wfn.org | CORRECTION: CWS Receives Half-Million Gift From Caribbean for

["Lesley Crosson" <lcrosson@churchworldservice.org>]

NOTE: Correction graf 1:  The donation is one half million

Church World Service Receives Half Million Gift From Trinidad-Tobago

A photograph to accompany this article is at:	http://www.churchworldservice.org/media/

NEW YORK-OCTOBER 24-Church World Service has received a one half million
dollar boost for its Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.	The donation from
the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago was handed over at a ceremony last
week in the republic's New York City consular office.

The gift is part of a $2-million contribution by the Caribbean nation to
four charitable organizations in the United States providing relief and
recovery assistance for storm survivors.

In making the donation, Trinidad and Tobago Ambassador Marina Valere
emphasized the "high esteem" in which the republic holds "all the members
of our regional family" and the republic's "special regard for America."
She commended CWS for its "selfless efforts in tending to those most
affected" by the storm's devastation.

McCullough called the gift "an expression of love and support from the
government and people of Trinidad and Tobago," and said CWS is "honored to
walk in partnership" with Trinidad and Tobago as the agency continues its
humanitarian efforts in the Gulf Coast.

Immediately after the storm ripped through the southeast, CWS delivered
blankets, supplies, and resources to help meet the material and spiritual
needs of survivors.  The agency now is working with its interfaith
partners to assist people with reconstruction and relocation.

The untold story of the disaster, McCullough said, is the "tremendous
response of churches-- large and small, urban and rural-that opened their
doors and received and comforted people in a way that only the church can
do."

Church World Service is the relief, development, and refugee assistance
agency of 36 Protestant, Orthodox, and Anglican denominations in the
United States.	In addition to disaster response, the agency supports a
broad range of social and humanitarian programs designed to eliminate
hunger and poverty in countries throughout the world.  In the Caribbean,
Church World Service supports the ministries of the Trinidad-based
Caribbean Council of Churches.

McCullough assured Valere and some 20 assembled guests that CWS will use
the donation with "integrity" to help assure that the needs of the most
vulnerable victims are met, not just in the short run, but over the months
or years that it will take for the people of the affected areas to rebuild
their lives.

"We pledge that we will stay with them until the journey is finished,"
McCullough said.

The three other recipients of $500,000 grants from the republic are the
Bush/Clinton Katrina Fund, the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Fund and the
Habitat for Humanity International Katrina Relief Fund.

Press Contact:
Lesley Crosson	   (212) 870-2676  lcrosson@churchworldservice.org