A "Point" well made

Members of the MDG Task Force report on the group's 2007 grants to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals

"What's your Point?" has become a new catch phrase on stickers and buttons worn by people supporting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The campaign stresses that if individuals and congregations (and dioceses, too!) designate just 0.7% of their income to one or more of a list of eight goals set by the United Nations, extreme global poverty could be eliminated by the year 2015.

This "point" has not been lost on the people of the Diocese of Minnesota! At the December 13 meeting of Diocesan Council, the Rev. Devon Anderson and the Rev. Michele Morgan presented an enthusiastic report on the Millennium Development Task Force's work in 2007 and outlined some of its hopes for 2008.

"We were made stewards for distributing the diocesan 0.7% for 2007," Anderson and Morgan noted, as they distributed a report on how the monies were used. A total of $23,080, including 0.7% of the diocesan budget designated for the MDGs plus money raised at the 2006 Diocesan Convention was disbursed, both in the form of direct donations to organizations carrying on work in support of the MDGs and in grants to Minnesota congregations to help with their own MDG projects.

"Our goal was to make direct donations that covered each Millennium Development Goal," said Anderson and Morgan. Many of the donations and grants actually supported several of the goals.

Direct donations and project support

Diocesan MDG funds were disbursed in two ways. The majority of the money was given directly to established organizations that are working to eliminate extreme global poverty, hunger, and disease; and to help people around the world achieve a better life. The largest of these gifts was a check for $4000 which was presented to Episcopal Relief and Development at a September MDG Summit held in St. Paul (read about the summit here).

Minnesota efforts were not forgotten, either. Seven congregational grants ranged from $500-$750, and were awarded to: St. John’s, Minneapolis; St. Matthew’s, St. Paul; St. James, Marshall; Messiah, St. Paul; St. Alban’s, Edina; and St. Luke’s, Rochester. Their projects range from work in the Zumbro River area to Haiti to Africa.

More "home-grown" endeavors

Of course, these large projects are by no means the only efforts that are underway in our diocese. The Weekly News has included a number of stories in the past year of congregations large and small and their dedicated work, from group of children on a northern reservation who bought livestock for a South American native village to the town that raised enough money to dig three new wells in Africa.

Such good work demonstrates Devon Anderson's contention that churchwide projects need to spark a mobilization of the people in pews. This has certainly happened in our diocese! Our MDG efforts, and especially the September Summit, have been lifted up as a model for the national Episcopal Church.

Looking ahead

The MDG Task Force is excited about the plans that are underway for 2008. Watch the Weekly News in January for news of these new endeavors.

Click here to read a list of the MDG Task Force's disbursements for 2007.

Click here to learn more about the Millennium Development Goals.