Lutheran World Relief (LWR), Baltimore, is seeking members of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans and other volunteers to travel to India this fall to build low-
cost homes through the “Thrivent Builds Worldwide” program and to visit communities in which LWR works with grassroots partners to combat poverty.
“Thrivent Builds Worldwide” trips are part of the “Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity” alliance, a four-year, $125 million commitment between Thrivent Financial for Lutherans and Habitat for Humanity International to increase the non-profit housing ministry’s home-building production.
The upcoming Oct. 10-25 trip combines the “Thrivent Builds Worldwide” experience with an opportunity to learn more about LWR’s life-changing work in India.
The first LWR-Thrivent Builds partnership trip was last November, also in India, and “it was so exciting to see the ways in which LWR and Thrivent Builds complement one another,” according to Rebecca Lange-Thernes, LWR’s study tour coordinator. “Both organizations concentrate on a mission with a long, lasting, positive impact in marginalized communities,” she said. “Our trip participants engage with community members, learn from them, and come home with a new perspective on the world.”
This fall’s team members will take part in a four-day construction project in Chhatrapur, in central India, working with villagers living in substandard housing conditions. Participants also will travel northeast to the rural areas of Bihar to visit communities where LWR supports sustainable agricultural projects, irrigation improvements, health services, women’s development courses, and micro-credit programs.
The estimated cost for the trip is $4,380, which includes roundtrip airfare from Washington, D.C., and transportation
costs while in India, lodging, meals, insurance, and a $500 donation to Habitat for Humanity.
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans is covering the $500 donation to Habitat for Humanity for each of its members, so their cost is reduced to $3,880 per person.
Pat Wood, who took part in the LWR-Thrivent Builds pilot trip last November, said the experience “touched my heart and mind as no other experience has done.
“My faith deepened, as did my commitment to share this experience and more of my gifts of time and money with others,” Wood said. “I was truly blessed.”
For more information, contact Rebecca Lange-Thernes at rthernes@lwr.org or (410) 230-2737. Deadline for applications is July 1.
Information on this and other LWR study tours, including a Nov. 5-19 visit to West Africa, also is available online at www.lwr.org/study.
Posted May 22, 2008
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