wfn.org | CWS MEMBERS CALL FOR *SACRIFICIAL GIVING*

["Lesley Crosson" <lcrosson@churchworldservice.org>]

CONTACTS: Lesley Crosson/CWS/New York, (212) 870-2676, e-mail: lcrosson@churchworldservice.org
Jan Dragin/New York/Boston - 24/7,  (781) 925-1526, e-mail: jdragin@gis.net
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CHURCH WORLD SERVICE MEMBERS CALL FOR 'SACRIFICIAL GIVING'
DURING 2005 HOLIDAYS

NEW YORK - November 17 - The members of the General Assembly of Church
World Service and the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA
called for the Assembly's ecumenical family of Anglican, Orthodox and
Protestant communions to make this Christmas season a time of sacrificial
giving in light of the enormous needs at present around the world. The
member communions present at the gathering last week in Hunts Valley, MD,
took personal action, pledging more than $32,000 for worldwide relief
efforts.

Rev. Peg Chemberlin, executive director of the Minnesota Council of
Churches, is credited with challenging the Assembly. "Let's begin a season
of giving," she said. She suggested a model in which Assembly members
would pledge one day's wages to humanitarian agency Church World Service,
which is currently responding to disasters in Indonesia, Pakistan, and the
US Gulf Coast.

"We remember that there are over 1.2 billion of our sisters and brothers
who live on less than a dollar a day," Chemberlin said. "Even an additional dollar from each individual in our member communions would result in $45
million."

To "give a gift that matters," call toll free (800) 297-1516 or visit
https://secure.churchworldservice.org/catalog/display.php?sid=2