wfn.org | Newsline - Church of the Brethren news update

[COBNews@aol.com]

Date: August 29, 2005
Contact: Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
V: 847/742-5100 F:  847/742-6103
E-MAIL: _CoBNews@AOL.Com_ (mailto:CoBNews@AOL.Com) 
 

CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN NEWSLINE
August 29, 2005
 
BRETHREN DISASTER STAFF PREPARE FOR AFTERMATH OF HURRICANE KATRINA
 
August 29, 2005 (Elgin, IL) -- Staff of the Church of the Brethren General  
Board's Emergency Response/Service Ministries are monitoring the progress of 

Hurricane Katrina, in anticipation of much work to do in the aftermath of the
 
storm. Disaster Child Care volunteers are being put on alert, and the two 
active	Brethren Disaster Response projects in Florida and Ohio are being
shut 
down  because of the storm. The category four hurricane, which passed over 
southern  Florida Thursday, hit the gulf coast east of New Orleans this
morning, and 
is  expected to make its way north in the coming days.
 
"A lot of what's going on right now is the coordinating effort of  responding

organizations," said Emergency Response director Roy Winter, who was  unable 
to fly to visit the Brethren project in Pensacola, Fla., this morning 
because 
the airport there is closed. His staff have been engaged in conference	calls

today to coordinate the Brethren involvement in the response effort. The  
Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Red Cross are setting up
emergency  
centers, and Church World Service (CWS) has activated its response as  well.
 
Disaster Child Care staff hope to get teams into the federal and Red Cross  
emergency centers. Child care volunteers are asked to contact their regional 

coordinators to indicate their availability; or to call the Emergency
Response  
office at 800-451-4407. 
 
The team of volunteers scheduled to work at the Pensacola project this week  
has been canceled because of the proximity to the hurricane, Winter said.  
Volunteers at the Ohio project are being relocated because of more flooding
in  
the area anticipated from heavy rainfall as Katrina moves north. 
 
He said the city of New Orleans was "fortunate" that the storm moved east,  
but expressed concerned about the situation in other areas in Mississippi.
The  
movement east "may have been the saving grace for a lot of people" in New  
Orleans, he said.
 
Winter called on Brethren to help support a CWS appeal for help for the  
storm victims, through the General Board's Emergency Disaster Fund (1451
Dundee	
Ave., Elgin, IL 60120). "With 28 percent of New Orleans' residents living
below 
 poverty level, CWS is mobilizing to help the most vulnerable with long-term 

recovery," said CWS associate director for Domestic Emergency Response Linda 

Reed Brown, in a press release from the ecumenical agency. "While we'll have 
to  wait for results of assessments, it's clear that even though New Orleans 
was  spared the worst of storm surge catastrophes, there's no doubt that
damage 
to  homes and possessions will be major, throughout affected areas."
 
For further information about the CWS response to Hurricane Katrina, visit  
_www.churchworldservice.org_ (http://www.churchworldservice.org) . For	more 
information about Emergency Response/Service Ministries, see 
_www.brethren.org/genbd/ersm/_ (http://www.brethren.org/genbd/ersm/) .
 
The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination committed to  
continuing the work of Jesus peacefully and simply, and to living out its
faith  in 
community. The denomination is based in the Anabaptist and Pietist faith  
traditions and is one of the three Historic Peace Churches. It celebrates its
 300th 
anniversary in 2008. It counts about 130,000 members across the United	
States and Puerto Rico, and has missions and sister churches in Brazil, the  
Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Nigeria.
 
# # #
 
For more information contact:
 
Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
Director of News Services
Church of the  Brethren General Board
1451 Dundee Ave.
Elgin, IL 60120
847-742-5100  ext. 260
_cbrumbaugh-cayford_gb@brethren.org_ 
(mailto:cbrumbaugh-cayford_gb@brethren.org) 
 
*****************************************************************
The  Church of the Brethren Newsline is produced by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford,

 director of news services for the Church of the Brethren General Board. 
Newsline  stories may be reprinted provided that Newsline is cited as the
source. 
To  receive Newsline by e-mail, write _cobnews@aol.com_ 
(mailto:cobnews@aol.com)  or call 800-323-8039 ext.  260.