wfn.org | CWS Honored for Help in Rebuilding New Orleans

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

> Church World Service
> 475 Riverside Drive
> New York, New York 10115
> (212) 870-2061

First of its kind CWS project wins national award

Neighborhood: New Orleans honored by leading network of U.S. aid agencies

> Editors:  Related hi-res photos available at
> www.churchworldservice.org/hires

SALT LAKE CITY, Tuesday, May 19, 2009-- Paint is barely dry on the
homes it helped rebuild in Little Woods but already the Neighborhood:
New Orleans project has garnered a national award for New York-based
humanitarian agency Church World Service.

National Voluntary Agencies Active in Disaster chose to honor
Neighborhood: New Orleans with its 2009 Innovative Program of the Year
Award, presented at the National VOAD annual conference in Salt Lake
City.

National VOAD is a coalition of nonprofit organizations that respond to
disasters as part of their overall mission. â??We are deeply honored  to
be selected by our peers for this outstanding award, CWS Emergency
response Director Donna Derr said.  "To be honored for this project in
its first-ever installment reaffirms our philosophy that working
together we accomplish more."

The "Neighborhood: New Orleans" rebuild initiative was the first
national ecumenical volunteer effort in New Orleans, using revolving
teams from 10 different member agencies of CWS, working side by side.

CWS worked with its local partner, the Crescent Alliance Recovery
Effort to identify a neighborhood in New Orleans where recovery from
Hurricane Katrina has been sparse.

"We wanted to work in an area where, by working together under one
banner, we could return families home and accelerate a whole
neighborhoodâ??s recovery," Derr said.

CWS was among early responders to hurricanes Katrina and Rita,
providing emergency aid and equipment for schools' recovery and
assisting in the formation of long-term recovery organizations to help
the most vulnerable survivors.

Those church agencies participating in the Little Woods rebuild also
have been active in the region's recovery since the devastation. In
collaboration with CARE and Church World Service, church groups who
participated in the project include: American Baptist Churches USA, the
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Reformed World Relief
Committee, Church of the Brethren Disaster Ministries, Lutheran Disaster
Response, Mennonite Disaster Service, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the
Reformed Church in America Global Mission, the United Church of Christ,
and United Methodist Committee on Relief.

Media Contacts Lesley Crosson, Church World Service, (212) 870-2676,
media@churchworldservice.org

Jan Dragin - 24/7 - (781) 925-1526, jdragin@gis.net