March Web Series Feature Partners in India and Friends in Montana and California

The Power of Partnerships this month (Women’s History Month) tells the story of Mridula, a woman who started out as a shy volunteer in her village’s Self-Help Group. With the encouragement of her village council and support from Episcopal Relief & Development’s partner, the Diocese of Durgapur (Church of North India), she became a group leader, and is now the main organizer of all the groups in the diocese. Self-Help Groups give women the chance to grow in confidence and earn income through the sale of hand-crafted goods, empowering them to become more involved as leaders and decision-makers in their communities.

March’s Friends of Episcopal Relief & Development highlights two congregations’ creative efforts to help kids connect their seasonal donations to larger issues of social justice. During Lent at All Saints Episcopal Church in Columbia Falls, Montana, kids received coupon books with daily stories and instructions to guide their giving. Youth at St. James by-the-Sea Episcopal Church in La Jolla, California, learned about the work of Episcopal Relief & Development and its NetsforLife® program partnership, and used their collected contributions to choose items from theGifts for Life catalog.

The monthly Power of Partnerships and Friends of Episcopal Relief & Development web features share stories about the agency’s partners in the US and worldwide. To find past installments, please visit our website. For information about our programs, or to make a contribution, visit www.episcopalrelief.org or call 1.800.334.7626 ext. 5129. Gifts can be mailed to Episcopal Relief & Development, PO Box 7058, Merrifield, VA 22116-7058.

Episcopal Relief & Development is the international relief and development agency of The Episcopal Church and an independent 501(c)(3) organization. The agency takes its mandate from Jesus’ words found in Matthew 25. Its programs work towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Together with the worldwide Church and ecumenical partners, Episcopal Relief & Development rebuilds after disasters and empowers people by offering lasting solutions that fight poverty, hunger and disease, including HIV/AIDS and malaria.