April 15, 2003

CHICAGO (ELCA) - The World Hunger Appeal of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) collected more than $16 million in 2002 - surpassing 2001 general World Hunger contributions by $400,000 - plus $1 million in "Stand With Africa" giving. The revised income goal for the 2002 appeal was $16 million.

"We were in shock when the ELCA Office of the Treasurer reported that, on the very last night that income was posted for 2002, $1.2 million was recorded for the World Hunger Appeal," said Lita Brusick Johnson, director, World Hunger Appeal, ELCA Division for Congregational Ministries.

Starting in early fall, World Hunger income was "looking pretty grim," said Johnson. At the end of December, we were more than $350,000 behind 2001's giving level and around $1 million behind budget. The income goal for the 2002 World Hunger Appeal was then revised from $16.5 million to $16 million, she said.

In January, the last month of the ELCA's fiscal year, the church's 65 synods receive much of what congregations gathered in the fall and winter, "which continues to be posted" to the churchwide organization through "successive closings in February," Johnson said.

The final year-end figures for 2002 were announced at the ELCA Conference of Bishops meeting March 6-11 in Charleston, S.C. The Conference of Bishops is an advisory body of the church consisting of the church's 65 synod bishops, ELCA presiding bishop and ELCA secretary.

Information regarding the appeal's situation in the fall was shared with the church's synod hunger advocates and others, who passed the news and a challenge to congregations and members. That made a real difference in the incredibly strong year-end finish, said Johnson.

"Since the 1999 ELCA Churchwide Assembly pledged to double giving to the appeal, our church has moved from the $11 to $12.5 million plateau of the 1990s to the more than $17 million [collected] this year," Johnson said.

The World Hunger Appeal garnered $15.57 million in 2001, falling short of the appeal's $16 million goal for the year. Plus, $328,000 was earmarked for Stand With Africa that year.

"We've 'crunched the numbers' and it appears that the $1 million in 2002 Stand With Africa income is new money" of which "100 percent will go to Africa for additional food security, peace and AIDS work," Johnson said. "This money was generated without the allocation of substantial additional fund-raising money," she said.

"Stand With Africa: A Campaign of Hope" focuses on issues significant to Africa, including HIV/AIDS, food security, and peace and reconciliation. It is being coordinated in part by the ELCA World Hunger Program.

"With this year's results in, it appears that giving to Stand With Africa did not appear to substantially impact general World Hunger giving in 2002. In fact, several synods making a significant Stand With Africa push experienced significant increases in World Hunger general giving," Johnson said. Much of that giving appears to have been related to synod assemblies, individual gifts or giving by congregations "at times when there is little general World Hunger activity in congregations," she said.

In other 2002 income, giving to the church's International Disaster Response reached almost $600,000, while the ELCA Domestic Disaster Response and Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR) topped $1.5, Johnson said. LDR is a ministry of the ELCA and the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod.

"Undesignated disaster giving reached $250,000," she said. There were "major disasters below the radar screen of the U.S. media, like the current food crisis in Africa in which more than 30 million people are at risk," Johnson said. "Every couple of weeks, it seems that this number increases by a million, but our society's intense attention seems to be directed to the war with Iraq and our own economic woes," she said.

Speaking about the positive income ending for 2002, Johnson said, "We all know that we are really celebrating not just numbers but lives that will be saved and hope that will come to desperately poor communities because these dollars are available."

ELCA News Service