for battered women in Indiana. She's
championed Lutheran HIV/AIDS ministries in Africa.
     "If we believe that human beings are created in God's
image, then the way we care for everyone is a reflection of
how we care for God," said Olson, 28, a member of Peace Lutheran
Church, Ridgeway, her hometown in northeastern Iowa.
     Olson moved back to her hometown last year and now
advocates for people affected by an immigration raid in nearby
Postville. A year ago May 12, nearly 400 undocumented workers
were arrested at a kosher meatpacking plant that employed
more than 900 people.
     The plant is bankrupt and several of its leaders arrested.
Most of the arrested undocumented workers were deported. Several
women caring for their children are still detained in Postville
and dependent on charity for food, rent, medical care and other
costs.
     "People are deeply, deeply traumatized," Olson said. "Some
children never got to say goodbye to their parents. Other
children stopped talking for months. Yet, in the midst of
incredible brokenness, there are experiences of profound faith.
It can be a child finally speaking a word."
     Olson is the third of five children born to the Revs. Ginny
and Phil Olson, once missionaries in Senegal. They co-pastor
three Ridgeway area congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA). All of their children work in service
positions -- education, public health, medicine and ministry.
     "Maryn is passionate about justice," Ginny Olson said.
"That's her ministry."
     Maryn Olson graduated summa cum laude from Valparaiso, but
many best remember her drive to help others. "She was always
caring for members of society under the radar of the rest of
the world," said college roommate Laurel Seim, Aloha, Ore.
     Olson moved from London to Iowa last fall after earning a
master's degree in public health in developing countries at
the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She planned
to stay with her parents only until she found a job in public
health, ideally in Africa. Then Postville beckoned.
     "We want her to come back. She brought comfort and hope.
She taught people how to survive," said Rosinah Manthule,
Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa.
      Olson serves as response coordinator for the Postville
Response Coalition. In that role, she works with civic,
religious and other organizations to help the hundreds of
people who lost jobs or had families torn apart by the
immigration raid.
     "Maryn has certainly added energy and brought her skills
at unifying and communicating, too," said the Rev. Stephen
P. Brackett, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Postville.
     Mary Klauke, Dubuque Catholic Archdiocese said: "It's in
her heart to be helping people."

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