CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Augsburg Fortress, the publishing house of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), Minneapolis, announced that more than $105,000 has been raised through its "Mission Well" project to provide safe drinking water for the people of southern Bangladesh.
The Mission Well project is part of "Davey and Goliath's Camp Creation," the ELCA publisher's Vacation Bible School (VBS) series. Augsburg Fortress worked in cooperation with the ELCA's Division for Global Mission to facilitate this project, the publisher said in a news release.
The initiative is part of a larger well project sponsored by Lutheran Health Care Bangladesh (LHCB), the ELCA and other church organizations and agencies to help people dig deep tube wells for their villages.
"This project has struck a chord with congregations and church leaders of all denominations throughout the United States and Canada," said Beth A. Lewis, Augsburg Fortress president and chief executive officer. "Through this tremendous response, we will help to bring safe drinking water to the people of several villages in Bangladesh."
Mission Well is a service project offered through the 2004 Camp Creation VBS series. It provides participants the opportunity to put into action what they have learned -- that "God calls us to care for all that God has created," the release said. VBS students decorate their own Mission Well and fill it with their offerings to fund the building of new wells. Offerings have been collected from Camp Creation VBS programs in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, the publisher said.
Through this initiative, wells 800 to 1,000 feet deep are dug into the ground. Wells dug at such depths avoid arsenic contamination found in shallower tube wells in Bangladesh, the release said. Using hand labor, a team of local workers can dig a well in less than a week for about $800 to $1,000. The project offers workers an opportunity to acquire new skills they can use for other community development projects, Augsburg Fortress said.
LHCB is a non-governmental organization of 33 ELCA congregations and other interested organizations, foundations and individuals. The LHCB Consortium works in Bangladesh in partnership with the ELCA, emphasizing development of community health in its work, the release said. To increase the health status of the rural people, LHCB is providing basic health education and increasing the availability of safe water through deep tube wells.
---
* Deborah Erickson is marketing communications director for Augsburg Fortress Publishers, Minneapolis.
Information about Davey and Goliath's Camp Creation Mission Well project is available at http://www.augsburgfortress.org on the Web.
Information about the well project sponsored by Lutheran Health Care Bangladesh and the ELCA Division for Global Mission is at http://www.elca.org/dgm/steward/bangladeshwells.html on the ELCA Web site.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news
- - -
About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with 2.8 million members in more than 8,500 worshiping communities across the 50 states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of "God's work. Our hands.," the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA's roots are in the writings of the German church reformer Martin Luther.
For information contact:
Candice Hill Buchbinder
Public Relations Manager
Candice.HillBuchbinder@ELCA.org
