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2004 Birthday Offering

Today may not be your birthday, but in our increasingly diverse society, having a birthday is something we all have in common. Presbyterian Women has a birthday celebration, too. In 1922, Hallie Winsborough---the superintendent of women's work for the Women's Auxiliary of the Presbyterian Church in the United States---saw need at a girls' school in Japan and hoped that women would want to support this great need with financial gifts. For 82 years Presbyterian women have contributed money for worthwhile causes worldwide. Some of these gifts and grants make up the Birthday Offering.

The Birthday Offering is one way Presbyterian Women answers God's call to make a difference in the lives of others. By combining our resources, participants in Presbyterian Women contribute, on average, $1,000,000 each year. This year, the Creative Ministries Offering Committee received applications from 51 worthy projects and had to narrow that list to no more than five recipients. The selection process, done by consensus, involved much prayer, discussion and soul searching.

The Creative Ministries Offering Committee is composed of nine members---six from the Churchwide Coordinating Team of Presbyterian Women, including the financial secretary, and three from the General Assembly Council. Grant recipients must meet the criteria established by PW and must be accompanied by a written endorsement of a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) synod or presbytery.

Presbyterian Women asks you to pray for these five exciting, powerful and life-changing projects, chosen to receive the 2004 Birthday Offering.

Camp Luminaria Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe, a hub of Spanish and Native American cultures, has a history of poverty and one of the highest drop-out rates for middle school students in the United States. One of the biggest gaps in services for this area is the lack of day/evening reporting programs for youth who are nonviolent, first offenders and whose offenses do not call for incarceration, but require the youth to report to someone on a regular basis.

Camp Luminaria will establish such a program---an alternative to roaming the streets for suspended and expelled middle and high school students. Their goal is to provide a safe, structured learning and counseling environment that facilitates a student's return to regular school classes. Funding of this faith based start-up program will provide a wide array of services to youth ages 11--15 and their families. They will receive help in addressing such issues as behavior, substance abuse, school suspension or exclusion, and life skill difficulties. Special emphasis will be placed on building respect among female youth, and providing the recognition and reliability that nurture both the child and the child's family as a team.

A luminaria is a traditional Mexican Christmas lantern---usually a candle set in sand inside a paper bag---used to recall the route traveled by Mary and Joseph on their way to Bethlehem. For the program, the luminaria lights the way to a safe haven for troubled youth and their families in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The Institute for Theological Education of Bahia (ITEBA)
Salvador, Brazil
Since 1986, The Institute for Theological Education of Bahia (ITBEA) has worked ecumenically to develop leaders for churches, schools and social service agencies in Salvador, Brazil. Accreditation as a university-level theological seminary by the Brazilian Ministry of Education is critical to this institution's future, enabling students---many of whom are poor, young women-to receive federally funded scholarships. Another benefit of accreditation would be an increase in enrollment, allowing the seminary to become financially independent.

To meet accreditation requirements, ITEBA must own the physical facilities for their offices, library and classrooms. Funds received from the Birthday Offering will allow ITEBA to purchase, remodel and equip a building, in their effort to meet these and other accreditation requirements.

Mobile Health Screening
Louisville, Kentucky
Reaffirming the challenge to all Presbyterians to be "a community of health and healing at every level and at every location,"* the National Health Ministries Office is initiating a project that promotes congregational partnerships and the sharing of resources among those who are able to develop parish nursing ministries.
To this end, a fully equipped medical van will provide preventive and early detection health screening to women, children and persons who live in medically underserved communities in the presbyteries of Mid-Kentucky and Transylvania. The Mobile Health Van will also be utilized by National Health Ministries for health screenings at national churchwide events and promoted as a model for Presbyterians who wish to develop their own mobile health screening program.

Children's Cross Connection USA
Atlanta, Georgia
In response to God's love, Children's Cross Connection USA brings children from around the world to the United States for medical treatment not available to them in their own countries.

Due to a tremendous volunteer network of doctors, hospitals and host families, the average cost to restore a child's health is only $2,000. Most of these children have been shunned by their community because of their physical condition, often the result of birth defects or cancer. With medical treatment, not only is a child's health restored, but also her/his self-image is improved, along with the chance for a better life.
Children's Cross Connection USA focuses on the whole person, also providing scholarships for additional education, housing for children who are homeless and equipment and training so that a child's parent can become self-sufficient or earn a better living.

Presbyterian Senior Services Grandparent Family Apartments
Bronx, New York
In 1995, Presbyterian Senior Services (PSS) received a Creative Ministries grant to help establish a program that provided services for five minority low-income older adults raising their grandchildren. Poverty, substance abuse, divorce, violence and AIDS contribute to the rapid increase in the number of families without parents. Today the number of families served by PSS has grown to 25.

This Birthday Offering grant will support a new thrust to this program---the construction of a 50-unit Presbyterian Senior Services Grandparents Family Apartments. The center will house a state-of-the-art resource center that will enable PSS to serve the residents and the surrounding community.

Order from Presbyterian Distribution Services (PDS), 800/524-2612. Reference item number listed with each item. Cost does not include shipping and handling, which is 10% of order total, $4.50 minimum, $60 maximum. There are no shipping and handling charges for free/promotional items.

Birthday Offering Promotional Materials

Free Items

Birthday Offering Brochure (min. 25), PWR-04-500

Offering Envelopes (min. 25), PWR-02-501

Bulletin Cover (min. 25), 812" x 11",
PWR-04-502 or 812" x 14", PWR-04-503

Poster (one per church), PWR-04-504

Interpretive Materials (one per church; includes offering interpretation, worship service, creative ideas, poster interpretation, reflections and update on past recipients), PWR-04-505

Cost Items

Placemats, $3/pkg. of 25, PWR-04-506

Book: Messages of Reconciliation and Hope: 75 Years of Birthday Offerings 1922­1997 by Catherine Stewart Vaughn, $16, PWR-00-507

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