FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CHURCH WORLD SERVICE ISSUES NATIONAL PLEA FOR CONTRIBUTIONS OF KIDS†™ SCHOOL KITS
Toll of Recent Disasters Strains Global Agencyâs Emergency Kit Reserves
NEW YORK - Mon April 23, 2007-- The demands of disasters like Hurricane Katrina, the Pakistan earthquake, and more recent events including floods in Jakarta, Indonesia, and spring storms and flooding in the U.S. are taking a toll on inventories of one of the staples of relief aid- emergency kits.
The drain is prompting international humanitarian agency Church World Service (CWS) to issue a call nationally, specifically for contributions of childrenâs school kits.
The school kits- colorful tote bags holding basic school supplies such as notebooks, pencils, blunt scissors, crayons and rulers- are contributed by individuals and groups around the U.S., then shipped in quantity by Church World Service to schoolchildren in need domestically and worldwide.
âWeâre urgently appealing for donations of school kits now, to be received in time for our spring kit collection schedule throughout the Northeastern states and, nationally for collections later in the year,â says William Wildey, Church World Service Director of Resource Development.
Last year, Church World Service distributed more than 77,800 school kits in ten countries and eleven states across the U.S., and more than 267,000 different kinds of relief kits in all last year.
But the agencyâs Emergency Response Program Associate Director Linda Reed Brown says, âWorld needs have been extreme the past couple of years consuming a great deal of our inventory. Some weeks ago, we could have shipped 300 school kits to tornado-ravaged Dumas, Arkansas, but the low reserve wouldnât allow us to do so.â
Church World Service Kit collection projects are a grassroots phenomenon across the U.S., spearheaded by church and other volunteer groups throughout the year and particularly following disasters. CWS requests kits designed to fill very specific needs in an emergency situation, including school kits, baby kits, health or personal hygiene kits, and emergency cleanup kits.
And, while the personal-sized kits are a relatively small part of the emergency relief, sustainable development and refugee services that the sixty-year-old agency provides worldwide, the small packages are a boon to people caught in the throes of disaster.
In 2003 at the outbreak of war with Iraq, groups across the U.S. rallied to collect materials for CWS health and school kits, donating them by the thousands to Church World Service for Iraqis suffering from the conflict.
âSome church groups have year-long Church World Service kit projects that have been going on for years,â says Wildey.
âWeâre inviting groups that have participated in kit collections in the past to get together again and join us in responding to this immediate need,â he said, âand weâre inviting churches, temples, school or youth organizations whoâd like to engage in kits projects for the first time to hop on the bandwagon now.â
Practical kit gifts âmeant a lot to the self esteemâ of Louisianaâs Katrina kids:
Following hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Church World Service sent $110,000 in school kits to badly damaged schools in Louisiana and Mississippi.
At Abbeville, Louisiana's, Forked Island-E. Broussard School, principal Chris St. Romain said that even five months after Katrina hit, colorful bags filled with school supplies for his students-- more than half of whom were qualifying for free lunches even before the hurricane-- were âa practical and welcome treat. The school kits from Church World Service meant a lot to our kids' sense of self-esteem," he said.
Each Church World Service school kit is a $13 value, and the agency asks that contributors separately send to Church World Service $2 per kit for processing and shipping.
Individuals and
groups wanting to find out about possible CWS kit drop-off locations and collection schedule deadlines in their area can call Church World Service (toll free): (888) 297-2767.
Individuals or families wishing to contribute and ship school kit materials or other Church World Service kits directly to the agency can find specific contents, packaging and shipping instructions at: http://www.churchworldservice.org/kits/school-kits.html.
Media Contacts:
Lesley Crosson/ Church World Service, (212) 870-2676, lcrosson@churchworldservice.org Jan Dragin - 24/7 - (781) 925-1526, jdragin@gis.net
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