ECW Test Site #2

Category: Ministries

  • ECW and NetsforLife

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    At its heart, the NetsforLife campaign to eradicate malaria in sub-Saharan Africa is about the promise of the Episcopal Church to raise up the Millennium Development Goals and use them as a mission orientation. Of the eight goals, NetsforLife, an initiative of Episcopal Relief and Development, particularly focuses on goal six: “Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.” Malaria, which disproportionately affects women and children, is a scourge that can be prevented. One bed net costs only $12 and can protect up to three people from malarial mosquitoes.

    The ECW of North Carolina pledged itself in 2007 to the MDGs. In November 2010, in his “Lyin’ Midwives” homily given at Holy Trinity Church in Greensboro during the Annual Meeting of the ECW, Bishop Michael Curry asked that we continue to “lead the way” by working on behalf of NetsforLife (see the NetsforLife website for more information and to hear the bishop’s sermon.)

    The Diocesan ECW, represented by president Lisa Towle, was actively involved with the work of the NetsforLife Steering Committee. Individuals, parish-based ECW branches, convocations, and the ECW executive board donated a total of $7,200 to the campaign on behalf of the Diocesan ECW. That equals 600 mosquito nets. Translation: Up to 1,800 lives have been saved by this one financial gift.

     Many, many other Episcopal Church Women have contributed to NetsforLife by leading and contributing to campaigns in their churches. Heartfelt thanks to all! The work on behalf of the MDGs continues.

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  • Blessed and Botswana Bound

    Blessed and Botswana Bound

    \"\"In Botswana, Juli Hauser found a place big enough to accommodate her dream.

    It was in 2007 that Juli, a retired teacher and member of Church of the Holy Comforter in Burlington, heard about Duduza (“comfort”) dolls. It seems women in the Diocese of Vermont had organized a project where knitters were invited to use a pattern to create the dolls, which were then distributed to children affected by HIV/AIDS in Rwanda, Namibia and South Africa.

    Captivated by the idea of children receiving these “bridges of love,” Juli, a self-described novice knitter, took the idea to idea to Holy Comforter’s St. Martha’s Guild, a group within the Episcopal Church Women of the parish that had experience knitting prayer shawls and the like.

    A few women signed on for the initial effort, and though they grew more proficient in the making of the comfort dolls, distribution remained limited. Then came word through the ECW of the Diocese of North Carolina’s relationship with the Anglican Diocese of Botswana, and the role women’s ministries would play in the new companion link. It was, says Juli, an answer to prayers that the dolls would find a home with children who really needed and wanted them.

    In November of 2008, while at the Annual Meeting of the ECW of the diocese, Juli spoke with the event’s special guests: Florence Bogopa, president of the Anglican Women’s Fellowship in Botswana, and Colleen Segokgo, president of the Diocese of Botswana’s Mother’s Union. That conversation confirmed the dolls would be welcome in Botswana. A few weeks later, 50 Duduza dolls were on their way to a center run by the Mother’s Union for AIDS orphans and other vulnerable children.

    More people joined in the doll-making, often using yarn donated to St. Martha’s Guild. It takes, on average, about two and a half to three hours to knit one doll. “I do this at home white watching TV,” explains Juli. She and others also pray for the children who’ll be receiving a doll.

    The knitting and praying can’t happen fast enough. To date this year, 25 comfort dolls have been made for children in the Diocese of Renk in Sudan, where until recently, the Rev. Lauren Stanley, an Episcopal missionary supported by the ECW of the Winston-Salem Convocation, was based. Juli’s daughter, a physician’s assistant and lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard stationed at Balad Air Base in Iraq in the first half of 2009, asked her to send dolls for the children brought to the hospital with grievous injuries suffered as a result of the war. And then there were the 100 dolls for St. Peter’s Day Care Centre in Botswana.

    Located just outside the capital city, Gaborone, St. Peter’s is for AIDS orphans as well as street kids and other vulnerable children. On the last Sunday in May, while at Holy Comforter for a festive morning of baptisms and confirmations, Bishop Michael Curry also blessed a number of gifts to and from the church, including an array of dolls, each as unique as the child to whom it would be given. He prayed:

    O Lord, you have given us the gift of talents and artistry to make beautiful and functional things with our hands and our heart. May these Duduza dolls made by the loving hands of people of St. Martha’s Guild become likenesses of your love and comfort for the frightened, lost, and needy children of Botswana through Jesus Christ our Lord.

    Soon thereafter, in a shipment again coordinated by the diocesan ECW, the dolls were boxed up and bound for Botswana, and the women of Holy Comforter returned to their knitting.

  • 2016 UTO Grant Application Timeline

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    The national UTO has announced the timeline for the 2016 granting cycle. NOTE: All questions about grants and all grant requests from the Diocese of NC should first be directed to the diocesan ECW interim president.

    2016 United Thank Offering Focus and Criteria, Fifth Mark of Mission:

    “To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth”

    Monday, January 4, 2016:  All UTO grant information available on UTO website.

    NOTE: the Diocesan ECW is responsible for all statements and signatures from the bishop’s office. Please do not contact the bishop’s office directly.

    Included are focus, criteria, hints for grant writing and the application form (see links below)

    Monday, February 8, 2016:  Submission deadline for individual parish UTO grant applications.

    The applications will be reviewed by the diocesan ECW review committee. All grant applications should be submitted directly to ECW Interim President, Mary Gordon, by e-mail (interimpresident^ecw-nc#org) or by regular mail, 1211 Watermark Ct., High Point, NC 27265

    You may be asked to re-submit your application with the committee’s recommendations.

    Monday, February 22, 2016:  Submission deadline for edited versions of the selected applications for final submissions.

    Friday, March 4, 2016 (5:00 PM):  Deadline for ECW to submit selected UTO Grant applications from the Diocese of NC to the national UTO office.

    Here are links to all the forms:

    2016 Grant Application Process Form (PDF) Please note this critical information!

    Grant Application Sample Budget #1 (PDF)

    Grant Application Sample Budget #2 (PDF)

    United Thank Offering 2016 Grant Application Form (Word)

  • 2017 UTO Grant Application Timeline

    2017 United Thank Offering Grant Focus and Criteria

    Evangelism-Reconciliation:

    Following Jesus’ way of creating loving, liberating, and life-giving relationships with God, each other, and all creation.

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    Friday, February 3, 2017:

    Submission deadline for individual parish UTO grant applications.

    The applications will be reviewed by the diocesan ECW review committee. All grant applications should be submitted directly to ECW United Thank Offering Coordinator Barbara Longmire by e-mail (UTO^ecw-nc#org) or by regular mail:

    1818 Hideaway Lane

    Durham, NC 27712 

    You may be asked to re-submit your application with the committee’s recommendations.

    Friday, February 17, 2017:

    Submission deadline for edited versions of the selected applications for final submissions.

    Monday, February 20, 2017:

    ECW to get to the Bishop for signature on applications.

    Friday, March 3, 2017 (5:00 PM):

    Deadline for ECW to submit selected UTO Grant applications from the Diocese of NC to the national UTO office.

    Links to all forms:

  • 2018 United Thank Offering Grant Applications

    Focus:
    Becoming Beloved Community: Racial Healing, Reconciliation and Justice

    \"\"Friday, February 9, 2018:
    Submission deadline for individual parish UTO grant applications.
    The applications will be reviewed by the diocesan ECW review committee. All grant applications should be submitted directly to ECW United Thank Offering Coordinator Barbara Longmire by e-mail (UTO^ecw-nc#org) or by regular mail:
    1818 Hideaway Lane
    Durham, NC 27712

     NOTE:  An email submission may speed up the Committee review process

    You may be asked to re-submit your application with the committee’s recommendations.

    Friday, February 16, 2018:
    Submission deadline to UTO coordinator of edited versions of the selected applications.

    Monday, February 19, 2018:
    ECW to submit selected applications to the Bishop for final signature.

    Friday, March 2, 2018 (5:00 PM):
    Deadline for ECW to submit selected UTO Grant applications from the Diocese of NC to the national UTO office.

    Links to all forms:

     

  • NC’s ECW contribute $500 to Unified Gift

    The ECW of Diocese of NC adopted the Millennium Development Goals as a mission point in 2007. We were integral to the success of the Diocese of NC’s 2011-2012 NetsforLife campaign, actively serving on its steering committee and donating $7,200 to the effort. 

    And now, with ECW Triennial, the focus is again on the NetsforLife Inspiration Fund, a program of Episcopal Relief and Development. Here in Indy, thanks to the generosity of Kathy MacLeod, Raleigh Convocation chair of the Diocesan ECW; the women of Saint Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church in Charlotte; and the Diocesan ECW board, we gave $500 to help the National ECW reach the $12,000 goal of the Unified Gift. In all, more than $17,000 has been raised. 

    One specially treated bed net can prevent up to three people from the bites of malarial mosquitoes.

  • 9. Faith in Action

    Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
    James 2:15-17 (NIV)

    The Mother’s Union, active throughout the worldwide Anglican Communion, is one of two primary women’s ministries in the Diocese of Botswana. The Episcopal Church Women of the Diocese of North Carolina has unique relationships with both these groups as they focus on different things at different times. Based on its name alone, the MU, as it’s commonly known, is concerned with conventional family life and strengthening it in a Christian context.

    The woman pictured here, carrying her son in the traditional way, attended the Diocese of Botswana’s annual MU conference in August of 2010. Mother and child had shy smiles and sweet dispositions, and both were endlessly patient with the long days of the conference, which ran nearly a week. Memories of them are such pleasant ones. But it’s people just like these who are the most susceptible to malaria: 90 percent of all malaria deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa (a zone that includes Botswana), and malaria strikes women and children disproportionately. According to the World Health Organization, an African child has 1.5 to 5.4 episodes of malaria fever every year. The NetsforLife campaign of the Episcopal Church, which the Diocese of North Carolina has joined through its parishes, mission, schools, and ministries (such as Episcopal Church Women), asks that we put our faith in action by donating to the cost of at least one $12 mosquito net. Each net will cover one bed, and one bed holds up to three people. Prevention is much easier than a cure.

  • UTO Grants 2009: $2 million+

    I blogged earlier about Bishop Curry\’s address at the United Thank Offering Sharing Dinner last Friday.

    \"\"On Sunday the UTO Ingathering was the focus of the Eucharist service.

    \"\"Alice Freeman, our UTO Coordinator, represented the Diocese of NC during the traditional parade of the dioceses at the Ingathering (each provincial UTO rep calls the diocesan coordinator forward one by one, and they file across the stage/altar area to greet the Presiding Bishop and president of the House of Deputies.) Here\’s Alice in her UTO blue, waiting with other diocesan coordinators for the procession to begin.

    On Tuesday, the national UTO Committee brought their grant recommendations to the floor of the ECW plenary for a vote of adoption. The delegates voted unanimously in favor of the recommendations. Then it was announced the offering collected at Sunday\’s Ingathering totaled $28,168.92, a 37% increase over the offering three years ago.

    In all, 63 grants totaling $2,065,472.43 will be made this year.

    And yes, the Diocese of North Carolina is on the list of grant recipients. However, I can\’t announce that information until formal notification has gone out.

  • North Carolina Connections

    \"\"On Sunday, immediately after the Festival Eucharist and UTO Ingathering, which ran long because of the thousands of people present, I hightailed it from the convention center to the hotel where the Province IV ECW luncheon was being held. Stepping from the bright California sun into the hotel\’s lobby caused momentary blindness, so I didn\’t immediately see who was standing right before me.

    \"\"Then I heard, \”So I don\’t even get a hello? That\’s a fine howdy.\” Things came into focus and I saw who was talking, Lauren Stanley! Lauren is a missionary of the Episcopal Church whose work is supported by the church women of North Carolina — specifically, the ECW of the Winston-Salem Convocation, and she\’s a frequent visitor to the diocese. In fact, she\’ll be preaching and teaching in Winston-Salem next month before heading off to her new assignment in Haiti.

    \"\"Lauren was with her older brother and the Rt. Rev. Shannon Johnston, the Bishop Coadjutor of the Diocese of Virginia, her sponsoring diocese.

    Seeing the name of my diocese on my name badge, the bishop asked in what part of North Carolina I live. I told him and it turns out he knows the area well. Though he\’s a native of Alabama, his family put the Johnston in Johnston County. They also owned big chunks of Raleigh and Wake County. Well, the story goes on and it\’s a juicy one, involving shady deals and nefarious characters, and fortunes lost and somewhat regained, and a kind of penance that resulted in the giveaway of land upon which now sits a part of North Carolina State University. Devereux Street in Raleigh and the prime real estate around it? That too was part of the Johnston\’s portfolio once upon a time; Devereux is a family name. Easy come, easy go, eh?

    None of this, of course, has anything to do with setting the course for the Episcopal Church for the next three years, but it sure was a fun conversation with home folk and down home folk and good all around Episcopalians. Lauren, her brother and the bishop left for their lunch and I headed to one of the hotel\’s ballrooms for mine. It just goes to show you never know who you\’ll run into at General Convention.

    \"\"L to R: Alice Freeman, Sharon Curry, Lisa Towle and Vivian Edwards

  • Bishop Curry: \”Go!\”

    \"\"Photo: Beverly RuebeckPresent at the United Thank Offering Sharing Dinner Friday evening were 400 people from throughout the Anglican Communion—including bishops, priests, deacons, ECW members and diocesan UTO coordinators.

    Our own Bishop Curry addressed the assembly. Using the 20th chapter of the Book of John as his frame of reference, he continually referred to the sister ministries of the United Thank Offering and Episcopal Church Women as “a mission of witness” sorely needed in “a time of absolute and unprecedented change.”

    “If you remember just one word from what I say tonight, it should be this: Go. You know, you won’t find the actual word ‘mission’ in the Bible, but mission is all over the Bible. It’s there because ‘go’ is there and ‘go’ means mission,” he explained.

    “And if you take the word ‘go’ seriously, it means you’ve got to trust the Lord. No more is there easy Christianity or easy religion. In a time with religious institutions finding themselves swimming upstream, remember that you don’t need to have all the answers, you just need to have a mission,” he said.

    The mission of the UTO, founded and administered by women since 1889, is to further the work of the church that addresses compelling human need by promoting daily offerings of thanks in parishes throughout the Church, receiving those offerings, then distributing that money across the Anglican Communion via grants.

    It is a vital ministry, said Bishop Curry. And in a closing that brought the crowd to its feet, he added, “I’m telling you, it makes a difference. You make a difference. So I ask you to continue to go and spread the good news of Jesus. Do not falter. Go and love without abandon! Go and spread his justice! Go UTO! Go ECW! Go!”