ERD Update

Today's posting is to alert you to the addition of a President Rob Radtke's blog to the Episcopal Relief and Development website.
I've pulled out just a few talking points from his postings that I'd like to highlight. You can go to: http://www.er-d.org/blog and click on President's Blog to read more.

* "I think that faith-based initiatives get discounted or overlooked. Why is this? Perhaps it is because faith-based initiatives are often very heavily volunteer driven and thus seen as non-professional. Partially it may be because they are not spending huge amounts of money blowing their own horns and in many instances are trying not to leave foot prints. Faith-based initiatives and organizations are often uncomfortable proclaiming their servant hood. That’s a good thing, but it does often mean that faith-based initiatives are not always at the table when discussing how we are going to Make Poverty History.
President Bush, to his credit, understood the importance of engaging the faith community in the battle against poverty—both in the U.S. and abroad. I expect that President-elect Obama, with his background in community organizing and ties to the faith community, also understands this."
* "So, while I’m pleased with the good ratings from Charity Navigator and Give.org, what I’m really proud of is the fact that we can document the impact of our programs for those we seek to serve. We’ll be announcing the monitoring and evaluation results for NetsforLife® in December as we celebrate what we’ve accomplished and proclaim where we’d like to go in the next phase of this important program—so stay tuned!"

*"At Episcopal Relief & Development we are often asked how we are different from the many other worthy agencies fighting poverty around the world."
"Most importantly, we are faith-based."
"But faith is not the full answer."
"All of our programs are also guided by an important underlying philosophy of empowerment and servant-hood. We try to leave no foot prints."
"Finally, we come with a ready-made and trusted distribution network in our Church partners around the world."

I'd also invite you to check out the page on the Bishop's Blend for gift giving at: http://www.puravidacoffeeshop.com/bishops-blend.html