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- In the ELCA Northeastern Iowa Synod, 28 congregations in the Upper Iowa River Conference have worked together since the 1970s to sponsor Lutheran missionaries. Since 1996 (the first year for which records are available), the congregations have raised $274,500 to support ELCA missionaries. From left, Bishop Steve and Ruth Ullestad of the Northeastern Iowa Synod; the Rev. Mike Massa, dean of the Upper Iowa River Conference and pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church, Cresco, Iowa; Mary Beth and Bayo Oyebade, ELCA missionaries in Nigeria.
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- Madeline, Noah and Benjamin Parker and Amy and Jonah Velnoskey hosted a donation-only lemonade stand during their families’ garage sale in May 2013. They donated all of the proceeds from the lemonade stand to Lutheran Disaster Response to support relief efforts after a series of tornados decimated the town of Moore, Okla., this past spring.
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- ELCA members Scott Van Daalen and Brad Wylam and their friend Ethan Wise, who attends a United Methodist congregation, raised money for the ELCA Malaria Campaign and the United Methodist Church’s own malaria campaign by running across the state of Iowa in the summer of 2013.
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- For the past 15 years, Norm Peterson, who was pastor of Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church in Rhinelander, Wis., until 2013, has taken the youth of his congregation on a World Hunger Bike Tour. Supported by pledges, the students ride between 240 and 275 miles in five days to raise funds for ELCA World Hunger. In the years that the youth have biked, they have raised more than $114,000 for ELCA World Hunger relief!
ELCA members and congregations have a reputation for their generosity. And for some, that means getting creative about their fundraising efforts. Check out these creative ways ELCA members and congregations have given of their time and talents to some important causes.
