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2009 ELCA Youth Gathering E-News
June 2009 ► Issue 14

The Gathering E-News will be sent to you each month and deliver Gathering information and news to you on New Orleans and beyond. Previous issues of the Gathering E-News are archived.
Your donations to the on-line catalog are still needed urgently
We need your gifts now so that materials will be in New Orleans when the Gathering begins and young people launch for their ministry experiences in the city. Go to the on-line catalog and contribute to the recovery of New Orleans. Learn more about other Gathering offering opportunities.
Keep an eye on the Gathering Web site
More content and information is being added to the Gathering Web site every week. Some of the new pages include:
Gathering Idol: your opportunity for 15 minutes of musical fame!
This year, one of the Community Life venues at the ELCA Youth Gathering is called “Gathering Idol,” our version of the popular “American Idol.”

Every night, youth can perform for our celebrity judges, to be named that evening’s Gathering Idol. Tangled Blue are our stage band and hosts for the show, however, we encourage musicians to come prepared to play and sing whenever possible, or to bring your own accompanist if you can. A keyboard will be provided.

Your friends and other youth make up the studio audience who will have a chance to vote for each night’s winners. The winner from each night gets to perform for our studio audience the following evening on the stage at the Hilton Riverside Grand Salon, and will receive our special Gathering Idol trophy and other prizes. However, you must register to perform.

Registration will open on June 22, one month prior to the Gathering, and will be live throughout the event. Contestants will be selected on a first-come, first-served basis. To register visit http://gatheringidol.com, or go directly to our Facebook Gathering Idol registration site.
Donating blood in the Interaction Center
Blood donations can help save lives. You may be able to donate blood at the Interaction Center if you are at least 16 years old and pass the donor suitability screening. If you are 16, you will need to bring a signed parental consent form with you. The blood drive will be conducted by The Blood Center of New Orleans.
Long-term parking available at the Gathering
We have a secured a lot at the corner of Convention Center Boulevard and Henderson Street for participants to park their buses, vans, and vehicles during the Gathering. There is no cost for this parking.

The parking lot is fenced with access by permit only, and is patrolled randomly by Convention Center Security and the Transportation Team. It is not protected 24/7 though. The Gathering is not liable for any loss or damage to the vehicles while they are parked in the lot.

Permits to use the long-term parking lot can be picked up during on-site registration or in the Transportation Team Office located in the Convention Center.

Learn more about transportation in New Orleans.
Are you ready to make change?
One out of every seven people in the world live on less than $1 a day. One billion of God’s children lack access to clean, safe drinking water. And one in every 10 Americans experience hunger or the risk of hunger. It’s time for a change.

You can help. As you prepare for the ELCA Youth Gathering, begin to “collect change for change”. Your spare change doesn’t buy a lot here in the United States, but when it’s redirected to where it’s needed most, it saves lives. Get started today by keeping a special container in your home and filling it with loose change at the end of each day. Ask members of your congregation and family and friends do the same. For a downloadable label to put on your container, click here.

Bring your offering to the Gathering and watch it grow with thousands of other offerings in the center of the Interaction Center. Bring your offering in whichever form you’d like -- coins, bills, or checks. You can also mail your Change the World offering to ELCA World Hunger, P.O. Box 71764, Chicago, IL, 60694-1764 (write “youth challenge” memo line of the check).

Your gifts will be counted toward the Change the World: 2009 Lutheran Youth Challenge to raise $1 million for ELCA World Hunger. If each youth gathering participant brings $30, we’ll reach our goal. Click here for more information and fund-raising ideas.

Details, details, details
  • The handicap entrance to the Superdome is through Gate A, ground level.
     
  • Assisted hearing devices and Spanish translation equipment can be picked up at Guest Services, between aisles 150-152 on the concourse level of the Superdome.
     
  • Tour de Revs Bicycling to the Gathering. 3 pastors, 1 bamboo bike, 100 Days, 13,000 miles, 65 cities on a mission to fight world hunger. Learn more and get involved.

 

 Did you know?

  • A Tailgate Party food event will happen 4:00-6:30pm Wednesday through Saturday at the Superdome. Location: LaSalle Street up the ramp to the top of the parking garage. Food carts with items for purchase will be set up on the bridge to Gate C.
     

  • You can Twitter all you want!
    Bookmark and visit http://twitter.com/jjj09 for daily updates and reminders for everything pertaining to the 2009 ELCA Youth Gathering.

    Twitter users can follow @jjj09 and use the hashtag #jjj09 in all Gathering-related tweets. RSS feed users can receive automatic updates by using the http://twitter.com/jjj09 url. (If those last two sentences made no sense to you, don't worry... just pass the word along.) You don't need a Twitter account to access the updates / reminders.

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