Robert Runkle
Social Justice and Outreach Commission Chair

Well, for starters, we allocated $6,900.00 to a variety of worthwhile efforts and agencies throughout the world. In accordance with the 2006 Diocesan Convention resolution, these funds were budgeted for 2007, and Diocesan Council asked the Social Justice and Outreach Ministries (SJOM) Commission (sponsor of the Convention resolution) to recommend to Council appropriate recipients. Under the leadership of Char Mills, St. David’s, Spokane, and Nancy Collins-Warner, St. James’, Pullman, as well as Jenny Ruppel, Nativity, Lewiston, we provided each congregation with an explanation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and their relation to The Episcopal Church. In addition, we provided a sample resolution for vestries and bishop’s committees to adopt as their congregations begin to implement the resolution and create a line item to allocate 0.7% of their own budgets toward the overarching goal of eliminating extreme poverty by 2015.

A summary of the Commission’s recommendations, as approved by Diocesan Council, follows:The first allocation of $3000 was made to help fund Matt Kellen’s mission trip to South Africa as a member of the Episcopal Church’s Young Adult Service Corps. Matt, a teacher, was then a member of Diocesan Council and of the SJOM Commission. His first article appeared in the December Inland Episcopalian, and he continues to update his weblog. This investment is primarily directed toward Goal #2 – Achieve universal primary education. If you’d like more information on YASC, please check their website.Next, $975.00 was donated to Alternatives for Burmese Children (ABC). This organization was founded by Dr. Joan Craig, a member of St. Stephen’s, Spokane, with her physician husband, Art. ABC works with refugee children who have escaped ongoing war and famine in Burma (also called Myanmar) and who live in refugee camps near the border. This investment is primarily directed toward Goal #2, and also touches Goal #4 – Reduce child mortality.

The Mindolo Ecumenical Foundation received the next $975.00. Episcopal Relief and Development partners with MEF on a multi-faceted program to support children orphaned by AIDS in the rural community of Kitwe, the third-largest town in Zambia. MEF is a leader in development in East and Central Africa through its work in peace building and reconciliation, leadership, community development and education. MEF provides young children with educational opportunities, health care and food, as well as training and opportunities for their extended families to increase their household income. This investment is primarily directed toward Goal #2 – Achieve universal primary education. Linda Hale, of the Lower Yakima Valley, is a member of the SJOM Commission and also serves as the Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) Coordinator for the Diocese of Spokane.

We next selected KIVA, which is a microfinance loan organization widely recognized for its use of the internet and its ability to make effective loans with a stellar repayment rate. Our initial objective was to identify several loan recipients whose requests supported Goal #2 – achieving universal primary education. We were intrigued with the microfinance concept and initially intended to allocate a significant amount of the diocesan funds to this organization. However, there were no loan requests specifically related to education. Kiva’s popularity also made it necessary to limit contributions to between $25 and $50 per loan. Our initial “investment” totaled $200.00 for several individuals that address Goal #3 – Promote gender equality and empower women. This is an ideal group for individual support of MDGs – you make a loan, it is repaid and you make another one!Bob Reilly of St. Luke’s, Wenatchee, introduced us to Friends of Central Highlands Viet Nam (FOCHVN). We were particularly impressed with the Vinh Son Orphanage, an institution which serves children whose parents are dead, or who have abandoned the children because of extreme poverty. This investment is primarily directed toward Goal #1 – eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, and Goal #2. We provided $1,320.00 for their valuable work in an extremely poor area of the world.

The One Laptop per Child Foundation’s goal is to ensure that all school-aged children in the developing world, where books and materials are hard to come by, are able to engage effectively in education via their own personal laptop, networked to the world. This provides that they, their families and their communities can openly learn and learn about learning. The donation of $400.00 made by The Episcopal Diocese of Spokane provides two computers to children overseas, many of whom are refugees from war and economic oppression in their native countries. This investment is primarily directed toward Goal #2.

Now it is your turn! Let us know what you and your congregation have accomplished you’re your investments in the MDGs. We’d love to share this information across the Diocese. We are also studying new approaches to invest the $6348.00 budgeted for 2008.

Let us know your ideas for the coming year by sending them to: rrunkle@gmail.com