wfn.org | Church of the Brethren Emergency Disaster Fund tops $2.4 million

[COBNews@aol.com]

Date: Oct. 27,	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 EMERGENCY DISASTER FUND TOPS $2.4 MILLION

Oct. 27, 2005 (Elgin, IL) --  The Church of the Brethrenâs Emergency
Disaster Fund has received more than $2.4 million in donations for
disaster  relief
in 2005--five or six times the regular annual rate of giving to the fund.  The
denomination's generous response to the needs of survivors of the numerous
natural disasters of the yearâthe tsunami, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and the
massive earthquake in Pakistan and Indiaâis credited for this increase in
giving.

As the effects of Hurricane Wilma in Florida were becoming known in late
October, the fund had received $2,486,686, as compared to $369,536 in the same
period in 2004.

"Our ministries and our donors have had the opportunity to do good for a
great many more people than the norm this year," said Ken Neher, director of
Funding and Donor Development for the Church of the Brethren General
Board, 
referring to Galatians 6:10.

The Emergency Disaster Fund supports the work of Church World Service
through grants to disaster appeals, longterm recovery groups, and refugee  services.
It also supports Church of the Brethren disaster relief work including
Emergency Response and its Disaster Child Care and Brethren Disaster Response
programs.

The generous giving received in 2005 for disaster relief are making it
possible for Emergency Response/Service Ministries to field more Disaster Child
Care teams and train more child care volunteers--a necessity this year because
of the scope of the Hurricane Katrina disaster. Also, the Church of the
Brethren  has been able to contribute more funds to the Church World Service work
related  to the tsunami in Indonesia, and the Gulf Coast hurricanes.

About one third of the giving designated for tsunami relief is being held
for the two-to-five-year response phase of the recovery effort, said Roy Winter,
 director of Emergency Response. "It's important to support the longterm work
 since the church had such a great response" in giving to the Emergency
Disaster  Fund, he said.

And the Brethren generosity makes it possible for the church to contribute
immediately to current disaster needs. Recent grants from the Emergency
Disaster  Fund send $50,000 to Church World Service for relief work in Pakistan;
$7,000	for food aid to three Guatemalan villages following Hurricane
Stan; and
$5,000	for the Brethren Disaster Response clean up project in the area of Lake
Charles,  La., following Hurricane Rita.

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)

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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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