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 Eat In to
Help Out on 07/07/07
On Saturday, July 7th, we will be at the halfway point of the time frame set for acheiving the Millennium Development Goals. To mark this day, EGR is sponsoring "Eat In to Help Out" -- a national night with friends and family that will help us reflect on the MDGs while building community, both in our own homes and abroad.
And it's as easy as doing something you'd love to do anyway on a summer's eve -- have some friends over for dinner!
Here's how you do it:
STEP 1 - Instead of going out to eat, invite your friends to come
over to your apartment or house one evening. Ask them to bring the money they would normally spend going out to eat.
STEP 2 - Enjoy a great meal together, using some simple resources EGR will provide to have a discussion about global poverty and the MDGs.
STEP 3 - Take the money you would have spent "eating out" and "help out" - give it somewhere to help make the MDGs happen. You can give online to Episcopal Relief & Development find a microfinance project on www.kiva.org, give to something you're already involved in - it's your choice.
STEP 4 - Get on the map. Once you've decided to host a party, put yourself on our online map, and let us know you'll be doing it. After your group has made their gift, log into our other online map and record:
-Where the dinner was (e.g. San Francisco)
-How many attended (e.g. 7)
-How much money was raised (e.g. $120)
-Where the money was given (e.g. through Kiva to a project in Kenya)
Check back and see how we all did!
When we're all done we'll have a big map of all the places that"ate in," all the places in the world that were "helped out" and arunning total of diners and how much money we raised. Not a bad
night's (or week's) work!
If you can't do it on Saturday, July 7 -- don't sweat it. We'd love everyone to host meal sometime during the week of July 1-7, but if you can't do it then, do it some other time!
The idea is for these dinners is to be a low-key way to engage
people one on one with the MDGs. They don't have to be fancy and you don't have to make a formal presentation! Do whatever works for you and your friends. You can invite friends who are already working with the MDGs, or people who have never heard of them before.
This idea has really caught on among youth and young adults. We launched it last week to our facebook group and more than 100 people around the country have already agreed to host or attend a dinner. If you'd like to join in on the fun, just visit www.eatin2helpout.org. You'll find all the information that you'll need, including a how-to guide for dinner hosts, an information sheet to distribute to your guests, conversation starters, video clips, and meal ideas and recipes.
Also, be sure to visit www.buddymapping.com/maps/dinnerhosts to put your dinner party on the map! If you have any questions, email EGR intern Elizabeth Henry and she'll get you what you need.
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| What One Person Can Do |
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While sitting in her pew last Sunday, Jane was stunned to hear that one person dies every three seconds in this world from starvation or an illness that could have been prevented.
Jane had heard me say repeatedly that "Nobody has to do everything, but everybody needs to "do something" and when she heard that it costs 37 cents a day to feed a person, she got an idea.
She went to the local Chinese take-out restaurant by the church and asked if she could purchase containers. She is planning to put labels on the containers that remind folks that 37 cents a day can save a life and ask each family in the parish to put the labeled container on their kitchen or dining room table and put in whatever amount of money they can each day.
Jane is One Episcopalian who is making a difference. How cool is that!
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| What One Diocese Can Do |
 MDG ministry news from around the Episcopal Church
*The Diocese of Rochester's diocesan council approved donations of $1,000 apiece to Water for Sudan, Joining Hearts and Hands, Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation, Kiva loans, Baseball in Africa, Carpenter's Kids, and purchasing 2500 One bracelets from One Episcopalian that they'll ask for $1 donations for with the proceeds going to Episcopal Relief and Development.
*The Diocese of Milwaukee has disbursed its MDG funds, purchasing 3 hospital bed/mattress/table sets for Harpur Memorial Hospital in Egypt, funding a Maternal-Child Helath Initiative in Jeannette, Haiti, and contribuing to a health program in Nigeria.
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MDG Ministry in the News! |
 MDG news and notes from around the Church!
*A U2charist with 1,100 people that raised $127,000 and sold $3,000 worth of ONE shirts and bands? It happened in Florida!
*The Youth Group at St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Glenwood, MD has made their own version of the original ONE Campaign ad. See it here.
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| Quote of the Week |
 "Healing and Reconcilation should be a Millennium Development Goal for the faith community. Jesus said, 'Humans do not live by bread alone', meaning we don't offer spiritual nurture instead of material development work, but with it."
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What One Can Do - The MDGs: not just
"Doing Good" but "Doing the
Good News" |
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We need your help to make sure our focus on the MDGs embodies this cry.
From the beginning, EGR has been clear that our engagement with the Millennium Development Goals is about two things:
1) Us following Jesus
2) Christ transforming the Church and the world.
It's a critical foundation. Without it, we become just another social service agency -- and we're not that. We are Christ's church -- and everything we do must spring from, reinforce and proclaim that identity.
Recently, there has been criticism that in embracing the MDGs, the Church is substituting a secular agenda for the Gospel. That's evidence that we haven't done a good enough job proclaiming the theological and scriptural context for God's mission of global reconciliation.
So, as usual, you become our ears, eyes, hands and feet. Here's what we need you to do
*Go to EGRprayers.blogspot.com and add your own prayers, sermons and litanies that put the MDGs in the context of our faith, scripture and tradition.
* Send us links to other excelent theological resoures on the MDGs and global reconcliation -- or email us the full documents (in which case, please note whether you have permission for us to post them on our site)
*Speak out! When you hear people calling this mission a "secular agenda" - challenge that. Tell your own story of spiritual transformation and how this work has been "practical discipleship" for you.
Because even though we're doing lots of good -- we're about doing the Good News! |
EGR needs
your support
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All of EGR's funding comes from the generous contributions of individuals, congregations and dioceses. Please help us keep this movement going by clicking on the button and making your gift to EGR.
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The Rev. Dahn Dean Gandell, rector of 