[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 85 (Monday, May 22, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S7134]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


      COMMEMORATING THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF LUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF

 Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, 50 years ago, when World War II left 
one in five of the world's Lutherans homeless, U.S. Lutherans mobilized 
to help through an agency they called Lutheran World Relief.
  After the needs in Europe were met, LWR's horizons expanded to people 
in need in Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa, helping 
people regardless of religion, race, or politics. That ethic of aid for 
all who are in need has shaped LWR's work in relief and in long-term 
development over the last half century.
  Lutheran World Relief's vision responded to changing circumstances--
it grew from supplying disaster to cultivating partnership in 
development with communities all over the world.
  Fifty years later, LWR is again helping refugees in Europe--now in 
the former Yugoslavia--as it continues to respond to disasters and 
promote self-help development in places like Ethiopia, Bangladesh, 
Peru, and Rwanda.
  Partnership has become LWR's hallmark--addressing local needs with 
understanding, skills, and resources found locally. LWR has focused on 
self-help and built up local capacities for emergency and long-term 
work as well. Working with partners to improve health, promote food 
security, and increase employment, LWR has seen people and communities 
all around the world improve their well-being.
  LWR's commitment to self-help and capacity building offers numerous 
lessons and examples that aid works when it is provided in response to 
local needs and in partnership with local people. Those lessons have 
not been lost on the larger, government and aid agencies. Increasingly, 
the U.S. Agency for International Development has recognized that 
working in partnership with local people and organizations is the key 
to improving aid effectiveness.
  LWR has also over the years taken on the task of advocacy, bringing 
the concerns of partners to U.S. public officials and advocating on 
their behalf.
  May the accomplishments of LWR's first half century inspire the next 
50 years.


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