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Miller appointed to lead healthcare access response. Supporting statements. Nebraska farm boy’s journey from Depression days to firstfruits giving. Goering finds PET Project.

Miller appointed to lead healthcare access response

Glen E. Miller of Goshen, Ind., recently was appointed to lead Mennonite Church USA’s response to the Charlotte 2005 Delegate Assembly resolution on healthcare access. Courtesy photo

Miller, a resident of Goshen, Ind., said the appointment seemed like a logical thing to do. He has worked at the Anabaptist Center for Healthcare Ethics (ACHE) on a manuscript looking at healthcare in developed and developing nations. He also led a Sunday school class examining the issue. In addition, Miller cites his background as an internist and community-minded person as being key motivators for his participation.

“The issue (of healthcare access) is something I think more and more people are becoming concerned about,” Miller said. “Being overseas and having seen people who lack rudimentary healthcare and to see people here in the United States – the richest country in the world – who don’t have ready access to healthcare is a serious concern.”

The number of people without insurance in the United States increased by 1.4 million people to a total of about 45 million people between 2002 and 2003, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. By 2004, the number of uninsured had risen to about 46 million people nationwide. The majority of medically indigent in the United States include Racial/Ethnic people and those considered to live below the poverty line.

“It is a problem in this country. We just have to get around to facing it and say ‘We’re the richest country and there’s no need for this here,’ ” Miller said.

Miller’s appointment is a central part of a plan proposed by ACHE to implement directions from Mennonite Church USA’s delegate body. The plan was formed at the request of executive director for Mennonite Church USA Jim Schrag.

The delegate assembly made a commitment to promote health and access to healthcare and called on Mennonite Church USA’s members and institutions to do the same as part of a resolution accepted at Charlotte 2005. As part of the resolution, delegates invited all member congregations to utilize “Healing Healthcare: A Study and Action Guide on Healthcare Access in the United States.”

Many congregations already are using “Healing Healthcare.” More than 300 congregational contacts expressed interest in the issue and have been encouraged to promote the guide within their congregations and report any relevant outcomes by September 2006.

Delegates also identified three aspects of the healthcare access issue for the denomination to focus its energies on during the next two years. They include: becoming better stewards of health, improving access to healthcare for pastors and church workers and advocating for public policy changes.

In developing the new plan, ACHE’s board of directors determined to contribute 70 percent of its resources, including the time of its director, Joseph Kotva Jr. – a pastor and ethicist – in support of Miller and the healthcare access effort.

In addition to the support provided by Mennonite Church USA and ACHE, Mennonite Health Services Alliance and MMA (Mennonite Mutual Aid) are providing significant financial and in-kind support for the new healthcare access plan.

Supporting statements

“Mennonite healthcare professionals and institutions deal daily with individuals who lack access to adequate care. Charitable and benevolent resources cannot make up the difference, and some individuals must be turned away. Healthcare as an expression of the church’s mission is in jeopardy. Access to adequate care for members of our congregations and our neighborhoods is a challenge we can face only as we work together.” – Rick Stiffney, Mennonite Health Services Alliance CEO

“Members of the Mennonite Medical Association, as practicing physicians and dentists, witness problems with healthcare access on a near daily basis. We are encouraged that Mennonite Church USA and ACHE are continuing to work at this problem. The way healthcare is delivered in the United States is very complex. This means that everyone will need to contribute to the resolution of the problem.” – Sam Showalter, M.D., Mennonite Medical Association Executive Secretary

“In adopting the Healthcare Access Resolution in Charlotte, Mennonite Church USA has indicated its desire to provide a compassionate response to a person’s needs for healthcare access. It also signals a missional opportunity for congregations as we look at how we can respond to the healthcare needs of our neighbors. Now the time for crafting creative responses to healthcare access begins as we dream of ways we can respond to God’s desires for furthering His mission in our congregations.” – Phyllis J. Miller, Mennonite Nurses Association President

“The healthcare access project is important for the church because everyone has a role to play in being faithful stewards of their own health, the health of their families, and their congregations. This project provides an opportunity to witness by assisting persons in need as a way of extending God’s healing and hope to the world.” – Steve Garboden, Interim CEO of MMA

Nebraska farm boy’s journey from Depression days to firstfruits giving

Paul Oswald of Manson, Iowa, has dedicated himself to consistent firstfruits giving throughout his life – from his Depression-era days as a farmhand to his twilight years at Manson Mennonite Church. Photo by Laurie Oswald Robinson

NEWTON, Kan. (Mennonite Church USA) – Paul Oswald, an 86-year-old member of Manson (Iowa) Mennonite Church, remembers when corn was scrawny and money was scarce in the Depression and Dust Bowl days of his Nebraska boyhood.

Despite the economic lack as a child, as a young man he committed to tithing with his spouse, the late Dorothy Mae Egli Oswald, says Paul. Nearly every week since marrying Dorothy in Manson in 1941, they tithed a tenth of their earnings.

This practice began with an $18-a-week job as a mechanic. That’s when they ate macaroni and cheese to make ends meet and budgeted by using envelopes. He still tithes today but within a vastly different world. As retired owner of the former John Deere Implement Company in Manson, income is high and debts are low. And an occasional steak has replaced the macaroni.

“I don’t recall being exposed to giving and tithing at home,” Paul says. “That’s probably because money was scarce. As a pastor, my father got paid very little, and as a farmer during the Dust Bowl, crops were bad. But I do remember that he was a giver of his time and love to people. He was a very compassionate man.”

Paul is the son of the late Jacob and Elizabeth Oswald. His father was a pastor chosen by “lot” – a former Mennonite Church practice. In that practice, a group of young men recognized for their leadership gifts would each choose a book. The man who chose the book with a slip of paper was thought to be led of the Holy Spirit to become the next pastor. During such a service in an O’Neil, Neb., congregation that no longer exists, Jacob chose the slip and instantly became a poor “tentmaker” – a farmer and a pastor.

Paul was born in their farm house in O’Neil where his family lived until they moved to Milford, Neb. From Milford,they moved to Beemer, Neb., where Jacob became pastor of Beemer Mennonite Church, and Paul was baptized at 12.

Paul learned what it meant to be generous in spirit from his father. But the business world, not the ministry, was Paul’s “lot.” Paul remembers his love of mechanics manifested early, as when he was five he took apart toys and put them back together.

But Paul’s boyhood didn’t last long. He graduated from eighth grade but could not advance to high school because all eight children had to work to support the family.

“I was about 11 or 12 when I began to work for neighbors, making hay and taking care of livestock,” Paul says. “Later I worked away from home about 30 miles down the road. I got lonesome and one time I had to come home. Looking back, I see how poor we were. But it really taught us the value of work and gave us a strong work ethic.”

Fork in the road

Paul absorbed this work ethic very deeply. And because of that, he was ripe to take a fork in the road that changed his life forever the day his friend, Bud Snider, invited Paul to leave his home in August 1937.

“When we were 18, Bud and I had talked about going to Iowa to work, because the crops and the pay were a lot better there,” Paul says. “One day Bud carried through with it. He drove up to me in the field where I was shocking oats and said, ‘I’m going to Iowa. If you want to come, get in.’ I dropped everything and went to the house to pack and to tell mother I was leaving. I don’t remember what she said. But I do remember a lot of tears.”

Manson was the “promised land” they sought. Instead of earning the going rate of $1 a day for field work back home, they made $4.75 a day in Manson. Paul sent money home until he was 22 years old and got married to Dorothy. Paul became a mechanic for her father, John, who owned the local John Deere dealership. John sold the business to Paul and his son, the late Merle Egli. They were co-owners for a time before Paul became sole owner.

Paul, with many other farmers and implement dealers in the Midwest, enjoyed booming farm years in the 1970s. In 1975, Paul expanded his skyrocketing business by moving from a cramped location on Main Street to a former golf cart factory just outside of town.

Paul was no stranger to what happened next. The farm economy crashed in the mid-1980s. But unlike his boyhood days, he had a lot more to lose. If he couldn’t find a buyer, he would lose everything he had labored for in the past 46 years when he and Dorothy raised their five children.

“I intended to pass on the business to my son, Neil, but that was no longer possible,” Paul says. “Unless God provided a buyer, we would lose everything.”

God did provide. In 1985, three affluent brothers bought failing implement businesses across Iowa, including Paul’s.

Giving, receiving, blessing

Gratitude for God’s mercy has remained with Paul, as he continues to keep his own home in Manson. In the 20 years since he sold the business, Paul has lost his wife, Dorothy, to heart failure in 1995. But he has gained a new appreciation for being part of the Manson Mennonite Church family in his twilight years, he says.

He is free to give more generously and to model for others what it means to not only value work but to value contributing to God’s work. Paul gives to his congregation and contributes each year to Mennonite colleges. He also gives to Mennonite Church USA and its various ministries and belongs to the Mennonite Economic Development Association.

He’s pleased Mennonite Church USA provides stewardship education, he says. He is a big fan of people who give seminars on what it means to develop a firstfruits lifestyle – giving the first and best to God in all areas of one’s life.

“It’s my passion to see everyone in the church to catch the firstfruits vision,” Paul says. “If we all gave like this, then our denomination would have enough to provide for ministries overseas, as well as enough for our needs here at home.

“We in Mennonite Church USA are not immune from materialism. Television advertises this new thing and that new thing. We spend money we don’t have through our credit cards. And then when it comes time for the offering plate, we come up short.”

The lesson he learned when leaving one field in Nebraska for one in Iowa so he could give to his family still holds true for him today: It’s more blessed to give than to receive.

“I’ve learned God blesses us when we give,” he says. “Our motive should not be to give so that we receive. Giving back to God is the biblical principle we’re required to fulfill. But in that giving, we are blessed, and God’s work around the world is blessed.”

Laurie Oswald Robinson, editor for Mennonite Women USA and its publication, Timbrel, wrote this story for Mennonite Church USA news service. Paul Oswald is Laurie’s father, from whom she, too, has learned the firstfruits principle of giving her first and best to God.

Goering finds PET Project

Kirby Goering and his wife, Christine, stand with a PET outside his shop in Moundridge, Kan. The devices come in two sizes, one for adults and one for children, and are designed to help those who have been physically disabled and are unable to walk or use a wheelchair in areas with rugged terrain in developing countries. Photo by Marathana Prothro

MOUNDRIDGE, Kan. (Mennonite Church USA) -- Most of Kirby Goering’s memories of his experience as an MCC volunteer in Zambia in 1969-70 are pleasant ones. A notable exception is when he recalls the sight of people who were crippled or without legs dragging themselves over the ground to get from one place to another.

So when an old friend from Zambia conceived and helped develop a transportation device for victims of polio, animal attacks and land mines in developing countries, Goering knew he wanted to help.

“The need is the biggest thing that makes me want to do this, having been there and seen all those crippled people who have no assistance,” Goering said.

He said the need is even greater today worldwide than when he was in Zambia, in part because of the increase in the number of people maimed by land mines each year.

A member of Eden Mennonite Church in Moundridge, Kan., Goering was quick to recognize this as his opportunity to joyfully follow Jesus into the world. He’s not the kind of person who feels comfortable talking about himself or explaining his motivations. For Goering, it’s about recognizing needs and using the skills he has to meet them. And that’s exactly what he’s doing.

In 2006, Goering’s muffler shop in Moundridge, Kan., will become the ninth place in the United States to begin manufacturing and shipping personal energy transportation units (PETs), hand-pedaled tricycles designed to negotiate the kind of unpaved roads and terrain that make wheelchairs impractical.

“We have the templates we need to get started, and we hope to get a number of people to build, assemble and paint the PETs,” Goering said. He said he already has some volunteers lined up.

PETs are outdoor vehicles designed for remote areas in underdeveloped countries with poor roads and rugged terrain. A bicycle chain attaches the front wheel to a two-handed crank, which is also used to steer the PET. A tiller attached to the steering mast allows the driver to steer and brake while going downhill. An open storage compartment behind and beneath the seat gives the PET owner a way to haul loads and earn a living. A metal frame supports a body made of pine, and its wheels are the kind found on wheelbarrows.

The PET is the brainchild of Larry Hills, who spent much of his life in Africa as a Methodist missionary. Hills and Goering met while serving in Zambia, Goering with MCC and Hills with the Mendola Ecumenical Foundation, and they have stayed in contact. With the help of a Columbia, Mo., minister and designer, production of the units began in 1996.When Hills retired in 2001, he set up a production facility adjacent to a retirement community in Penny Farms, Fla. The non-profit PET International was formed soon afterward, and PETs are now built and partially assembled in Columbia, Mo., Penny Farms and eight other locations and shipped to more than 50 countries. More production facilities are needed, and Hills is encouraging Goering to begin.

“One of the requirements is that (recipients) live on a yearly income of less than $100,” Goering said. “Most of the PETs are placed through missionary personnel or organizations, especially those that deal with mobility needs such as wheelchairs and prosthetics.”

PET International’s business manager in Columbia, Mo., Kathy Maynard, said PETs are not given to U.S. citizens. She cited liability and the organization’s focus on helping those with the greatest need and the fewest personal resources as reasons.

“I just had to turn down another mother who wanted one for her 4-year-old here when she saw a PET,” Maynard said. “Her son already had a wheelchair and thought a PET would be handy and fun. But that is not what PET is about.”

PETs come in two sizes for adults and children, but Goering will concentrate on building the adult models in the beginning.

Goering’s wife, Christine, and his daughter, Patricia Ritcha, are helping him organize and launch the project, which will be called PET Kansas. His church, Eden Mennonite Church, has offered to receive contributions until the Goerings can set up a not-for-profit organization, a process that will be completed this spring.

Like other PET International facilities, Goering will keep costs down by using volunteers to build the units. Materials frequently are donated or purchased at cost. Maynard said most mobility/assistance organizations PET International works with take care of the shipping costs overseas once they receive them, so that PET usually only pays for shipping to points of departure. For example, many PETs are shipped to Africa via Mercy Ships, which absorbs the shipping costs from its port in Texas to points of delivery overseas.

“Our first ones will probably go to Hope Haven, in Iowa,” Goering said.

Located in Rock Valley, Iowa, Hope Haven rebuilds used wheelchairs, but has discovered PETs are more practical for some clients. In the past, Hope Haven has picked up units from Columbia, Mo., at its own expense, so Goering’s shipping costs will be minimal. He estimates each PET will cost about $250 to build and ship.

How you can help

Those interested in helping PET Kansas should contact Goering at petkansas@hotmail.com. He currently is looking for financial contributions and donated materials.

“When we start shipping them, we will need used clothing for packing materials and liter bottles,” Goering said. He prefers smaller sizes of clothes because most recipients are smaller than most U.S. citizens, the result of poor diet and malnutrition.

Duane Johnson, a freelance writer of Topeka, Kan., wrote this article for Mennonite Church USA News Service.