LUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF ANNOUNCES $2 MILLION GRANT FROM EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA FOR WORK IN SRI LANKA
Baltimore, October 14, 2005 — Lutheran World Relief (LWR) today announced a $2 million grant from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to support LWR’s rehabilitation and recovery work in Sri Lanka, one of the countries hardest hit by the December 2004 tsunami.
LWR President Kathryn Wolford thanked the ELCA for their generous commitment to LWR’s post-tsunami work. “We are incredibly grateful for the ELCA’s commitment to our response in South and Southeast Asia. This $2 million grant will allow us to engage in the kind of long-term work in Sri Lanka that LWR is known for – addressing the underlying conditions of chronic poverty and providing lasting change.” She continued, “As a ministry of the ELCA, we treasure our relationship with the church body and its members. This grant is just one more example of the great things we can do together to help those we are called to serve.”
The Rev. Dr. Rafael Malpica-Padilla, Executive Director of the ELCA’s Division for Global Mission said, “We are very pleased to provide this grant to LWR. The magnitude of this disaster compels us to support one another in our relief efforts and to build on each other’s competencies. As a ministry of the ELCA and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, LWR has been a trusted and faithful companion through which our churches have maximized and extended our response to international disasters and development work.”
Coordinated by the ELCA Division for Global Mission, International Disaster Response often directs its funds through international church organizations and relief agencies.
“The ELCA’s initial support was vital in helping LWR respond during the emergency phase when saving lives was the priority,” said Tim McCully, LWR’s vice president for international programs, commenting on the initial $100,000 the ELCA provided LWR in January 2005. “Now, this new donation is equally important as we shift from relief to longer-term rehabilitation efforts. This grant will allow LWR and our local partner organizations to work with more families in more communities. It will expand our work to increase peoples’ ability to earn an income through their own skills, assist them in protecting and managing their natural resources and help them reduce their risks to future disasters.”
“The ELCA is committed both to meeting urgent needs and to walking with disaster survivors on the long path to recovery,” according to Lita Brusick Johnson, ELCA Global Mission’s Associate Executive Director. “Through Lutheran World Relief, our church will live out its commitment to tsunami survivors in the extremely challenging situation in Sri Lanka. LWR’s community-based approach is precisely what is needed to shape an effective, long-term rehabilitation effort.”
In the immediate aftermath of the tsunami, LWR and its partner agencies in Sri Lanka provided more than 45,500 people with food, water, tents, cooking utensils, clothing, medicine, school books and uniforms. Since then, LWR has helped repair damaged houses and schools, provide loans and training to restore and diversify livelihoods and counsel those most affected by the disaster. The ELCA grant will help LWR meet peoples’ long-term needs for permanent houses and steady, reliable sources of income, and support LWR’s work with communities to better prepare them for future disasters.
Almost ten months have passed since the devastating tsunami, a tragedy that, as former president Bill Clinton recently noted, “touched the chord of our common humanity.” During those months, Lutheran World Relief supporters have shown their compassion and generosity by donating an unprecedented $18 million to our Wave of Giving™ campaign to help South Asia rebuild and recover. Thanks to these generous donations, LWR and partners in India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka will be able to fund our long-term recovery effort for up to ten years.
LWR’s long-term commitment sets it apart from many other agencies working in the region. We are currently in the second phase of our three-phase plan, transitioning from relief to rehabilitation. We expect that the rehabilitation phase will last the duration of this year until we start seeing our long-term projects up and running.
A Word About How We Work
A basic foundation of LWR’s work is that we work with and through local partners in the communities that we serve. Our partnerships are based on shared values and objectives, flexibility, mutual trust, respect, accountability, and transparency. This way of working in partnership, which we call “accompaniment,” enhances the growth and learning of both LWR and the partner organization, while working toward the ultimate goal of improving the well-being of the poor and finding lasting solutions to poverty and injustice.
WHO IS LWR? Lutheran World Relief, an international nonprofit organization, works to end poverty and injustice by empowering some of the world's most impoverished communities to help themselves. With partners in 35 countries, LWR seeks to promote sustainable development with justice and dignity by helping communities bring about change for healthy, safe and secure lives; engage in Fair Trade; promote peace and reconciliation; and respond to emergencies. LWR is headquartered in Baltimore, Md. and has worked in international development and relief since 1945.
Lutheran World Relief is a ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS), individuals and parish groups in international relief, development, advocacy and social responsibility.
For more information contact Emily Sollie at esollie@lwr.org or 410-230-2802.
