wfn.org | Church of the Brethren fund gives $73,000 for microloan program

[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
 
GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS FUND OF THE CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN GIVES $73,000 FOR  
MICRO-LOAN PROGRAM IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
 
Sept. 15, 2005 (Elgin, IL) -- A grant of $73,000 has been given from the  
Church of the Brethren's Global Food Crisis Fund to continue support for a  
microloan program in the Dominican Republic. 
 
In another grant of $10,000, the fund responds to a Church World Service  
appeal for food security in Niger, at a time when media reports are that the 

hunger crisis there is worsening.
 
Funds for the microloan program in the DR will cover staffing,	
administrative and travel expenses, committee capacity development, and
capital  for loans. 
The program "goes beyond generating income for borrowers; it  stabilizes and 
strengthens the lives of the working poor," reported fund manager  Howard 
Royer. "Coordinated by Beth Gunzel and closely allied with Iglesia de los  
Hermanos (the Church of the Brethren in the Dominican Republic), the effort 
engages 
494 participants in 18 communities."
 
"While not all the small-loan enterprises are of an agrarian or  food-related

nature, the generation of adequate income is key to improving  health and 
combating chronic poverty in the Dominican Republic," Royer said.  "Beyond
that, 
as former coordinators Jeff and Peggy Boshart have observed, this  innovative

small-loan program in a small part of the world is a powerful witness  to the

gospel of Jesus Christ."
 
A strength of the program is its enlistment and training of community  
development committees in each locality. The committees work with individual 

borrowers through five cycles of loans. The fund has provided sole support of
 the 
small-loan venture since its inception. Last year the program drew on the 
fund 
for $94,000. New budget parameters call for a yearly reduction in outside  
support, moving from $73,000 this year to $36,000 by 2009.
 
The funds given to Niger will help provide shipment and distribution of  
food, replenishing seed stock, and teaching better agricultural practices. A 

matching grant was given by the Church of the Brethren's Emergency Disaster 
Fund. 
CNN reported that Doctors Without Borders is finding that one in five  
children in Niger are suffering from malnutrition, and that more than five 
children 
per 10,000 under the age of five are dying each day.
 
For more on the Global Food Crisis Fund, see 
_www.brethren.org/genbd/global_mission/gfcf.htm_
(http://www.brethren.org/genbd/global_mission/gfcf.htm) .
 
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. 
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