Before you buy


Before making a purchase, ask: Why do I want to make the purchase? Do I need the item? Does this purchase refl ect the values I hold and the life I want to live? Does it support the well-being of others?


Consider purchasing items secondhand. Garage sales and thrift stores conserve resources, support local communities and prevent usable items from ending up in landfi lls.


When you buy new items, purchase them from companies with positive labor and environmental practices. (Learn more at www.buypartisan.com and www.responsibleshopper.org.)


Purchase fair trade products from small farmers across the globe. (Visit www.lwrcoffee.com for ideas.)


Choose alternative gifts: the gift of your skill, a donation in someone’s honor or a membership to a local museum. (See www.elca.org/goodgifts and www.buynothingchristmas.org/alternatives.)


in local people and communi- ties,” Kitahata said. T e proceeds support Immanuel’s Community Services hygiene center, recovery program and food ministries. Nativity Lutheran Church in


Reading, Pa., serves fair trade coff ee for social occasions, and its women’s group sells fairly traded Divine Chocolate at cost, said Eileen Smith LeVan, its pastor. LeVan, who encourages mem-


bers to give ELCA Good Giſt s, was delighted when “at Christmas our members ‘giſt ed’ me [with] a microloan for women in develop- ing countries and support for a program for pregnant teens.” Part of her role as a pastor,


‘Where my


pension funds were invested was a faith


issue and not


simply a finan- cial question.’


she said, is to encourage parishioners to consider the impact of their spending. She doesn’t stop there. LeVan’s entire ELCA pension is invested in social purpose funds through Portico Benefi t Services, which manages the church’s retirement program. Twenty-nine percent of all ELCA retirement dollars are in these funds. “I know [the funds] have been scrutinized to include


trade chocolate and Palestinian olive oil and soap, the market sells art cards made by a member to benefi t the church’s community services. “Immanuel Fair Trade Marketplace demonstrates our congregation’s commitment to economies that invest


Stacy Kitahata appreciates that her congregation, Immanuel Lutheran, Seattle, combines advocacy efforts with a monthly “Fair Trade Market- place” that includes Palestinian olive oil and soap, as well as original art cards that benefi t community services.


companies that are environmentally responsible and don’t exploit workers,” she said. “I know my money will be invested in ways compatible with my values.”


Investing with purpose T e eight social purpose funds strive to invest in ways consistent with the values of the ELCA. Portico screens thousands of potential companies and typically fi nds about 10 percent to be unsuitable based on screening out alcohol, environmental issues, gambling, military


Eileen Smith LeVan, pastor of Nativity Lutheran, Reading, Pa., enjoys her con- gregation’s fair trade coffee and invests her entire ELCA retirement account in social purpose funds through Portico Benefi t Services. “I know my money will be invested in ways compatible with my values,” she says.


18 www.thelutheran.org


COURTESY OF EILEEN SMITH LEVAN


DWIGHT K. MORITA


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