wfn.org | Peace with Justice grants circle the globe

[NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG]

April 5, 2001  News media contact: Joretta Purdue *(202) 546-8722*Washington
10-30-71B{161}

ARLINGTON, Va. (UMNS) - Peace with Justice grants awarded this year have an
international flavor. 

Seven of the 16 grants, ranging in size from $1,500 to $5,669, are going to
churches or ecumenical offices outside the United States, and some of the
U.S.-based programs aid refugees and immigrants.

The grants for various justice ministries total $69,144. Funding comes from
the Peace With Justice Sunday Special Offering taken each year in United
Methodist churches and administered through the denomination's Board of
Church and Society. This year, the special Sunday will be observed June 10
in most congregations.

Two of the grants are being sent to church programs in Africa, and two to
the Philippines. Two other grants will aid ecumenical, multinational
workshops through offices in Hong Kong. One grant is headed to a program
working against domestic abuse in Nicaragua.  The rest are destined to help
groups in the United States.

The Sierra Leone Annual (regional) Conference is being given $5,000 to
conduct eight workshops aimed at rebuilding communities after 10 years of
civil war. Using conflict resolution techniques, the church leaders hope to
promote peace through reintegration of former combatants.

A grant of $5,000 is the third to be given for the Liberia Annual
Conference's Human Rights Monitor office. Earlier grants were awarded in
October 1995 and March 1998 to help the church encourage peace with justice
and democracy building.

In the Philippines, the church's Mindanao Annual Conference Board of Church
and Society has been given two grants: $5,000 to assist political detainees
(many left over from the Marcos era) and their families and $2,500 to
continue the conference board's "Campaign Against Militarism and Development
Aggression."

An ecumenical workshop for Christians in socialist countries of Asia and
Latin America received a $3,000 grant. The denomination's Board of Global
Ministries is being asked to co-sponsor this event, initiated by a Christian
group in Hong Kong.

The Asia-Pacific Region of the World Student Christian Federation has been
awarded $4,000 toward a workshop on human rights and religion, with emphasis
on tolerance and understanding for students from the region.

The Network of Women Against Violence in Nicaragua is receiving $5,000 for
its work to end domestic and sexual abuse of women. With headquarters in San
Francisco Libre, Nicaragua, the organization plans to use the funds for
printed resources and workshops to serve women throughout this South
American country.

The largest single grant this year, $5,669, is going to the denomination's
Hawaii District, which is part of the California-Pacific Annual Conference.
The money will be used to reclaim a small plot of land and make it available
for displaced people to farm. The land had been used by military forces.

Just Neighbors Ministry, a program of the Arlington District of the Virginia
Annual Conference, provides free legal counseling for immigrants and
refugees. Housed in Arlington United Methodist Church, the office was the
original in the Just Neighbors Ministry program of the church's Board of
Global Ministries. It now provides training and supervision to 14 satellite
offices throughout the United States that are funded  by the Board of Global
Ministries.

A grant of $5,000 was given to the deaf children's outreach ministry of the
Peninsula-Delaware Annual Conference.

The reburial of the remains of nearly 600 Native Americans, dating from 250
B.C. to 1600 A.D., is being assisted by a $5,000 grant to a consortium that
includes United Methodist Church units. The West Virginia Annual Conference
Commission on Religion and Race has been working with the consortium in
efforts to obtain an appropriate site near Buffalo, W. Va., to become a
memorial and educational center.

The Tri-Towns After School Program of Trinity and Waldon United Methodist
churches in Piedmont, W. Va., received $5,000 to expand a program serving
elementary and high school youth.

INFACT, a Boston-based nonprofit organization, received $5,000 to further
its campaign against tobacco, including through distribution of its video
"Making a Killing: Philip Morris, Kraft and Global Tobacco Addiction.

Friendship United Methodist Church in Cincinnati was awarded $3,975 for food
and personal care items for homeless people and a trailer for carrying these
goods. Distribution will be through the youth program "His Flock."

A grant of $3,500 will go to the Bluff Road Shalom Zone Community
Development Corporation in Columbia, S.C., a South Carolina Annual
Conference program, to address illegal drug use and poverty issues in the
community.

The Alabama-West Florida Annual Conference received $1,500 to create a
display of environmental justice issues particular to the conference.

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United Methodist News Service
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