Dear fellow laborers for justice,
You have been on my mind this week as I begin preparations for the ELCA World Hunger Advent devotional (yes, we do start that process this early). In Luke 3, John the Baptizer calls the crowds to repentance with images of axes and flames. In response, those gathered all ask him the same question: “What, then, should we do?” (Luke 3:10).
What, then, should we do? As laborers for migrant, environmental, racial, gender and economic justice, we are often good at morphing that question into a statement: “We should be doing something.” But when we start with action before hearing people’s stories, we ignore the prophets in our midst, those who have specific demands for fullness of life.
What does it look like when we listen to the prophets in our own communities and start our justice work with What, then, should we do? We are excited to share with you the successes of ELCA World Hunger partners such as Sister Cora Rose and St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in Brookings, Ore. We invite you to learn about, give to or even attend the ELCA World Hunger Interactive Learning Space at the ELCA Youth Gathering in New Orleans this July, to join Generation Zero-Hunger. And we ask you to spread the news that Lutherans Restoring Creation is sponsoring an art contest.
Last, we hope you will return to your community and ask, What, then, should we do? Let this guide our ministry in the coming months. Where are the prophets in your communities calling from — sometimes with fire and brimstone, sometimes more meekly — and what are they calling for?
May God’s peace and justice strengthen you,
Peter McLellan, Ph.D.
Program Director, Hunger Education
JOIN GENERATION ZERO-HUNGER
At the 2024 ELCA Youth Gathering, join ELCA World Hunger and the generation taking action to usher in a world without hunger and futures filled with hope. Build Generation Zero-Hunger by joining youth around the country in a fundraising challenge to support the programs of ELCA World Hunger. Many youth and youth groups will raise funds in advance of the ELCA Youth Gathering in July and will bring their offerings to the Gathering. Thanks to generous donors, all gifts to ELCA World Hunger as part of Generation Zero-Hunger will be matched — dollar for dollar — until we reach $250,000.
ELCA WORLD HUNGER DAILY BREAD AND ELCA WORLD HUNGER DOMESTIC HUNGER GRANTS ARE ON!
ELCA World Hunger Daily Bread Grants will be made available to congregations on a rolling basis. In 2024 the program will prioritize ministries feeding K-12 students over the summer or after school in the following states: Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming.
ELCA World Hunger Domestic Hunger Grants accompany congregations and their partners throughout the United States and the Caribbean as they draw on the strengths of communities to address local issues such as food security, clean water, housing, job access, human rights and more. The letter of inquiry is open and available to interested applicants until June 16.
Thank you for your ministry and partnership! Learn more about domestic hunger grants here.
INTERNATIONAL PARTNER SPOTLIGHT: LUTHERAN WORLD FEDERATION — ANGOLA / ASSOCIAÇÃO LUTERANA PARA O DESENVOLVIMENTO DE ANGOLA
Thirty-eight years ago, Lutheran World Federation (LWF) responded to a humanitarian crisis in the province of Lunda Sul, Angola, where an ongoing civil war was driving people across the nation’s borders into Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo . LWF provided relief services in refugee camps while the conflict — considered a proxy war between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1980s and ’90s — continued in Angola. When the war ended in 2002, LWF repatriated almost 1.2 million Angolans, helping them reestablish their lives in their old communities through village development committees (VDCs). It also provided livelihood training and capital input for farming and livestock. The communities are committed to becoming resilient and economically self-sufficient.
Victoria Ipanga and Josi Luanda are presidents of the VDCs in their respective villages in Lunda Sul. Their villages lie near diamond-mining operations that have encroached on the area where people fish, hunt and fetch water. Thanks to capacity-building and advocacy training conducted by LWF-Angola, a longtime ELCA World Hunger grant partner, VDC members were able to initiate conversations with the mining company, expressing their concerns. Their negotiations won them 10 hectares of new land for vegetable farming, a scholarship program for their children and a primary health clinic.
LWF is closing its program in Angola this year. However, a local organization has been established and named Associação Luterana para o Desenvolvimento de Angola (ALDA) to continue the sustainable development work of LWF-Angola. The word “Luterana” was specifically requested by the local government and the community to keep as a reminder of the light and hope shared with the community by LWF-Angola. There is more work to be done — the next step is for families to acquire the land their homes are built upon. The VDCs are working closely with ALDA and the local government to certify and receive the titles for their land, further protecting families from commercial mines. The VDCs would also like to formalize their group as a community-based organization so they can be properly recognized by the government of Angola.
ELCA WORLD HUNGER ADVOCACY SPOTLIGHT: ELCA DEACONESS CORA ROSE'S ACT OF FAITH AND JUSTICE
ELCA Deaconess Cora Rose, a Domestic Hunger Grant recipient, is a legal aid lawyer with a call to special ministry for poverty alleviation and faith formation. Since 2021 she has been working to expand access to legal aid in the rural communities on the Oregon and California coasts. This call brought her into relationship with the Rev. Bernie Lindley and the community of St. Timothy's Episcopal Church in Brookings, Ore. In 2022, with the tremendous gifts of Sister Cora’s leadership, St. Timothy’s sued the city of Brookings over a new ordinance that required a permit for meal services in residential zones and limited the number of days meals could be served to two per week. On March 29 a federal district court judge ruled that St. Timothy’s could continue to freely serve meals to those who are hungry.
