We give thanks to God for the partnership of the ELCA World Hunger program! This year, we applied for and received a 3-year grant (2019-2021) from the ELCA World Hunger program to fund the salary of our Sunday morning social worker, Jeff Jirak, as well as fund up to four Sundays of pancake breakfast groceries. In 2019, the ELCA World Hunger program awarded small grants to 77 congregations of the ELCA for programs that address local food insecurity. Each year of the grant, we will submit a review of the ministry and offer stories of how the pancake breakfast makes a difference in our community.
The ELCA World Hunger program works both domestically and internationally. Domestically, the program is manifest through congregations of the ELCA, including us. Individual congregations know best the needs of their own communities, so the program directs grant monies to projects within congregations. Interna-tionally, ELCA World Hunger partners with many and various international church bodies, global mission personnel, and ecumenical partners to meet and build relationships with community leaders in communities large and small across the globe. The ELCA staff nurture relationships with these leaders who share with ELCA staff what they need or want in their community—since they know their community best. One of the most well- known aspects of the international program is “Good Gifts.” Through Good Gifts, donors can purchase an animal or animal-related supplies like fencing, seeds for a garden, help provide a well, pay school fees for a child, educate people for skilled trades or to lead a congregation, and a variety of other sustainable hunger relief actions. Learn more about ELCA World Hunger.
This is not the first time Grace has received an ELCA World Hunger grant. In the last decade, we received the same grant twice. We are grateful to be part of the ELCA, a church body that cares for neighbors near and far through sustainable hunger relief programs!