Title: Brethren fund gives more than $470,000 for disaster response Aug. 3, 2006 Church of the Brethren News Service Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford, News Director 800-323-8039 ext. 260 -- cobnews@brethren.org
CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN FUND ISSUES MORE THAN $470,000 IN GRANTS FOR DISASTER RESPONSE
Aug. 3, 2006 (Elgin, IL) -- Recent grants from the Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) of the Church of the Brethren total $471,400 for disaster relief work around the world.
A grant of $350,000 has been given for longterm recovery work in southern Asia following the Dec. 2004 tsunami. The grant is an additional allocation for relief work related to the tsunami, which is being coordinated by Church World Service (CWS) and ACT International. Previous allocations to this project total $320,000.
An allocation of $60,000 continues support of longterm relief work by CWS in Sudan. The funds will help provide assistance to more than 400,000 people living in temporary camps. Two previous allocations to this project total $110,000.
An allocation of $50,000 responds to an appeal from CWS following an earthquake in Java, Indonesia. Funds will help provide food, water, shelter, sanitation, and health and medical services, as well as disaster preparedness and advocacy.
In other grants, $5,000 has been given for a CWS appeal after summer storms caused flooding and damage in many states along the east coast of the US; $4,000 is providing emergency food following drought and crop failures in Tanzania, in response to a CWS appeal; and $2,400 continues support for work by the Church of the Brethren Emergency Response program after landslides and floods affected a village in Guatemala.
In other disaster relief news from the Church of the Brethren, the Brethren Disaster Response program is continuing two projects to repair and rebuild homes following hurricanes in 2004 and 2005. A project in Lucedale, Miss., opened in mid-January, repairing and rebuilding homes damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Since the project opened, nearly 200 volunteers have built four new homes and repaired and cleaned up more than 30 others. Another home rebuilding project continues in Pensacola, Fla., following Hurricane Ivan in Sept. 2004 and Hurricane Dennis in July 2005.
In addition, the program is developing two new home repair and rebuilding project sites, and is considering the feasibility of a modular home project in the area affected by Hurricane Katrina, with the assembly site in southern Virginia. A longterm goal of the program "is to build one new house a week and repair three," said Jane Yount, coordinator for Brethren Disaster Response.
To meet the need for additional leadership, the program is opening three positions for longterm project directors who can work for five or more months per year. A monthly stipend of $1,000 per individual or $1,500 per couple is offered.
Two trainings will be offered this fall for 30 new disaster project directors and disaster project assistants. The trainings will be hands-on events at the Florida and Mississippi project sites. The program also hopes to recruit Brethren Volunteer Service workers as disaster project assistants, site hosts, or household managers.
The additional projects will require more vehicles and heavy equipment as well, including heavy duty trucks, passenger vans and cars, and a small front loader or backhoe. Donations of equipment is being sought.
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.
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For more information contact:
Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford Director of News Services Church of the Brethren General Board 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120 800-323-8039 ext. 260 cobnews@brethren.org
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