At this past year’s Congregational Resourcing Event, Rev. Jamie Gallagher, on behalf of our synod’s World Hunger Subcommittee, announced a giving campaign to celebrate ELCA World Hunger’s 50 years of ministry. The challenge was to raise $100,000, which, thanks to an anonymous donor, would be matched dollar for dollar. In the end, we, the Northern Illinois Synod, hoped to give a total gift of $200,000 to ELCA World Hunger.
As the months went by and we saw your generosity in action, a small team at the Churchwide Organization, spearheaded by Pastor Dan Rift, Director for Congregational Generosity, worked to find additional matching gifts to amplify the impact of your giving. In the end, a total of $127,000 of matching gifts was available to double our impact if we not only met but exceeded our original goal.
Together, as the body of Christ, we raised a record-breaking $326,612 for ELCA World Hunger! This is the largest single-synod contribution to date. These contributions are already at work addressing both immediate needs and the root causes of hunger, supporting efforts such as community meals, clean water projects, microloans, livestock programs, health clinics, and advocacy initiatives.
To celebrate the success of the giving campaign to support ELCA World Hunger, the World Hunger Subcommittee hosted a celebration on November 2, 2025, at Faith Lutheran Church in Rochelle. During a worship service that included preaching from Bishop Stacie Fidlar and worship leadership by members of the subcommittee, other individuals told stories of how their congregations responded to the ask. The stories showed how the impact of our local ministries spread beyond our worshipping communities.
Pastor Shellie Knight from Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Freeport shared the story of a visitor who responded to the announcement in worship about the World Hunger Giving Campaign. After the service, Pastor Shellie had a few moments to talk with the visitor and realized the impact that they had on each other. “Our visitor said this to me, ‘I needed to be here. I needed to hear what was said today. And I needed to do something. I really needed this.’ It was obvious something was pressing hard on her heart, and I was caught up in something amazing that God was doing.” As Pastor Shellie reflected on the encounter with the visitor, she realized that it is always worth the ask. “Someone who was visiting our church for the very first time, who endured the almost impossible to get herself into our sanctuary to worship God, gave so graciously to ensure that a stranger could have food on their plate. I stood on holy ground in that moment, witnessing the power of God to do something with our willingness to just ask for help.”
Pastor Mark Juliot from Light of Christ Lutheran Church in Algonquin shared a story of a congregational matching gift. In the spring, Pastor Mark was in conversation with a member who asked about how they could use leftover funds from a hunger event the congregation hosted. The World Hunger Giving Campaign came up as a possible place to redirect the remaining funds as a matching gift for congregational giving. Instead of using the extra funds, the member offered a matching gift of $10,000 to the campaign. As the congregation was beginning to think about their 40th anniversary of ministry, they quickly realized that this would be a great way to celebrate because the $20,000 the congregation planned to raise would be doubled through our synod giving campaign. Pastor Mark reflected on “how cool would it be to make a $40K impact for our 40th anniversary! This became the thrust of our campaign. We promoted it to the congregation and designated 6 weeks to reach our goal. We not only made our goal – we blew past it by raising $31,748.93.”
These two stories are just a sample of the impact that the ELCA World Hunger Giving Campaign had throughout your synod. Pastor Jamie Gallagher, who first announced this campaign, was overjoyed by the success of the campaign and the impact that your gifts will have both locally and globally: “This is truly remarkable. We have set a new standard for what a matching campaign can look like, as our synod has far exceeded what any other synod has accomplished. And my joy cannot be fully expressed in words. Your generosity, and your leadership in bringing out the generosity of your congregations, have made this happen. And so, I thank you.”
ELCA World Hunger is dedicated to working toward a just world where all are fed. Your generosity is transforming lives and helping communities thrive for generations to come. For more information on the work of ELCA World Hunger, visit www.elca.org/worldhunger
