VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 02/27/08) - Two American Baptists are winners of Advocacy Awards to attend the nation's largest annual gathering of U. S. and international Christian peace and justice activists, Ecumenical Advocacy Days, March 7-10 in Washington, D.C.
Victor Atiemo-Obeng of Midland, Mich. and Mark Coats of Austin, Tex. were selected by New York-headquartered Church World Service (www.churchworldservice.org) to receive the scholarship award, which honors local poverty and hunger activists who have shown exceptional leadership in the agency's poverty and hunger fighting campaigns. The scholarship makes it possible for the awardees to attend the conference and a day of related lobbying on Capitol Hill.
"What an honor to see that 2 of the 10 recipients of this award are from our American Baptist family," said Lisa Rothenberger, World Relief Officer for American Baptist Churches USA (ABCUSA). "We are privileged to work alongside Church World Service at the local, national and international level to advocate for the needs of those living in poverty in our own neighborhoods and around the world. This award is wonderful recognition of the importance of what is done by activists in our community each and every day."
Coats serves as global team leader for Austin RESULTS, a grassroots hunger and poverty fighting organization. He is a member of Church of the Savior in Cedar Park, which is dually aligned with ABCUSA and the United Church of Christ. He also serves as the Baptist recruiter for the March 1 and 2, 2008 Austin CROP Hunger Walk.
The child of American Baptist International Ministries missionaries to Thailand, Debbie and John, Coats spent a total of ten years there between the ages of 4 and 17. "My childhood in Thailand gave me a deep appreciation of the impact of poverty and diseases of the poor and motivates me to make the world a better place, a world free of hunger," he says.
Each year, some 2,000 communities across the U.S. organize and participate in CROP (Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty) Hunger Walks to raise awareness and funds for local hunger fighting efforts, such as soup kitchens and pantries. The funds raised also support the overall work of CWS, especially its grassroots, hunger and poverty-fighting development programs with partners in some 80 countries.
Awardee Victor Atiemo-Obeng is chairman of the Church World Service Michigan Region Advisory Board, where he helps the staff develop strategy and execute programs to raise awareness about the needs of the poor and hungry and to raise money through CROP Hunger Walks.
Atiemo-Obeng attends First Baptist Church in Midland. A native of Ghana, he says his first real exposure to hunger and poverty was as a newly-arrived college student. "I couldn't believe what I saw in this land of riches. I find it incredible that there are people living in the United States who feed themselves by rummaging through garbage, even today."
Church World Service is a relief, development and refugee protection agency supported by public contributions, grants, and by 35 Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican denominations in the United States. ABCUSA is a charter member and was instrumental in the organization's founding following the Second World War.
Andrew C. Jayne American Baptist Churches USA Mission Resource Development http://www.abc-usa.org/