Dear Friends, By now you’ve likely been not only seen, but also been rather overwhelmed by, the images of the devastation caused by the earthquake in Nepal. The toll it has taken on the population – with more than 5000 confirmed dead – as well as on the infrastructure of the country is immense. But while such images are overwhelming, they do not have to be paralyzing. We – each of us – can make a difference. I am once again so grateful for my association with Lutheran World Relief, an experienced, extremely competent, and committed relief agency that is reliably at the forefront of the humanitarian and Christian response to such...

With six hours of travel and another inspiriting site visit, yesterday was too busy to post. Unbelievably bumpy roads, suspension bridges, incredibly gracious hosts, insight into the lives of the people that produce the cocoa beans from which comes the chocolate that so many of us love, and more all filled the day to overflowing. The cooperative we visited consisted of more than 65 small farms (often of about two or three acres each) and growing. It takes 25 farms to come together to form a co-operative, and often many co-operatives are drawn together to form a second-tier, or national co-operative in order to most effectively partner...

I’m in Honduras this week for a Board Meeting of Lutheran World Relief. Most of our Board Meetings, I should probably say, are not in Honduras, but in Baltimore, Maryland, the headquarters of LWR. But every three years, the staff plans a Board Meeting and retreat at one of the sites where LWR is doing work so that the Board can gain a more three-dimensional sense of the importance and challenges of this work. After two full days of meetings and reports and strategic planning and all the rest, today we went to visit one of the project sites where LWR staff and their Honduran partners are working to help those Jesus refers to as “the...

A lot of us have moved in recent years to giving friends and family – and even our kids – the “good gift” of making a charitable contributions in someone’s name, honoring them by choosing not to give them one more thing that they may or may not need but instead making a donation that will help to change someone’s life. Not surprisingly, a lot of charitable giving happens in December, both in response to the Christmas spirit as well as in recognition that we are closing in on the end of another tax year! If you are anything like me, you may not only make such gifts, but also want to make sure you are giving to charities that use...