Our August “First Sunday” recipient will be Lutheran World Relief (“LWR”)

Lutheran World Relief has operated since 1946, helping the people of Europe in the aftermath of WWII.  LWR works to better the lives of others through education assistance, agricultural development, medical clinic support, and feeding hungry and displaced people.  Recent tragic conditions in Ukraine, Turkey, and Yemen have been the focus of many LWR aid dollars.

Last year’s Lutheran World Relief projects included:

• In remote areas of Peru, LWR formed a women’s cooperative to empower women to grow cacao. They turn the cacao into chocolate which has won international awards.  Their livelihoods are improved immensely through their sales of chocolate.
• In Tanzania, fertilizer costs have crippled farming.  With LWR’s help, farmers learn to grow pyrethrum, which is used as an organic insecticide and does not require fertilizer.  It can be harvested every 2 weeks, 10 months of the year.  LWR enabled farmers to build drying facilities for the pyrethrum, which they can then sell for cash in hand.  This is a sustainable and profitable way of farming.
• Mobile clinics in Yemen provide emergency health assistance to vulnerable Internally Displaced People in Yemen. The clinics-on-wheels provide care to four refugee camps and over 1,200 people. A  specific issues these clinics address is healthcare for women who, in Yemen, are not allowed to go to the hospital by themselves.  The clinics provide acute care and help with vaccines, antibiotics, and health screenings.

Our First Sunday collection will be used in a crisis area with pressing needs, perhaps Ukraine.  Rev. Tim Krick of LWR recently traveled to Ukraine and Turkey and will join us for our Zoom service on August 6 to share his eyewitness stories.

For more information on this organization, visit https://lwr.org.

CHECKS SHOULD BE MAILED TO:

DMIEC, P.O. Box 30065, Des Moines, IA  50310

Checks can be written either to “Lutheran World Relief” or to “DMIEC” with “First Sunday” in the memo line. 

We would prefer that all checks be mailed to DMIEC. If you mail your check directly to the organization, please inform Ed Arnold of the amount, if you feel comfortable, so the Social Justice Committee can get an accurate count of donations.