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Women of the ELCA Executive Board Meeting
Heart disease and stroke kill more women each year than the next five causes
of death combined, research reveals. And though more women than men die of the
disease, most cardiovascular studies are conducted on men.
That's why the Women
of the ELCA executive board, at its March 23–26 meeting near Chicago, revved up
its health initiative and voted unanimously to endorse new federal legislation
aimed t fighting heart disease in women. It also authorized Women of the ELCA's
executive director to write the bill's backers and request co-sponsorship.
"By endorsing the
Heart Disease Education, Analysis and Research Treatment (HEART) for Women Act
and becoming a co-sponsor of this bi-partisan legislation, the executive board
is taking the women's health initiative into a new arena," said Women of the
ELCA Executive Director Linda Post Bushkofsky.
The executive board
also accepted a challenge from the ELCA's Mission Investment Fund to generate
1,000 new individual investment accounts, affirmed plans for the organization's
20th anniversary in 2007, and heard an update regarding the Seventh Triennial
Gathering in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Health initiative
The HEART for Women Act was introduced in both the House and Senate in February,
by Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and
Representatives Lois Capps (D-California) and Barbara Cubin (R-Wyoming). The
bill would improve the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of heart disease,
stroke, and other cardiovascular diseases in women by educating both women and
health care providers about the most effective options for women, according to a
news release from the health organizations co-sponsoring the bill.
In supporting the
bill, Women of the ELCA joins the American Heart Association, Society for
Women's Health Research, WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart
Disease, and the Association of Black Cardiologists, Inc. (Minority women,
particularly African American, Hispanic, and Native American women, are at the
greatest risk from heart disease and stroke.)
Rallying around the
HEART for Women Act is a way to highlight the Women of the ELCA's new health
initiative, Raising Up Healthy Women and Girls, and a way to act boldly,
Bushkofsky said.
"Staff looks forward
to developing a plan to support this groundbreaking legislation throughout the
U.S.," she said. "This is a living and breathing example of mobilizing women to
act boldly on their faith in Jesus Christ."
Triennial
gathering
In other business, the ELCA's Mission Investment Fund agreed to contribute
$25,000 to support the Seventh Triennial Gathering in Salt Lake City if Women of
the ELCA participants open 1,000 new individual accounts with MIF before the
2008 gathering. The investments help build the Lutheran church by providing
loans for capital projects to mission congregations, established congregations,
synods, and ELCA-related organizations.
"Today's women's
organization is rooted in the women's missionary societies of the 19th century,"
Bushkofsky said. "So it's only natural that Women of the ELCA would want to
continue that mission emphasis by helping to build Lutheran congregations by
entering into this challenge."
The official launch
of the challenge is set for June 2006.
Women of the ELCA
Triennial Gathering Coordinator Linda McKinsey said plans for the Seventh
Triennial Convention and Seventh Triennial Gathering in July 2008, at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake
City, are progressing. At its October 2005 meeting,
the board voted to hold the convention July 8–10, followed by the gathering (workshops, speakers,
etc.), July 10–13. The timeframe will reduce costs and time away from home and
work well for most participants. Feedback from participants at the Sixth
Triennial Gathering in July 2005, and cost savings to Women of the ELCA,
influenced the decision.
Also regarding the
Seventh Triennial Convention, the board established a policy against
electioneering, set criteria to be used for the appointment of business
committees, and received a report on synodical delegate counts.
20th anniversary
Women of the ELCA will celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2007, in part, by
establishing Bold Women Day, to be observed annually on the fourth Sunday in
February. Other plans include an educational trip to Germany. In partnership
with the ELCA Wittenberg Center, the trip will include travel to sites involving
old Christian women. The price of the April 2007 trip has not been determined.
Other actions
In other actions, the board:
- celebrated increases in giving through regular offerings and
Thankofferings in fiscal year 2005 over fiscal year 2004 and adjusted the 2006
Women of the ELCA budget to better reflect those giving patterns;
- recommended a grant distribution from Women of the ELCA's India Endowment
Fund for the executive director's consideration;
- heard reports from advisors or representatives of the Lutheran Youth
Organization, Lutheran Men in Mission, ELCA Conference of Bishops, ELCA Church
Council, and Office of the Presiding Bishop;
- selected Spokane, Washington, as the site of its Eighth Triennial
Gathering in 2011, pending a site visit by the president, treasurer, executive
director, and triennial gathering coordinator;
- discussed possible 2008–2011 triennium themes;
- received and acted on recommendations from the February 2006 Conference of
Synodical Presidents;
- participated in anti-racism education conducted by Women of the ELCA's
Today's Dream: Tomorrow's Reality network; and
- made a gift to the Herbert W. and Corinne Chilstrom Scholarship in memory
of Dr. Charlotte E. Fiechter, 71, second executive director of Women of the
ELCA, who died March 10. She led the women's organization from January 1,
1990, to July 31, 1996.
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