Newsline: Childrens Disaster Services cares for children affected by tornadoes, floods

[CoBNews <CoBNews@brethren.org>]

Newsline: Church of the Brethren News Service, News Director Cheryl
Brumbaugh-Cayford, 800-323-8039 ext. 260, cobnews@brethren.org

Children's Disaster Services cares for children in Alabama, receives requests 
from Mississippi and Tennessee

(May 11, 2011) Elgin, IL -- Just when Children's Disaster Services (CDS) is 
finishing a response to a devastating tornado in Tuscaloosa, Ala., new requests 
for services keep arriving, reports LethaJoy Martin of the CDS office.

CDS has been responding at the Belk Center Park Recreation Building shelter in 
Tuscaloosa, Ala. Six CDS volunteers initially arrived on April 29, and eight 
volunteers have served at the shelter so far. As of yesterday, the CDS 
volunteers had cared for 126 child contacts. 

"They did a fantastic job of getting on the child's level, listening to them, 
hearing how their homes were destroyed, how they had to go into a closet and 
were afraid," Martin said. "CDS volunteers are a calming presence in the midst 
of chaos for these children. One little boy had a very difficult time settling 
down, but when one of our male volunteers arrived, this little boy went right 
to him and calmed down. He felt safe."

The additional requests for Children's Disaster Services volunteers span a 
number of states affected by the recent tornado outbreak or the Mississippi 
River flooding, or both--from Missouri and Illinois to Tennessee and 
Mississippi.

In Cleveland, Tenn., which is recovering from the devastating effects of a 
tornado, a partner agency has requested CDS to care for children of parents 
coming in to a large distribution center where they can pick up necessities and 
items to start rebuilding their lives. "This is a different type of request for 
CDS and we are sending leadership to further evaluate the situation," Martin 
said.

At the request of the American Red Cross and in response to flooding in 
Mississippi, the program has volunteers standing by to staff CDS centers in 
three very large shelters in the state. The CDS teams are ready to serve when 
the shelters are operational. 

"Children's Disaster Volunteers are wonderful!" Martin commented. "When the 
call goes out, they respond." 

For more about Children's Disaster Services, go to www.brethren.org/cds.

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
celebrated its 300th anniversary in 2008. It counts some 123,000 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
>1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120
>800-323-8039 ext. 260
>cobnews@brethren.org