wfn.org | Lutherans Collect More than $17 Million for World Hunger

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

April 15, 2003

LUTHERANS COLLECT MORE THAN $17 MILLION FOR WORLD HUNGER
03-082-MR

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The World Hunger Appeal of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) collected more than $16 million in
2002 -- surpassing 2001 general World Hunger contributions by $400,000 -
- plus $1 million in "Stand With Africa" giving.  The revised income
goal for the 2002 appeal was $16 million.
     "We were in shock when the ELCA Office of the Treasurer reported
that, on the very last night that income was posted for 2002, $1.2
million was recorded for the World Hunger Appeal," said Lita Brusick
Johnson, director, World Hunger Appeal, ELCA Division for Congregational
Ministries.
     Starting in early fall, World Hunger income was "looking pretty
grim," said Johnson.  At the end of December, we were more than $350,000
behind 2001's giving level and around $1 million behind budget.  The
income goal for the 2002 World Hunger Appeal was then revised from $16.5
million to $16 million, she said.
     In January, the last month of the ELCA's fiscal year, the church's
65 synods receive much of what congregations gathered in the fall and
winter, "which continues to be posted" to the churchwide organization
through "successive closings in February," Johnson said.
     The final year-end figures for 2002 were announced at the ELCA
Conference of Bishops meeting March 6-11 in Charleston, S.C.  The
Conference of Bishops is an advisory body of the church consisting of
the church's 65 synod bishops, ELCA presiding bishop and ELCA secretary.
     Information regarding the appeal's situation in the fall was
shared with the church's synod hunger advocates and others, who passed
the news and a challenge to congregations and members. That made a real
difference in the incredibly strong year-end finish, said Johnson.
     "Since the 1999 ELCA Churchwide Assembly pledged to double giving
to the appeal, our church has moved from the $11 to $12.5 million
plateau of the 1990s to the more than $17 million [collected] this
year," Johnson said.
     The World Hunger Appeal garnered $15.57 million in 2001, falling
short of the appeal's $16 million goal for the year.  Plus, $328,000 was
earmarked for Stand With Africa that year.
     "We've 'crunched the numbers' and it appears that the $1 million
in 2002 Stand With Africa income is new money" of which "100 percent
will go to Africa for additional food security, peace and AIDS work,"
Johnson said.  "This money was generated without the allocation of
substantial additional fund-raising money," she said.
     "Stand With Africa: A Campaign of Hope" focuses on issues
significant to Africa, including HIV/AIDS, food security, and peace and
reconciliation.  It is being coordinated in part by the ELCA World
Hunger Program.
     "With this year's results in, it appears that giving to Stand With
Africa did not appear to substantially impact general World Hunger
giving in 2002.  In fact, several synods making a significant Stand With
Africa push experienced significant increases in World Hunger general
giving," Johnson said.	Much of that giving appears to have been related
to synod assemblies, individual gifts or giving by congregations "at
times when there is little general World Hunger activity in
congregations," she said.
     In other 2002 income, giving to the church's International
Disaster Response reached almost $600,000, while the ELCA Domestic
Disaster Response and Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR) topped $1.5,
Johnson said.  LDR is a ministry of the ELCA and the Lutheran Church-
Missouri Synod.
     "Undesignated disaster giving reached $250,000," she said.
     There were "major disasters below the radar screen of the U.S.
media, like the current food crisis in Africa in which more than 30
million people are at risk," Johnson said.  "Every couple of weeks, it
seems that this number increases by a million, but our society's intense
attention seems to be directed to the war with Iraq and our own economic
woes," she said.
     Speaking about the positive income ending for 2002, Johnson said,
"We all know that we are really celebrating not just numbers but lives
that will be saved and hope that will come to desperately poor
communities because these dollars are available."
-- -- --
     Information about the ELCA World Hunger Program is maintained at
http://www.elca.org/dcs/worldhunger.html on the Internet.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html