wfn.org | CWS Responds to U.S. East Coast Winter Storms

[CAROL_FOUKE.parti@ecunet.org (CAROL FOUKE)]

CWS Responds to East Coast Winter Storms
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
Internet: wendym@ncccusa.org

Contact: Wendy S. McDowell, NCC, 212-870-2227

NCC1/20/97   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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EDITORS: When listing organizations receiving funds for 
humanitarian response to the East Coast Winter Storms, 
please include:

CHURCH WORLD SERVICE, Attn. East Coast Winter Storms, 
#976226, P.O. Box 968, Elkhart, IN 46515.  Phone pledges or 
credit card donations: 1-800-762-0968.

CWS works in more than 70 countries, including the U.S., in 
disaster relief, human development and refugee assistance.  
It is a ministry of the National Council of Churches, the 
nation's preeminent ecumenical organization which includes 
34 Protestant and Orthodox member communions with a combined 
membership of nearly 52 million.
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CHURCH WORLD SERVICE RESPONDS TO EAST COAST WINTER STORMS

NEW YORK, Jan. 20 ---- Church World Service (CWS) is 
providing generators and blankets and has employed disaster 
resource consultants to aid people in the northeastern and 
southern United States and eastern Canada in the wake of 
winter storms that have caused tens of millions of dollars 
in damage and paralyzed communities.

The CWS response includes:
  $10,000 to purchase 10 electric generators now being 
distributed in several upstate New York communities 
in cooperation with the United Church of Christ and 
another 10 generators distributed in Canada and 
northern New York State by Adventist Community 
Services, which also is advising CWS on needs in 
Canada.
  $10,000 for CWS Disaster Resource Consultants (DRCs) 
in the Northeast and Southeast who are coordinating 
assessments and working with the religious community 
to develop cooperative programs focusing on pastoral 
care, referrals/advocacy and restocking food banks.
  Joanne Hale (United Church of Christ) of Grand 
Island, N.Y., is traveling throughout New York state 
to assess the damage and needs, and DRC Laura Porter 
(Episcopal Church) of East Orange, N.J., will report 
on her assessment of Vermont later this week.  Other 
DRCs in the U.S. Northeast are on alert.
  In the South, Charles Moeller (Lutheran Disaster 
Response) of Morgantown, N.C., is following the 
situation in North Carolina and Tennessee, with an 
eye on the possibility of creating an ecumenical 
response since there are no interfaith organizations 
or councils of churches in the most affected area.
  $20,000 for seed money to faith-based community 
organizations responding to the disaster and $35,000 
for long-term support for interfaith organizations.
  Medium-term needs, likely to include assisting local 
organizations restock food in shelters such as 
churches, firehalls and schools in the Northeast.
  CWS has also shipped 2,500 blankets to the Adventist 
Community Services distribution center in Watertown, 
N.Y.; 1,000 to Bridge Refugee Services in Bristol, 
Tenn., and 100 to Roaring Mountain, Tenn.  Another 
2,500 blankets will be shipped to Canada this week 
for distribution via Adventist Community Services.

To address these recovery needs, CWS is seeking $75,000 
from individuals and from its member communions.

Early January storms brought ice and treacherous 
weather to the U.S. Northeast and eastern Canada and caused 
flooding in the U.S. South.  Damage includes downed power 
lines, agricultural damage and stranded transportation.  Of 
growing concern in farming areas are the deaths of milking 
cows because the animals have been stranded and not milked 
for days.

By latest estimates, more than 250,000 people in the 
U.S. Northeast are still without power, and parts of the 
region were plagued by an additional foot of snow Jan. 16.  
Parts of four states - Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and New 
York - have now been declared federal disaster areas.  
Federal disaster aid has also been made available for 
communities in northeastern and central Tennessee hit by 
storms and flooding.

 For more information about CWS response, see the CWS 
Website at: http://ncccusa.org/cws   For information on 
assessments by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and 
state-by-state detail, see: http://www.fema.gov/

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