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Donate blood through The Blood Center
Donating blood at the Gathering is an opportunity to practice peacemaking by sharing your good health with members of the household of God.
About The Blood Center
The Blood Center is the primary supplier of blood to local hospitals throughout southern Louisiana and parts of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. It is a non-profit, community service organization, guided by a volunteer Board of Trustees and headquartered in New Orleans. To adequately supply the area, The Blood Center tries to keep a three-day supply of 1200-1400 pints of blood on the shelf – that means they must collect 350 pints a day! They rely on the generosity of volunteer blood donors to help save lives in the area.
Who can donate blood?
If you are at least 17 years old, you may donate blood if you weigh at least 110 lbs. If you are 16 years old, you must weigh at least 130 lbs and have a signed parental consent form. Have your parents fill out the parental consent form ahead of time so that you’ll be ready to donate at the Gathering!
You must be in good health and feeling well to donate blood – you may not donate if you are sick with a cold, have a fever, etc. Visit www.thebloodcenter.org and click on "Am I Eligible?" to view all the deferral criteria.
Balances due!
Time is growing short for congregations to submit the balance owed for the Gathering. Congregations will find the button for this report, which is located in their congregational accounts, just below their confirmation/housing letter that they used for their hotel reservations.
Simply print the Balance Due report, and send it with the payment to:
ELCA Youth Gathering
PO Box #798291
St. Louis, MO 63179-8000
Final Gathering registration payments must be made in full by May 26! Remember to put your congregational ID number in the memo line of your check. The Gathering will not accept payments in New Orleans.
Director's Blog - "Happy to serve"
Our little staff of three is doing our best to serve the almost 3,000 congregations registered for the Gathering. I worry that I set us up for the kind of pressure we live with. I am committed to a standard of service that makes everyone feel heard and valued. That is why we attempt to respond to every email or phone inquiry. We don’t have a perfect record, but we try.
Our commitment to this level of service, which is becoming more and more rare – as I discovered when I got caught in the spiral of automated phone systems trying to deal with a batch of new checks that were stolen – is why I was so proud of the Youth Gathering volunteers this week. I am in awe of our volunteers. They are modeling, in the way they are preparing for the Gathering, what we hope young people will practice in their relationships with others: a spirit of humble service. I’d like to share three stories with you about our marvelous volunteers. | Read more
MYLE and DAYLE
MYLE information
All primary leaders of groups attending MYLE (Multicultural Youth Leadership Event) should have already received introductory event information and housing forms by email. Housing forms are due May 15. If you are a primary leader of a group registered to attend MYLE and have not yet received information regarding the event, please be in touch with Erin Daubert at erin.daubert@elca.org. If you are attending MYLE but are not a primary leader, please be in touch with your group's primary leader with questions.
DAYLE information
All primary leaders and companions of youth attending DAYLE (Definitely Abled Youth Leadership Event) should have already received introductory event information and housing and special needs forms by email. Housing and special needs forms are due May 15. If you are a primary leader or companion of someone registered to attend DAYLE and have not yet received information regarding the event, please be in touch with Erin Daubert at erin.daubert@elca.org.
MYLE and DAYLE payment
Remember that payment for MYLE and DAYLE is due May 26, the same day as payment for the Gathering is due. The cost to attend MYLE or DAYLE is $150.00 per person attending. Please check your online Gathering account information to find out how much your congregation still owes towards this pre-event.
Connecting to the congregation
Worship together
On Sunday, July 22, 2012, at 9:30 a.m. CDT the 2012 ELCA Youth Gathering Closing Worship will take place in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Your congregation is invited to consider joining this worship from your own location. ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson will be preaching. The Dome Creative Team will provide a detailed order of service ahead of time so that your congregation may view the entire service or just selected portions. Watch for more details in the July gNews.
Mass Casts!
Wow! — What a response we received for Mass Cast volunteers!
Our Mass Casts are now complete and we can no longer accept any more volunteers. If your group did not make the cut-off, you were added to a wait list and will be contacted if needed. You should have already been contacted if you were selected to be part of a Mass Cast opportunity.
Each Mass Cast opportunity will require your youth group to acquire and bring along a simple costume. Details about costume, specific rehearsal times and what the Mass Cast will be doing will be sent to you. Visit www.elca.org/ELCA/Youth-Gathering/Planning-for-the-Gathering/Mass-Cast-Opportunity.aspx for more information.
In the dome
Speakers and musicians inspiring us at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome
Listen up, citizens with the saints! The Dome Creative Team wants to announce some of the speakers and musicians who will be with us for the ELCA Youth Gathering in New Orleans. Visit this page to see who will be inspiring us as we fill the Mercedes-Benz Superdome this July!
Banners in the Superdome
Historically, groups have hung banners in the dome that reflect their congregation's name and location, and sometimes their interpretation of the Gathering's theme. This practice is possible again. Because of renovations in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, banners must be created vertically rather than horizontally. The approved size is 2-feet-wide and 3-feet-long or smaller. Anything larger than that may be removed by Superdome staff. Banners can only be hung using plastic zip ties in designated locations. Gathering volunteers and ushers will identify display locations on the opening night, Wednesday, July 18.
A million books for New Orleans! We can do it!
In 2009 New Orleans needed the collective muscle of ELCA youth and adults to help them rebuild their community. God’s work. Our hands.
In 2012, New Orleans needs books! Hurricane Katrina tore the scab off of the deep wound of generational, systemic poverty, and some of the wounds are still open. This is our church’s opportunity to address one of the symptoms of recurring poverty in New Orleans ― illiteracy. This is God’s work, too.
Send this link — www.gulfcoastsynod.org/books.html — to everyone you know and ask them to join you in the biggest book give-away the state of Louisiana has ever seen! These are not just any books.
New Orleans area teachers and librarians are asking for new, multicultural books that inspire learning, build vocabulary and come with teaching tools for parents and children. Click here to learn more about how children benefit from reading.
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