07/19/2011

Spokane Organizations Benefit from Generosity of Women of The ELCA

SPOKANE, Wash. (ELCA) -- The Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) presented Spokane-area organizations with hundreds of "in-kind" gifts July 16, 2011, intended to support women and children living with homelessness, in transition or who have been victims of violence.

The gifts were presented on the final day of the three-day Women of the ELCA Gathering here. Nearly 2,000 women participated in worship, educational programs and community service. Others throughout the ELCA viewed key gathering events online.

The in-kind gifts included phone and gift cards, school kits, clothing and quilts brought by the gathering participants and sent to Spokane by women throughout the ELCA.

"These gifts will make a difference in the lives of many people," said Beth Wrenn, Kill Devil Hills, N.C., outgoing Women of the ELCA president. "In-kind gifts help us, as Women of the ELCA, live out our purpose statement, and we have found new partners with whom to share our calling and serve and support other women."

The women's organization presented $10,420 in gift cards and 11,160 minutes of phone cards to Transitions, a Spokane-area organization that works to end homelessness and poverty for women and children. Women of the ELCA also presented the organization with 600 health kits and hundreds of school supplies.

"We are absolutely astonished at your generosity," said Dia Maurer, Transitions' executive director. "We had no idea of the volume you'd be sharing with us. We hope you will take a piece of our gratitude with you and know that the Lutheran women will be in our hearts for many, many years."

Fifty-eight clothing support kits, nearly 800 bags of socks and 2,225 prayer shawls from Women of the ELCA went to Lutheran Community Services Northwest for distribution to Spokane-area hospitals. The clothes and prayer shawls are given to women and children affected by sexual assaults and domestic violence. Eighty completed quilts were presented to Lutheran World Relief, Baltimore, as part of the gathering's global gift.

Earlier in the day, 365 women participated in Run Walk and Roll, a 5K event through Riverfront Park in Spokane. Through the event, they raised funds for a seed grant program to improve the spiritual, physical and emotional health of women. At least $18,515 was presented onsite for the grants program. More funds will be sent to Women of the ELCA through pledges the 5K participants collected before they came to Spokane.

The seed grants program is an extension of the "Raising Up Healthy Women and Girls" initiative of Women of the ELCA. Seed grants are provided to Women of the ELCA units for a variety of initiatives such as health education, and wellness and exercise programs.

"We want to thank you for your pledges and for your sponsorship to help us to help women in our congregations to help girls, so they will not repeat the health issues that we struggle with ourselves," said Valora Starr, Women of the ELCA director for discipleship, addressing the 5K participants.

The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, thanked the Women of the ELCA for its generosity. "When I say thank you Women of the ELCA, it is with that deep expectation that you will continue to lead this church," he said. He asked the women to lead the ELCA in becoming a "Book of Faith" church, fluent in Scripture; to make "courageous alliances" with women throughout the world in the movement for peace and justice; to advocate for people living in poverty; and to keep raising up women for leadership in the church and in civil society.
The next Women of the ELCA Convention and Gathering will be in July 2014 in Charlotte, N.C.

Information about the Women of the ELCA Triennial gathering is at http://www.ELCA.org/triennial%20 on the ELCA website.