St. John's, Mankato, follows up on its MDG commitment

At its annual meeting in January 2007, the congregation of St. John the Evangelist in Mankato voted to commit 0.7% of its 2007 budget to the Millennium Development Goals. Throughout the year, the MDG Team at St. John's listened and watched — at Region IV meetings, at the MDG Training Summit in September, at Diocesan Convention — for projects to bring before the congregation. Finally, on each Sunday in Advent the service bulletin insert highlighted four worthy projects: ERD's "Nets for Life," Pump Aid, the Rwanda Reads project, and ERD's micro-financing programs in South Africa. On December 16 the parish voted, and the top two vote-getting projects — Pump Aid and ERD's "Nets for Life" — will split the $1000 committed to the MDGs.

The MDG Team at St. John's is already planning for activating the "Three-Legged Stool of the MGDs" in 2008. In addition to the 2008 budget line item of 0.7%, a forum on the MDGs has been planned for Lent. Candidates for Minnesota's U.S. Senate seat and the First District U.S. Congress seat have been invited to St. John's to speak to the Mankato community about social justice issues and extreme poverty.

Story submitted by Candace Black