{"id":8748,"date":"2017-11-21T20:32:04","date_gmt":"2017-11-21T20:32:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.brethren.org\/news\/?p=8748"},"modified":"2018-10-18T20:34:41","modified_gmt":"2018-10-18T20:34:41","slug":"south-central-indiana-district-donation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2017\/south-central-indiana-district-donation\/","title":{"rendered":"South Central Indiana District goes above and beyond in collection for Nigeria, Haiti"},"content":{"rendered":"

Church of the Brethren Newsline
\nNovember\u00a021,\u00a02017<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
South Central Indiana District leaders including district executive Beth Sollenberger (at right) present a check to Church of the Brethren general secretary David Steele (at left) for the special fundraising project that gave more than $28,000 to well projects in Haiti and Chibok, Nigeria, and to the Nigeria Crisis Response. Photo courtesy of South Central Indiana District.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

South Central Indiana District has raised $28,800 to support the Church of the Brethren\u2019s work in Nigeria and in Haiti, in a special district-wide project. The concept for the special giving emphasis started last fall at the district board\u2019s annual retreat, when board member Brad Yoder suggested raising money to build wells in Haiti.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen the concept, \u2018We ought to give something away,\u2019 took hold,\u201d according to district executive minister Beth Sollenberger.<\/p>\n

The district established a committee for the project, offered a workshop in the spring to share information with church members, and announced a goal of receiving $10,000 by the time of the district conference this year.<\/p>\n

With 45 churches, the initial idea was to challenge each of the district churches to raise $200. Lots of people thought this was not realistic, Sollenberger remembers, because it had been many years since the district took on such a project. But with a lot of work and enthusiasm on the part of district leaders, the project took off and exceeded expectations. The district office sent out publicity. District board members made personal calls to churches encouraging them to participate. \u201cThe money started coming in,\u201d Sollenberger recalls.<\/p>\n

Churches started to give generously, and many came up with unique and interesting ideas for raising the funds. Soon the district staff realized, in Sollenberger\u2019s words: \u201cOh goodness, we\u2019re going to make it. Then our eyes got big because we were going to do more than make it!\u201d<\/p>\n

In the end, the vast majority of the district churches sent in a check, and a gift was given in the name of every person in the district. In Sollenberger\u2019s estimation, the whole district took part.<\/p>\n

A success like this \u201cis amazing, in our world and our life together,\u201d she says. \u201cThe money is exciting, the amount is amazing, but for me the participation is the over-the-top part.\u201d She recalls a time, not so many years ago, when South Central Indiana District \u201cwas labeled the most divided in the denomination…. So to come back with an offering like this is really fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

The district\u2019s gift will be shared as follows, says Jay Wittmeyer, executive director of Global Mission and Service: half will go to water projects in Haiti, a quarter will support the digging of wells in Chibok, Nigeria, and a quarter will go to the Nigeria Crisis Response.<\/p>\n

Church of the Brethren general secretary David Steele personally received the large check from the district, during the district conference this fall. He commented, \u201cI knew they were planning to present a check, but was overwhelmed by the amount!\u201d The district conference sang the \u201cDoxology\u201d together when the check was presented.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had so much fun that we\u2019re trying to figure out what to do next!\u201d Sollenberger says.<\/p>\n

Stay tuned!<\/p>\n

Go to\u00a0www.brethren.org\/Newsline<\/a>\u00a0to subscribe to the Church of the Brethren Newsline free e-mail news service and receive church news every week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Central Indiana District has raised $28,800 to support the Church of the Brethren\u2019s work in Nigeria and in Haiti, in a special district-wide project. The concept for the special giving emphasis started last fall at the district board\u2019s annual retreat, when board member Brad Yoder suggested raising money to build wells in Haiti.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":8749,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[12,13],"wf_post_folders":[],"class_list":["post-8748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-haiti","tag-nigeria"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8748"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8748\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8750,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8748\/revisions\/8750"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8748"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=8748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}