wfn.org | CoB Newsline-Beef canning, Jay Leno, North Korea

[Church of the Brethren News Services]

Newsline           April 10, 1997
Date:      April 10, 1997
Contact:  Nevin Dulabaum
V:  847/742-5100   F:  847/742-6103
E-MAIL:   CoBNews@AOL.Com

This is Newsline for the week of April 10. In the news today:

1) The Annual Beef Canning Project of Mid-Atlantic and Southern Pennsylvania
districts 	 
       exceeds its goal.
2) Jay Leno announces that he will fund a scholarship for McPherson (Kan.)
College 
       students.
3) McPherson College announces it has received the largest "matching gift
challenge" ever
       given in the state of Kansas.
4) Church World Service Regional Disaster Response facilitators receive a
$5,000 grant 
       from the Church of the Brethren Emergency Disaster Fund.
5) A $126 million appeal for food aid assistance to North Korea is announced
by the United 
       Nations.
6) Southern Ohio District's 1996 end-of-the-year statistics show increases in
seven out of 
       nine attendance, membership and giving categories.
7) A volunteer program assistant is being sought by On Earth Peace Assembly.
8) A five-year examination of a family that publicly refuses to pay their
federal income taxes 
       in protest against war and military spending will be aired this month
on Cinemax.
9) "Does your church really care?" an Andrew Center seminar, will be
presented on 
       Saturday in West Virginia.
10) The May issue of "Source" has been released.

1) The numbers are staggering -- 21,175 cans of meat and 4,523 cans of broth
processed from 62,322 pounds of beef. Those are this year's total for the
Annual Beef Canning Project of Mid-Atlantic and Southern Pennsylvania
districts, now in its 17th year.

This year's effort involved 425 mostly Brethren volunteers from the two
districts, but included some volunteers from five other area congregations of
differing Protestant affiliations. Twenty-five congregations from
Mid-Atlantic District were represented; 28 from Southern Pennsylvania. This
year's goal had been to process in excess of 60,000 pounds of beef.

The beef and broth, which was processed at Meadow Brook Turkey Farm in York,
Pa., March 24-26 and 31, and April 1-2, will be used both in the United
States and abroad. Seventy-five percent of the beef will be sent overseas;
the remaining 25 percent and all of the beef broth will be divided between
the two districts and then distributed to agencies and organizations that
help feed those in need. Major recipients of the beef and broth in past years
in Mid-Atlantic District have been SERVE Food Closet, Manassas, Va., and the
Washington City Soup Kitchen. Major Southern Pennsylvania recipients in past
years have included the York and Chambersburg (Pa.) Salvation Armies; Our
Daily Bread, a York soup kitchen; and Youth Challenge International Bible
Institute, Sunbury, Pa.

Georgia Markey, assistant to the Southern Pennsylvania District executive and
liaison to the canning project, said the success of this year's effort is
attributed to the project's organizing committee. "We do the paperwork, but
they do the work," she said. "They see that it gets accomplished. I feel very
appreciative of their leadership."

This year's committee chairman was H. Roger Miller of New Fairview Church of
the Brethren, York (Southern Pennsylvania District). Other Southern
Pennsylvania District committee members included Leon Bierbower and Raymond
Burkholder of Chambersburg (Pa.) Church of the Brethren; Fred Nell of
Pleasant Hill Church of the Brethren, Abbottstown, Pa.; Ed Nace of Black Rock
Church of the Brethren, Brodbecks, Pa.; and Paul Garner of New Fairview
Church of the Brethren. Committee members from Mid-Atlantic District included
Gary Walls of Fellowship Church of the Brethren, Martinsburg, W.Va.; Duke
Hagedorn of Manassas (Va.) Church of the Brethren; Lewis Dodd of University
Park Church of the Brethren, Hyattsville, Md.; and David Dotterer of Union
Bridge (Md.) Church of the Brethren.

2) On Friday comedian Jay Leno announced from Los Angeles that he will
finance a scholarship that will assist students enrolled in the two-year auto
restoration program of McPherson College, one of the six colleges and
university affiliated with the Church of the Brethren. According to reports,
Leno, who enjoys vintage cars and motorcycles, decided to establish the
scholarship once he learned of the restoration program, which supposedly is
unique among higher education institutions. "He wants to pass on the love of
antique cars to the next generation," said Bob Knechel, McPherson College's
director of Development.

3) On Wednesday, Harry Stine, owner of Stine Seed Farm, Adel, Iowa, announced
during a special convocation at McPherson College that he is awarding the
college a $10 million challenge gift. Stine has pledged that he will match
all cash or cash equivalent gifts to the college's capital campaign (up to
$10 million), which will fund new science and fine arts facilities as well as
other projects. According to a McPherson release, this is the largest
challenge grant ever given to a Kansas higher education institution.

In a brief statement, Stine, a 1963 McPherson graduate, said, "Through my
work as a farmer and in the agri-business, as an alumnus and as a trustee of
McPherson College, I believe I am able to live out the mission of the
college. The preparation for living a successful, fulfilling and useful life
began for me here at McPherson. I am pleased to be in a position now to help
provide better tools and facilities for another generation of McPherson
College students."

4) On April 3, $5,000 was allocated from the Emergency Disaster Fund to help
equip Church World Service Regional Disaster Response facilitators throughout
the United States. Approximately 10 of these volunteers, of which one will be
a Church of the Brethren member, will more effectively and quickly bring
agencies together during disaster responses.

5) North Koreans face "malnutrition and possibly death by starvation,"
according to an official of the United Nation's World Food Program. With
those possibilities reported to be realities by Ohio congressman Tony Hall,
who recently on a trip to North Korea found undernourished people of all ages
forced to try to exist on a single bowl of rice per day, the United Nations
World Food Program on Monday issued an appeal for $126 million in emergency
food aid for the East Asian country. More than $95 million of that aid would
feed children under six years old, as they are the most affected by food
shortages.

"Our recent food relief initiatives become all the more timely in light of
these reports," said David Radcliff, Denominational Peace Witness director
for the Church of the Brethren General Board. "Barley seed we supplied for a
winter double-cropping initiative will provide food when it is needed this
spring to provide energy for those planting the rice crop. A shipment of
canned beef due to arrive in the next few weeks will give nourishment to the
very young and very old."

Radcliff added that he hopes the flow of food from the Church of the Brethren
will continue through the General Board's current $75,000 Global Food Crisis
appeal for seed corn for North Korea, which was initiated in March. Once
grown, corn produced from the seeds is expected to feed 300,000 families for
one month.

"That's a significant contribution to the needs of the North Korean people,"
Radcliff said. For more information, contact Radcliff at 800 323-8039 or read
Radcliff's report on his recent trip to North Korea in the April issue of
Messenger magazine, due out in homes next week.

6) Good news was the report from Southern Ohio District last week as it
released its 1996 year-end statistics. Increases were shown in seven out of
nine attendance, membership and giving categories, compared to 1995.
   Overall, membership increased by five to 9,301. Average worship attendance
rose by 12 to 5,065, although Sunday school attendance dropped by 119 to
2,891. 
   Giving to the General Board increased by $36,505 to $178,322. Other
increases in giving (increase and year-end total) were to Manchester College
($11,017; $31,533), Bethany Theological Seminary ($10,463; $34,464), Southern
Ohio District ($7,953; $116,808), and to Brethren's Home ($3,287; $85,008).
Giving to Camp Woodland Altars decreased by $3,044 to $33,876.
   "These figures show strength and support of our Church of the Brethren
congregations, district, General Board and related institutions," said Jim
Tomlonson, Southern Ohio District executive. "I am grateful to our pastors
for their individual leadership in keeping the outreach ministries of their
congregations strong."

7) On Earth Peace Assembly is seeking a volunteer program assistant to work
at its facilities at the Brethren Service Center, New Windsor, Md. For more
information, call 410 635-8706 or write
On.Earth.Peace.Assembly.parti@Ecunet.Org.

8) What happens when a family publicly refuses to pay their federal income
taxes in protest against war and military spending? Of course, the family's
farmhouse is seized by federal marshalls and the Internal Revenue Service.
That's the premise of "An Act of Conscience," a program that will air on the
Cinemax cable network at 6:30 p.m. Eastern time on April 15, income tax
filing day. The program will also air at 6 a.m., April 21, and at 3 p.m.,
April 30.

According to the National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund, the program
"chronicles events over a five-year period as the couple nonviolently resists
the seizure of their home and are joined by hundreds of people from across
the United States.

9) "Does your church really care?" a seminar presented by Jim Moss, will be
held Saturday at Sunnyside Church of the Brethren, New Creek, W.Va.
Apparently many people care, as 215 people have preregistered to attend this
seminar, sponsored by The Andrew Center, the Church of the Brethren General
Board's evangelism ministry.

10) The May issue of "Source," a packet of denominational and ecumenical
resources for congregations, has been released. Included in the packet are
resources for family week (May 4-11), including a poster and study materials.
Three other family related resource materials are included in the packet:
information about family life from the Parenting and Peace and Justice
Network; and two pledges--"Family Pledge of Nonviolence" and "Classroom
Pledge of Nonviolence."

Other items include an announcement by Youth and Young Adult Ministries of a
Youth Ministry Workshop, scheduled for Nov. 8; an update on the
denomination's Program for Women; and publication that celebrates Brethren
Press' 100 years of publishing.

Newsline is archived with an index at http://www.tgx.com/cob/news.htm and at
www.wfn.org.

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