by
Sylvia Dooling
Many thanks to Mary Van Driest from Oostburg, Wisconsin, for her work in
collecting and analyzing information regarding this year’s Birthday Offering
and the organizations that are scheduled to receive Birthday Offering
grants.
With only a few editorial comments, I am merely passing on the information
that Mary gathered. My hope is that you will read what she discovered, and
thereby be better able to make thoughtful decisions about how to invest your
mission dollars.
As I talk to Presbyterian Women around the country, one of their major
concerns is that the money that they give to mission actually be used to
build up the Church of Jesus Christ by supporting projects that further the
biblical and constitutional standards of our denomination. After reading
Mary’s research, I have concluded that this year’s grants do this.
For several years, Voices of Orthodox Women has been critical of some of the
projects to which Birthday Offering grants have been directed. We are
encouraged by the changes that we see in this year’s grants, and hope that
our vigilance has, at least in part, contributed to these positive changes.
Below, you will find some of the information Mary gathered on each of this
year’s four Birthday Offering grant recipients. Please read it carefully. We
trust that you will come to the same conclusions that we did.
*1. Christ Kitchen Commercial Kitchen Project, Spokane, Washington*
_(the following information is taken from the Christ Kitchen internet site:
http://www.christkitchen.org)_
‘Christ Kitchen is a non-profit Christian ministry providing work, job
training, and fellowship for women in poverty in Spokane, WA through
production and sales of food gift baskets which contain a variety of
dried food products”
‘This ministry enables women to learn to work, to become employable and
eventually to support themselves and their families without reliance on
government programs or destructive relationships.
As a Christian non-profit ministry we believe people want to feel better
and to be more self-sufficient, yearning ultimately for Christ Himself.
Therefore, Christ Kitchen’s mission is directed to a hungry
community-the poor in need of employment and others in need of
Provision. This is how we understand discipleship, being Christ’s hands
and feet to a hurting world. Creating jobs and job training for women
living in poverty in Spokane, WA., promoting self-sufficiency instead of
government dependency, and promoting Christ-sufficiency in all things
are supportable goals and are within the reach of women wanting to
participate.”
*Christ Kitchen’s Mission*
‘Resurrection, a central tenet of Christianity, is used in the New
Testament to mean a rising up’ or causing to stand.’ The non-profit
ministry of Christ Kitchen is founded upon the essential principles of
Christ’s life and seeks to aid homeless, abused, poor, or
disenfranchised women living in poverty in their rising up out of
poverty, ultimately to stand on their own feet with the security of
Christ. Our mission is to reveal Christ and make known the facts of the
Gospel through group support and fellowship, individual discipleship,
and job training by producing and selling gift baskets of dried food
products. We seek to enable women trapped in poverty to improve, renew,
heal, and maintain spiritual, mental, emotional and physical health.”
*2. Ferncliff Regional Center for Disaster Assistance, Little Rock,
Arkansas*
_(On the basis of her own supplementary research, Mary reports that the
information provided by “Horizons” magazine [January/February 2005]is a fair
and accurate representation of the project.)_
‘Presbyterians respond compassionately to disasters and look for
practical, tangible ways they can help. Many local churches work with
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) and Church World Service (CWS) to
assembly ‘Gift of the Heart” kits that are sent to alleviate the
suffering of people living in disaster response sites. New Windsor,
Maryland, is the only site where Presbyterian churches can ship ‘Gift of
the Heart” kits. Birthday Offering funds will build a regional disaster
depot at Ferncliff Presbyterian Camp outside Little Rock, Arkansas, in
order to assembly, receive repackage and temporarily store the kits.
This depot will raise awareness of the ‘Gift of the Heart” program
among Presbyterian churches and other denominations in the Midwest,
reduce shipping costs and give Presbyterians a site from which to stage
time-sensitive disaster response shipments. Having a center for disaster
assistance in the context of a camp for young people will bring a
synergy of resources and demonstrate the connection between Christian
education and mission.”
If you are interested in gaining more information on Church World
Service ‘Gift of the Heart” kits, their website is
www.churchworldservice.org.
For those of you who would like to see some Christian
greeting/literature included with each kit should contact Church World
Service and express your concern. It is understandable that disaster
assistance sometimes includes countries that would not permit this kind
of literature. But it never hurts to present new ways of expressing the
gospel to those who are in desperate need.
*3. Hearts of Students Educational Project, Fortaleza, Ceara, Braz*
_(Mary was unable to find much material on the web. But she contacted both
the First Presbyterian Church in Atlanta and East Iowa Presbytery, both of
which were mentioned in Horizons as partners with this project. The author
of the grant, Gil Dietz from East Iowa presbytery, called her and gave her
the following information.)_
This is a project of a congregation of The Independent Presbyterian
Church of Brazil. To be recognized as a church, the congregation is
required in addition to providing worship and Christian education to
have a kitchen, bathroom, and a social welfare project. Mr. Dietz told
Mary that if the church can help young people get their high school
equivalency certificate, they can take the entrance exams to enter the
university. He said there is no cost for the university, and that their
housing is then provided. He told her that the church is very close by,
and many of the students do worship at the church as well as attend a
2-hour Saturday morning Bible Study. He has been at this place several
times, taught English for a summer at the school, and hosted the
school’s director in his own home for 4 weeks while he studied English
in Iowa.
While we must note that Mary was unable to find a mission/ faith
statement for the Hearts of Students project, we should also note that
her contacts (beyond Mr. Dietz) were uniformly uncritical of the
project’s theological commitments.
*4. Bridge of Hope Fair Trade Project, Lima, Peru*
_(Mary found information relative to this project on the PCUSA web site, and
on the project’s own website. [1] It is part of the Joining Hands Against
Hunger project under the Presbyterian Hunger Program.)_
_The project’s Mission statement reads as follows: ‘The purpose of this
project is to strengthen the capacity of artisans living in extreme poverty
(the majority of women are women and indigenous, Afro-Peruvian, or
mobility-impaired persons) to produce and export quality handicrafts which
express their local culture in such a way as to increase their family
income.)_
The project involves a three way relationship between the Presbyterian
Hunger Program (PHP), a specific presbytery, and a country network to
‘define the scope and nature of activities to be undertaken together.”
It includes churches, non-governmental organizations (NGO’s), and
grassroots groups involved in coordinated hunger ministry in specific
communities. The overall activities and implementation of the program
are coordinated by the international staff of the Presbyterian Hunger
Program with the help of a consultant in close cooperation with the
PC(USA)’s Division of Worldwide Ministries. Funding is carried out by
the PHP advisory committee with One Great Hour of Sharing funds
complemented by specific designated gifts by participating congregations
and presbyteries. (this is where the Birthday Offering Grant comes in).
Joining Hands is coordinated by facilitators who are PC(USA) mission
personnel residing in or near countries where the program is
implemented.
To give you a more personal sense of how this money is being used for
this project, I am including an e-mail written by Ruth Farrell who lives
in Peru and works with this project.
Ruth Farrell writes from Peru:
‘One Woman’s Story:
Yodi Moran Trillo, a 28-year old woman from Huancavelica, and her
family are part of the 19% of Peru’s population living in extreme
poverty. The region, Huancavelica, is the poorest in Peru and has
the highest level of population living in extreme poverty. The
region, Huancavelica, is the poorest in Peru and has the highest
level of infant malnutrition. She is from an outlying rural are
(10-hour walk) which her family fled during the violence of the
Years of Terrorism. They lost their homes, their animals and some
family members. Huancavelica city now has slum areas on all sides
where 25,000 people like Yodi sought protection. Even though the
violence has subsided Yodi, who married Felipe, a man from her
community, doesn’t want to bring up her children in such a remote
area as one never knows when violence could return. Besides, they
would need funds to rebuild their homes. Felipe and Yodi’s father
take turns spending 2 months at a time living in their rural
communities to plant, harvest and care for their few llamas.
Families don’t want to lose their land or lost the homes they have
build in Huancavelica city. When Felipe lives in Huancavelica city,
he competes with hundreds of unemployed men looking for day labor.
Before the project, Yodi tried to support her family by washing
clothes in the river for other families. She would make less than $3
per week. Yodi and her family are trapped in chronic poverty.
The Bridge of Hope Fair Trade Project was created to help people
just like Jodi overcome the vicious cycle of poverty so that in time
Yodi will be able to provide for the needs of her children. Yodi and
fourteen other women in her neighborhood formed El Mercurio where
together they create products incorporating suggestions of the
Bridge of Hope (BOH) staff. These women make incredibly intricate
finger puppets to tell stories like Noah’s ark, Little red Riding
Hood, or Manco Capac and Mam Ocllo (tradition tale of the founding
of Cusco).
In 2004 they organized themselves so well that they added 8 women to
their group; had steady work for 23 women; sent repeat shipments to
USA and France; rotated responsibilities so that several have
learned to keep excellent books and pay taxes; learned to use
internet for communication; and participated in five workshops with
other artisans. One of their members was elected Secretary of the
Huancavelica chapter of BOH artisans.
BOH staff track the income each group pays its members because there
is a direct relationship between amount of money mothers earn and
better nutrition and health for their children. These women may
never have the luxury of health insurance, but they can create their
own security and care. For example, when one is sick, others
voluntarily do that woman’ work so that the sick woman can receive
her ‘salary.” Yodi and the women of El Curcurio are still among the
poorest in Peru, but they now have job experience in running their
own business AND they have more control overt their own future which
gives them HOPE.
The Birthday Offering will allow these women and 17 other existing
groups to receive more complete business training, exchanges with
other artisan groups, help with new designs and opportunities to
market their products. The Birthday Offering will also expand the
same opportunities to 45 new artisan groups which means an
additional 250 families could double their income and acquire skills
and contacts that will make these changes sustainable over time. The
project is sustainable because it invests in the human capacity of
each artisan and after the project ends, the artisans have what they
need to continue to produce, innovate and export.”
From the US side of this project (and Giddings Lovejoy Presbytery), we
offer an e-mail from Elder Carolyn Newcomb.
‘This project began in earnest in September 2002 after Giddings
Lovejoy had gone to Peru and were asked if we would open a fair
trade corridor for them to get artisan items into the US and to sell
them at fair trade value. We did this by having Christmas box sales
at 10 churches within our Presbytery. Bringing in approximately
$4,000.00
In 2003 we sold at General Assembly, PW Gathering in Louisville and
also did the Christmas box sales extending it to churches throughout
the US as well as in Giddings Lovejoy. Approximately 20 churches
participated. We brought in approximately $35,000.00.
In 2004 we sold at General Assembly, to some retail shops and
churches purchased boxes throughout the year. Having the GA
conference bags was a big plus in sales. Christmas boxes were sent
to 33 churches throughout the US and Giddings Lovejoy. We brought in
Approximately $58,000.00. Bridge of Hope also sends some direct
orders to the US and they received close to $80,000 in 2004.
Artisan groups participating in the project have increased from 8 in
2002 to 19 in 2004 and over 90 different items are made and then
sold in the US.
This is no longer a pilot program. Joining Hands Against Hunger
ended the pilot stage in 2004. The artisan groups are all indigenous
groups and their income has gone from less than $1.00 a day to $40
or more per week. Families’ incomes have increased by 200-400
percent.
A plus of this project is that we have seen the artisan’s
self-esteem and self worth increase significantly. They are using
the money received to increase their standard of living.
Faith witness is definitely a part of the program as they see how
God is caring for them and allowing them to use their talents.”
*Summary*: While I would have preferred to have even more information on
these grant recipients, I am satisfied:
· That each of this year’s projects legitimately falls within the broad
Presbyterian understanding of mission; and
· That the leadership of Presbyterian Women is attempting to respond to
the call for full disclosure that the VOW NETWORK has consistently put
before them.
As to whether these are projects that you can personally support that is a
decision that each of you must prayerfully make for yourselves.
(Footnote: I have just received word from a PW group that has asked for
mission statements from the Creative Ministries Committee that in the future
all grant proposals will include a mission statement. This has not been
required in the past. I believe that this is a very helpful step forward on
the part of the CMC, and will allow Presbyterian Women to make even more
informed decisions in the future about where and how to invest their mission
dollars.)
[1] http://comerciojusto.webcindario.com/quiensomosingles.htm