PRESIDENT'S COLUMN:

 

As you have surely noticed, we have renamed this newsletter Seek & Serve, a title that reflects our Baptismal Covenant to “seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbor as ourselves.”

 The newsletter’s new name also reflects our mandate, found in the words of Jesus in Matthew 25:40: “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” His point, of course, was that when we serve others, we serve Him.

 That is why Episcopal Relief & Development seeks out those in need and serves them in order to serve Christ, loving our neighbors as ourselves.

 We do this when we come to the aid of those who lost loved ones or their homes in the disastrous tornadoes and flooding that have hit so much of the U.S. in recent months, as you’ll read in this issue of Seek & Serve.

 We do this when we assist in providing clean drinking water and sanitation to families in Latin America, when we help farmers in Africa gain the tools to feed their families and generate a reliable income, and when we support women in Asia with micro-credit so they can start their own independent businesses.

 We do this in our own communities by providing tools for educating, involving and mobilizing fellow parishioners on behalf of those in need. We do this in our churches through Sunday school and youth curricula aimed at generating among our next generation an understanding of global inequities and our moral obligation to help those who suffer.

 And we do this through the NetsforLife® Inspiration Fund, as we work at the grassroots level within the Episcopal community to help deliver seven million nets to families in sub-Saharan Africa by the end of 2012.

 So as you read the pages of this newsletter and examine how we put our collective faith into action, I hope you’ll see how supporting Episcopal Relief & Development is one way you can fulfill our Baptismal Covenant. When our Church asks if we will seek and serve Christ, we answer, “I will with God’s help.” And you do this through your support of Episcopal Relief & Development, because that is precisely what we do.

 Thank you for all you do for “the least of these” and for your devotion to our faith.

Hugh Shields (rt) talks with Bishop Martin Field of the Episcopal Diocese of West Missouri outside Shields' home in Joplin.

What makes Episcopal Relief & Development's U.S. Disaster Program singularly effective is that parishes and dioceses take the lead.

This was a horrific spring for people in many parts of the United States, especially in the South and Midwest where a mix of deadly tornadoes and catastrophic flooding took many lives and cost people their homes and livelihoods.  

As always, Episcopal Relief & Development jumped in to help, assisting with emergency relief in many disaster-stricken dioceses. Yet as important as this work is, the greatest value of Episcopal Relief & Development's U.S. Disaster Program lies before and after the immediate crisis.

The Abundant Life Garden curriculum teaches children to tend the earth and share its bounty.

The goal is to teach children that they can help build and be part of a worldwide community.

Episcopal Relief & Development has developed a number of online tools and curricula to expand our support of congregations as they teach their youth how to "seek and serve Christ in all persons." 

From The Abundant Life Garden Project to Real Heroes versus Rita Mosquito: A Children's Program on Malaria, our Christian Formation Programs and resources teach and empower children to make a difference in the world. 

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Carol Anne Brown, shown here with her son Kevin, husband The Very Rev. Don Brown and daughter Meredith.

 

Being as involved as I have been, and continue to be, is a great joy!

 

Former Episcopal Relief & Development Board Member Carol Anne Brown and her husband, The Very Rev. Don Brown, are deeply involved in the life of the Episcopal Church and have been supporters of Episcopal Relief & Development since the days when it was known as the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief. 

To take their commitment to our work one step further, Carol Anne and Don became members of the Matthew25 Legacy Society in 2005, when they included Episcopal Relief & Development in their estate plans. Through planned giving, members of the Matthew25 Legacy Society help ensure that Episcopal Relief & Development can continue its important work for years to come.