A recent article from ELCA World Hunger reminds us that to make the biggest impact on hunger in the United States, the church needs to act on the local level. We are also reminded our congregations need to pioneer new approaches to ending hunger.
One of the ways ELCA World Hunger is encouraging those new approaches is through Big Dream Grants. The recipient of one of those grants, Faith Lutheran Church in Everett, Wash., used the grant funds to support the building of Faith Family Village. This transitional housing project will eventually consist of eight 100-square-foot pallet homes. Families will occupy the units as they partner with social workers to secure permanent housing. Providing shelter, dignity, and privacy to people while they seek resources and support will bring long-term solutions.
We, in Minnesota, can be thankful that our state legislature passed the “Sacred Settlement/Tiny Homes” bill as part of an omnibus bill this spring. Your congregation may be one who wants to investigate this as a new way to tackle hunger in our communities. Connect with the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition and Settled for more information.
[At the 2023 Synod Assembly, our synod passed a Tiny Homes resolution, which encourages congregational participation through education about homelessness and in the creation of tiny house sacred communities. View the resolution here.]
Yes, housing and hunger often go hand in hand. What other new approach to ending hunger might you create today?
Vernita Kennen
Incarnation, Shoreview
Photo by Lindsey Queener/© ELCA
