Back in 2011 I wrote a Thanksgiving-related blog post based on an idea from the Chicago Foundation for Women. @ChiFdn4Women had tweeted: For Thanksgiving we are naming reasons to be #thankfulwomen – please join us & highlight good news for women & girls in your community!
Women of the ELCA offered several tweets back in 2011, sharing good news for women and girls, things for which our whole organization was thankful.
With Thanksgiving coming this week, I invite you to think again about ways in which we are #thankfulwomen. What’s the good news for women and girls in your community?
Since I’m writing from the perspective of the churchwide women’s organization, I’ll offer up three pieces of good news for women and girls in our churchwide organization.
- In 2013 Women of the ELCA was able to make 27 grants to not-for-profit organizations, both domestic and international, that support healing and wholeness for women of all ages through the affirmation and advancement of women’s emotional, physical, and spiritual health. That’s good news!
- Four congregational units of Women of the ELCA used seed grants from our health initiative, Raising Up Healthy Women and Girls, to increase the capacity of the health initiative to affect the lives of women and girls. What good news! (And, if inspired, your CU can apply for a seed grant by December 15 and get a financial boost to move your efforts forward in our health initiative.)
- As of September 16, 2013, $141,920 has been received for our 25th Anniversary Appeal. Half of those dollars go the ELCA Malaria Campaign for the areas of medicine, clean water and advocacy. You can make an online gift today.
So, I ask again, what’s the good news for women and girls in your community? Post your responses here. If you’re on Twitter, use the hashtag #thankfulwomen when you post..
Linda Post Bushkofsky is also thankful that she is in her twelfth year of serving as executive director of Women of the ELCA.