wfn.org | Church of the Brethren disaster staff assesses needs in Louisiana =20

[COBNews@aol.com]

Date: Sept. 15, 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
Sept. 15, 2005

CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN DISASTER DIRECTOR ASSESSES NEEDS IN LOUISIANA;
VOLUNTEERS BEGINS CLEAN UP AND CHILD CARE PROJECTS

Sept. 15, 2005 (Elgin, IL) -- The Church of the Brethren response to
Hurricane Katrina increased in intensity as Disaster Child Care volunteers began
working at shelters, a hurricane clean-up project started, and the churchâs
director of Emergency Response visited Louisiana to make an assessment of needs
in shelters and emergency centers across the state.

Shipments of relief materials also continued to be made to the Gulf Coast
from warehouses at the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md.
Brethren 
staff process the materials, such as blankets and Health Kits, and ship them on
behalf of Church World Service.

Roy Winter, director of Emergency Response for the Church of the Brethren,
traveled to Louisiana Sept. 8-11 with a team from the Harvard School of Public
Health, sponsored by the Red Cross. Winter is currently working with the Red
Cross as a member of the coordinating group for its mass care operation
headquartered in Washington, D.C.

The team visited a sample of some 290 shelters from east to west across
southern Louisiana to make a field assessment of the mental health of survivors
and the needs for mental health care and counseling. They visited a range of
types of shelters and emergency centers, including one for convicts evacuated
from New Orleans.

Trained volunteers from Disaster Child Care have begun giving child care  for
families in seven shelters or recovery centers across the country, at the
request of the Red Cross and FEMA: at Camp Dawson Army National Guard Reserve
facility, Kingwood, W.Va.; at Lowery Air Force Base, Denver, Colo.; at
FEMA 
Disaster Recovery Centers in Pensacola and Fort Walton Beach, Fla.; in Los
Angeles and San Bernardino, Calif.; and in Marietta, Ga.

Disaster Child Care, led by coordinator Helen Stonesifer, is working to
fulfill requests for child care in shelters in North Fork, Va.; Hattiesburg,
Miss.; and Brook Haven, Miss. The programâs Critical Care teamâvolunteers who
respond to aviation disastersâwill begin work soon at Family Assistance Centers
in Louisiana serving evacuees who have lost loved ones.

A Brethren Disaster Response clean-up project began Sept. 13 in
Citronelle, 
Ala. Cedar Creek Church of the Brethren is helping to host the project, in
which  groups of up to 15 volunteers at a time will clean areas of hurricane
damage and  do minor repairs on homes.

In other Church of the Brethren efforts, the 29th annual Brethren Disaster
Relief Auction at the Lebanon (Pa.) Expo and Fairgrounds on Sept. 23-24
features  an ambitious project to assemble and pack 20,000 Gift of the Heart Health
Kits  and School Kits. The kits are used by Church World Service to meet
immediate  needs of disaster survivors, and are shipped from the Brethren Service
Center.  Value of the kits will be in excess of $100,000. In another ambitious
project,  volunteers will build a modular home onsite for Brethren Disaster
Response. The  auction also features a Quilt Auctionâthis year earmarked for
hurricane  reliefâand auctions of heifers and livestock, a
Farmer's Market, arts,
crafts,  and food. See _www.brethrenauction.org_
(http://www.brethrenauction.org) .

The Church of the Brethren is seeking more volunteers:
â Disaster Child  Care is offering to train new volunteers at workshops Sept.
16-17 in Roanoke,  Va.; Oct. 7-8 in Reno, Nev.; and Nov. 11-12 in Brook Park,
Ohio (for more see _www.disasterchildcare.org_
(http://www.disasterchildcare.org) ).
â  Church of the Brethren Emergency Response seeks volunteers to help answer
telephones and process relief materials at the Brethren Service Center in New
 Windsor, Md. (call 800-451-4407 to volunteer, see
_www.brethrendisasterresponse.org_ (http://www.brethrendisasterresponse.org)   for more about the
program).
â Brethren Disaster Response seeks volunteers to  clean up in Citronelle,
Ala.; and for rebuilding projects in Belmont County,  Ohio, following severe
flooding earlier this year, and in Pensacola, Fla.,  repairing homes damaged by
Hurricanes Ivan and Dennis (call 800-451-4407).
â  To support these relief efforts, donate at
_www.brethrendisasterresponse.org_ (http://www.brethrendisasterresponse.org) .

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.
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