Triumph, Transformation and Prayers for Peace this Christmas
By Teri Lawver, Chair of the Board at Episcopal Relief & Development
“Everywhere I went, I found that the people who had replaced the zero sum with a new formula of cross-racial solidarity had found the key to unlocking what I began to call a ‘Solidarity Dividend,’ from higher wages to cleaner air, made possible through collective action.”
– Heather McGhee, author of “The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together”
I love Heather McGhee’s idea of a “Solidarity Dividend,” a term she coined to refer to the positive things that happen when people come together across racial lines, becoming greater than the sum of their parts. From economic empowerment to a healthier environment, when we let go of the unhealthy mindset that there must be winners and losers, everyone benefits. When we work together, all boats rise.
The commitment to combat the injustice that divides us with good works that improve the lives of individuals, families and communities is at the core of our work at Episcopal Relief & Development. Both in the US and around the world, we are walking alongside people and communities who have been mistreated and marginalized because of their race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or a host of other reasons.
I first served on the board of Episcopal Relief & Development from 2008 – 2013, returning in 2019 to serve as Board Chair. I’ll be ending my tenure at the close of 2024. During recent remarks I gave at an event honoring the Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, another long-time member of Episcopal Relief & Development Board of Directors, I shared a few of the organization’s milestones that make me especially proud:
- Since 2012, 90,000 children ages 0-3 years and their primary caregivers reached through early childhood development programming
- Since 2015, over 49 million people reached through our global programming
- Over 200,000 people engaged in climate resilience initiatives with over $13 million in loans distributed to participants
- Over 8,000 faith leaders–youth, women and men–trained to prevent and respond to gender-based violence
- Over 421 emergency grants provided, aiding over 7.2 million disaster survivors
- 276,000 Savings & Loan Group members, 75% of them women, collectively saved about $20 million dollars and benefitted from access to microcredit
Behind every one of these numbers are people with stories of triumph and transformation.
In 2019, the year I became board chair, my husband and I made a pilgrimage to Sri Lanka. One of the places we visited was a women’s microfinance group where women could take loans to help them rebuild their personal livelihoods and local small businesses after a tsunami in 2004 and a civil war that lasted 25 years.
Many families were left in extreme poverty. To make matters worse, predatory commercial lending programs preyed upon this vulnerability, saddling people with interest rates sometimes reaching a devastating 100%. The microfinance group we visited was part of an Episcopal Relief & Development program with the Ecumenical Church Loan Fund (ECLOF) that offers survivors of the war, many of whom are widows, very low interest loans.
I want to tell you about Anvika, who took out a small loan to invest in her family’s motor repair business located in their garage. Since receiving the first loan, Anvika and family have expanded their business. She has great dreams for the garage, aiming to expand further so they can take on servicing agreements with motorcycle companies.
“Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”
– Matthew 25:40
In addition to providing for the health and education of her household, Anvika has been able to start planning for her children’s future through the culture of saving that our work encourages. “I have saved some money for my children,” she shared with us. “Both my daughters are having Rs. 50,000 [about $340] in their savings books.”
These relatively small sums of money transform the lives of women and their families, making them financially secure and resilient in the face of very challenging circumstances.
In Matthew 25, Jesus says: “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”
For the many who have supported Episcopal Relief & Development, we are deeply grateful for your gifts of time, talent and treasure. The programs made possible by your generosity truly create a Solidarity Dividend whose benefits go beyond the direct participants to our entire globally connected human community. Thank you.
With prayers for peace and love this Christmas season,
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Teri Lawver serves as Episcopal Relief & Development’s Board Chair. She is also an executive leader in the healthcare industry. |
