Title: ELCA Congregations Win Accessibility Awards ELCA NEWS SERVICE
December 7, 2006
ELCA Congregations Win Accessibility Awards 06-193-MRC
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Christ Lutheran Church, Aptos, Calif., and Saron Lutheran Church, Ashland, Wis., are the winners of the 2006 Disability Ministries Accessibility Awards. The award is given annually to congregations of the ELCA that display commitment to providing care and concern among people who are living with disabilities. This year two awards were given -- one to a church with more than 300 members (Saron) and another to a church with less than 300 members (Christ).
Each winner received a grant of $1,000 from the ELCA Mission Investment Fund and the National Organization on Disability, and a plaque from ELCA Disability Ministries through ELCA Vocation and Education.
Members of Christ Lutheran Church removed all architectural barriers and expanded and remodeled the existing facilities to increase wheelchair and walker accessibility, according to the church's application. Other building attributes include movable pew chairs for wheelchair seating, no steps to the communion rail, a ramp to the lower level and a "hearing-aid sound system" for the hearing impaired.
"The redesign of our facility came from the heart of the congregation," according to the church's application. Members of the church "wanted a space that was truly multi-purpose for all people, free from barriers of any kind yet accommodating and welcoming to all people. This open and flexible/movable design of our sanctuary has been such an asset."
Saron Lutheran Church approved a $500,000 construction project to make the church building more "handicapped accessible without (soliciting) a major donor," according to Saron's application. The church has had direct wheelchair access to the building for the past four years and scattered wheelchair seating in the church sanctuary to allow for choice of seating and inclusion in the worship community.
Circle of Grace is an alternate worship service at Saron Lutheran Church. The service offers a "time of meal and fellowship" for people with chronic mental illness and their families. Another ELCA congregation in the area has offered to partner with Saron to provide meals. Circle of Grace includes playing cards or games, karaoke music, a summer picnic, a New Year celebration and birthday parties. Invitations to participate in Circle of Grace are also extended to members of the community and mental health agencies.
Four congregations -- two with 300 or less members and two with more than 300 members -- earned an "honorable mention" and received $250. Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, Garland, Texas, and Beckville Lutheran Church, Litchfield, Minn., each with a membership of less than 300, received honorable mentions. Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Scotia, N.Y., and Augustana Lutheran Church, Grand Forks, N.D., each with a membership of more than 300, received honorable mentions.
Applications are judged by a selection committee made up of people from program and service units in the churchwide organization. The congregations are judged in three areas: physical accessibility, outreach in the community to people with disabilities, and inclusion of people with disabilities in the life and worship of the congregation, according to Jonathan Vehar, intern for Disability Ministries, ELCA Vocation and Education.
"The award money was given by the ELCA Mission Investment Fund and the National Organization on Disability through their Partnership Program sponsored by Wal-Mart," said Vehar. - - -
Information about ELCA Disability Ministries is at http://www.ELCA.org/disability on the ELCA Web site.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org http://www.elca.org/news ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog