From the Worldwide Faith News archives www.wfn.org


Newsline: Church of the Brethren leaders make trip to Gulf coast


From "COBNews Newsline" <cobnews@brethren.org>
Date Thu, 15 Feb 2007 14:48:47 -0600

Title: Church of the Brethren leaders make trip to Gulf coast Feb. 15, 2007 Church of the Brethren News Service Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford, News Director 800-323-8039 ext. 260 -- cobnews@brethren.org

CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN LEADERS MAKE TRIP TO GULF

COAST

(Feb. 15, 2007) Elgin, IL -- The entire Executive Committee of the Church of the Brethren General Board is visiting Gulf coast areas affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, on a trip planned for Feb. 15- 17.

The group will meet with survivors, disaster relief volunteers, and staff of local longterm recovery organizations, and will visit the Disaster Child Care site at FEMA's Welcome Home Center in New Orleans, as well as the Brethren Disaster Response rebuilding sites in Pearl River and St. Bernard Parish in Louisiana, and in Lucedale, Miss.

The trip was organized to provide the Executive Committee with a broad overview of the church's Emergency Response program, and to prompt discussion of key issues related to disaster response and recovery.

The Executive Committee includes chair Jeff Neuman-Lee of Denver, Colo.; vice-chair Timothy P. Harvey, a pastor in Roanoke, Va.; Dale Minnich of Moundridge, Kan.; Vickie Whitacre Samland of Edgewater, Colo.; Ken Wenger of ; and Angela Lahman Yoder of Peoria, Ariz. The group will be accompanied by denominational staff members Emergency Response director Roy Winter and associate director Zach Wolgemuth, and Identity and Relations director Becky Ullom.

The trip will begin in New Orleans, where in addition to visiting the Disaster Child Care project, the group also will tour the hurricane- ravaged Lower Ninth Ward.

The tour will continue with visits to Brethren Disaster Response projects in Pearl River, St. Bernard Parish, and Lucedale--where a highlight will be participating in a house dedication. A night will be spent in FEMA trailers that house volunteers working in Pearl River.

The trip will end in Florida with a visit to the offices of Rebuild Northwest Florida; Brethren Disaster Response recently concluded a project in Pensacola.

Executive Committee members Wenger and Minnich were able to travel to the area in advance of the group to spend time working at one of the Brethren Disaster Response projects.

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 Nigeria, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and India.

# # #

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

********************************************************** To receive Church of the Brethren news via an e-mail list serv, go to http://listserver.emountain.net/mailman/listinfo/newsline


Browse month . . . Browse month (sort by Source) . . . Advanced Search & Browse . . . WFN Home