ELCA "Women Helping Women Help Themselves"

WOMEN HELPING WOMEN HELP THEMSELVES

"During the decade of the '90s, Women of the ELCA is placing
special emphasis on being in partnership with women who are
struggling against poverty," said Doris E. Strieter, program
director for the Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America.  "For us as a community of Christian women, this means
offering our prayers, providing support for our communities,
lending our hands and our bodies in mutual work, and sharing our
financial gifts.  We are indeed women helping women help
themselves," said Strieter.  A video, "Women Helping Women Help
Themselves," highlights three projects supported by Women of the
ELCA grants -- the Women's Bean Project, the Appalachian Women's
Guild and the Southern Mutual Help Association -- in which women
support each other and work collaboratively to overcome
situations of poverty. "Women become empowered in many ways
depending on their individual situations and needs," said
Strieter.  "Projects funded by the Women of the ELCA Grants
Program reflect those many ways," she said.  The 22-minute video,
with accompanying study guide, assists viewers in examining the
biblical mandate to promote justice for those who are
oppressed. The video received national recognition in President
Clinton's Interagency Council on Women teleconference Oct. 4.
The teleconference, "America's Commitment: U.N. Women's
Conference One Year Later," aired a segment of the video as an
example of a project that builds women's skills, self-confidence
and self-sufficiency.  It focused on recommendations that emerged
from the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing Sept. 1995.
Women of the ELCA, the women's organization of the ELCA,  has
nearly 500,000 participants in 9,200 congregational units and 64
synodical women's organizations throughout the United States and
Caribbean.

For information contact: Ann Hafften, Dir., ELCA News Service,
(312) 380-2958 or AHAFFTEN@ELCA.ORG; Frank Imhoff, Assoc. Dir.,
(312) 380-2955 or FRANKI@ELCA.ORG