wfn.org | Lutherans Offer 'Good Gifts' for the Upcoming Holiday Season

[<NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

Title: Lutherans Offer 'Good Gifts' for the Upcoming Holiday Season
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

>October 22, 2009  

Lutherans Offer 'Good Gifts' for the Upcoming Holiday Season
09-232-MRC

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- This holiday season the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA) is offering exclusive gift ideas designed to
help change the lives of people close to home and around the world.

"ELCA Good Gifts," the church's yearlong giving catalog, features 19
pages of gift ideas designed to support the mission and ministries of the
ELCA that "nourish, nurture, heal and inspire."  Gifts can be purchased
through the catalog or the newly designed http://www.ELCA.org/goodgifts
on the ELCA Web site. There are more than 65 gift ideas available year
round.

Donation opportunities include supporting ELCA World Hunger
ministries that focus on women and children, water and agriculture,
health care, HIV and AIDS, and malaria; investing in future leadership;
engaging in disaster response; and supporting global partnerships. Gifts
can also be made to the ELCA Vision for Mission Fund, which supports the
entire mission of the ELCA spanning from outdoor ministries to the work
of Lutheran military chaplains.

"More and more organizations offer this type of alternative giving. 
What a great thing for ELCA members to participate in alternative gifts
while supporting the work of their church," said Jennifer Grandberry,
director for marketing communications, ELCA Development Services.

A gift of $10 can purchase a mosquito net for a family in a malaria-
prone area.  From the catalog's "God's Global Barnyard," a $250 donation
can help start a community fish-farming project.  A $50 gift immunizes a
child against preventable diseases such as measles and tetanus, and a
$100 gift provides a year of home visits and medications for a person
living with HIV and AIDS.  A $200 gift covers a month's rent for an ELCA
missionary, and a $1,500 gift sponsors a whole classroom of students for
one month at a Lutheran school in the Holy Land.

When a gift is made in honor of someone, a variety of personalized
e-cards, note cards, printable inserts and certificates offered at
http://www.ELCA.org/goodgiftscards can be used to announce the gift.

"To date, more than 12,000 donors have responded to the catalog or
given a gift online.  These gifts have totaled over $4 million," said
Laury Rinker, associate director for marketing communications, ELCA
Development Services.
- - -

Information about the ELCA Vision for Mission Fund is at
http://tinyurl.com/yzvkstp and information about the ELCA World Hunger
and Disaster Appeal is at http://www.ELCA.org/hunger 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