wfn.org | Local food banks another way to give

[COBNews@aol.com]

Date: Sept. 23, 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. 23, 2005
 
Local food banks are another way to give to hurricane relief work, say	
Church of the Brethren disaster staff
 
Sept. 23, 2005 (Elgin, IL) --  Looking at the new numbers of hurricane	
evacuees, the Church of the Brethren director of Emergency Response has
issued a  
call to support local food pantries as another way to support the hurricane  
relief efforts. Roy Winter, director of  Emergency Response for the Church 
of 
the Brethren General Board, explained that many food banks across the country
 
have contributed food to the hurricane relief effort through America's Second
 
Harvest. 
 
America's Second Harvest is a food bank network that serves as a  
coordinating organization for most local food banks, and is the largest
hunger	relief 
organization in the US (see _www.secondharvest.org_ 
(http://www.secondharvest.org) ). Now, local food  bank shelves have been
depleted by the response to 
Katrina, and communities need  to help restock them, Winter said.
 
He also explained that the Church of the Brethren response has coordinated  
with other Christian denominations and nonprofit organizations--such as  
America's Second Harvest, the American Red Cross, Church World Service, and  
others--who have developed expertise in particular areas of disaster
response.  "We 
are trying not to duplicate the services of other churches and organizations 

like Second Harvest, because they are doing them well," Winter said. "It
helps  
the whole process to work together."
 
He and his staff have focused their efforts in areas in which the Brethren  
have expertise as well. The four-pronged Church of the Brethren response  
includes grants from the Emergency Disaster Fund; warehousing and shipping of
 
relief materials from the Brethren Service Center by the Service Ministries  
program; Disaster Child Care; and repair and rebuilding efforts by the
Disaster  
Response Program. 
 
Winter also called on Brethren to maintain an understanding of the bigger  
picture and continue support for survivors of other disasters. "There are
other  
needs out there, some other disasters that need to be responded to," he said,

 naming in particular the ongoing Brethren rebuilding projects in Florida and

 Ohio that still need volunteers. There also is a clean-up and repair project

in  Alabama in response to Hurricane Katrina.
 
"The main focus of the Disaster Response Program is longterm recovery,"  said

Brethren Disaster Response coordinator Jane Yount, "and `longterm' can mean  
months or even years. So, the question is not whether you can go three days  
after the disaster, but rather can you go three months or a year after the  
disaster--after the media blitz is over and the survivors start wondering  
whether anyone still cares."
 
This weekend, Winter will be at the Brethren Disaster Auction in Lebanon,  
Pa., where the number of Gift of the Heart Health Kits that organizers expect
to 
 assemble throughout the day Saturday has been upped to 25,000 from 20,000. 
That  seems like a lot of health kits, Winter acknowledged. But looking at
the  
situation in the Gulf Coast in anticipation of the arrival of Rita, he said 
with  a sigh, "We'll probably use them all."
 
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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