Advent and Christmas Resources

Hold an alternative-giving fair, and give everyone you know “Good Gifts” this Christmas

Here's an easy way to encourage members of your congregation to give "alternative gifts" for Christmas -- to help them escape the season's gift-giving frenzy. Place one of the following World Hunger "stories" (below) in worship bulletins, bulletin inserts, or newsletters on each of the first three weeks of Advent to give members an opportunity to give a special gift to the World Hunger Appeal instead of a material gift to family or friends. Select and copy the text from each section below, and paste it into your word processing or other application.

Learn more about ELCA Good Gifts and how they can help you and your congregation give gifts that really make a difference.

Give something different this Christmas: Hope for refugees

• Instead of giving more unneeded gifts to family and friends this Christmas, give a gift of hope through the ELCA World Hunger Appeal.
  
• Jesus was a refugee. The story of his birth is followed by him fleeing with his family to Egypt to escape death from King Herod.
  
• Today still in the land where Jesus lived, there are Palestinian refugees whose lives are made difficult by the political and economic conditions of the area. The Lutheran World Federation (LWF), which receives financial support from the World Hunger Appeal, helps to improve the lives of thousands of these refugees and others through its health care, vocational training, and education programs. The LWF, our worldwide Lutheran “family,” has been serving Palestinian refugees since 1948.
  
• Consider giving $15 (or a multiple of it) to help our Lutheran World Federation partner in Jerusalem provide this lifeline to refugees. Write in a card: “A special Christmas gift to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal has been given in your honor to assist refugees in Palestine.” Put a check for your total gifts in your offering plate, or send directly to: ELCA World Hunger Appeal, P.O. Box 71764, Chicago, IL 60694-1764.

Give something different this Christmas: Help to people in need

• Instead of giving more unneeded gifts to family and friends this Christmas, give a gift of hope through the ELCA World Hunger Appeal.
  
• We know that Mary and Joseph could find no place to stay in Bethlehem when Jesus was born.
  
• But today, ministries like the Northeast Ministry Food Bank/Pantry in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, with support from the World Hunger Appeal, is providing the sort of help and hospitality to people in need that Jesus' family might have wanted. This ministry serves food to anyone in need. Its primary clients are residents with low incomes who live in Northeast Bethlehem Public Housing.
  
• Consider giving $20 or $25, or the equivalent of your grocery bill on your next trip to the store. Write in a card: "A special Christmas gift to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal has been given in your honor to help people in communities across the United States who otherwise might go hungry tonight." Put a check for your total gifts in your offering plate, or send directly to: ELCA World Hunger Appeal, P.O. Box 71764, Chicago, IL 60694-1764.
  

Week 3 -- Third Sunday in Advent

Give something different this Christmas: Hope for the homeless

• Instead of giving more unneeded gifts to family and friends this Christmas, give a gift of hope through the ELCA World Hunger Appeal.
  
• In this season of Advent, we remember God's faithful servant, Mary. In the village of El Agba, in the west African nation of Mauritania, women have named their sewing group the Marieme Cooperative, which in their language means "Mary, mother of Jesus."
  
• The Lutheran World Federation, our worldwide Lutheran "family," which receives financial support from the World Hunger Appeal, helped these poor women start this sewing cooperative. They make rugs and other textiles to sell. With this income, they can buy the additional food they need, pay for some medical expenses, or pay for their children's school fees. It has been their way to a better life.
  
• Give the equivalent of what you would spend on a new shirt, dress or pants for yourself or as a gift to someone this Christmas. Write in a card: "A special Christmas gift to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal has been given in your honor to help people in poor communities overseas improve their lives through use of their own talents." Put a check for your total gifts in your offering plate, or send directly to: ELCA World Hunger Appeal, P.O. Box 71764, Chicago, IL 60694-1764.