wfn.org | Self-Development of People Committee Awards Nine Grants

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13-October-1998 
98327 
 
    Self-Development of People Committee 
    Awards Nine Grants 
 
    by Marianne Cashatt 
 
SAN FRANCISCO-The National Self-Development of People (SDOP) Committee 
approved nine grants totaling almost $360,000 at its Sept. 24-26 meeting 
here. 
 
    The committee approved grant proposals for $30,000 to Workers' Awaaz 
(Workers' Voice) in Long Island City, N.Y., for a workers' program to 
improve wages and working conditions; for $65,000 over two years to Jesus 
People Against Pollution in Columbia, Miss., for erecting a health clinic 
facility and providing medical assistance subsidies to those eligible; and 
$59,610 to Room at the Inn in Fort Bragg, Calif., for a daytime homeless 
shelter with social services and up to $5,000 for technical assistance. 
 
    Other grants were awarded for $35,000 to "A Home for Madera" of 
Vallecitos, N.M., to purchase and renovate a former Methodist Church for 
use as a community center; for $50,000 to Metlakatla Indian Community of 
Metlakatla, Alaska., to prepare for legal action challenging economic 
development policy decisions of the community; and for $50,000 over two 
years to Villa Evangelina Business Development Center of Manati, Puerto 
Rico., to start a center for incubating new business projects. 
 
    International grants were approved to Nyakinyua Underground Tanks Self 
Help Group in Nyakinyua, Kenya, for $14,134 to install underground tanks to 
harvest rainwater for the dry season; to Arahuka Poultry Project in Limuru, 
Kenya, for $25,540 for poultry farming; and to J. K. Education Council 
Women in Orissa, India, for $25,800 for establishment of a garment 
production factory. 
 
    In a continuing effort to acquaint themselves with the communities in 
which they meet, the committee had dialogue with Bay Area visitors. The 
Rev. Hugh Wire, Hunger Action Enabler for the presbyteries of Redwoods, San 
Francisco and San Jose, led a Bible study in which he interpreted Luke 
16:1-13 and entreated committee members to carry out their duties with 
"holy shrewdness."  The Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow, pastor of a newly developing 
Anglo-Asian congregation - Covenant Presbyterian Church - led a worship 
service emphasizing the need for humility in all endeavors. 
 
    The committee certified the following presbytery SDOP committees: 
Albany, Arkansas, Central Nebraska,  Charlotte, Eastern Oklahoma, 
Elizabeth, Giddings-Lovejoy, Greater Atlanta, Huntingdon, Lake Michigan, 
Miami, Milwaukee/Winnebago, Missouri River Valley, New Brunswick,  Peace 
River, Redwoods/San Francisco/San Jose, San Diego, Shenango, Sheppards & 
Lapsley, Susquehanna Valley, Sierra Mission Partnership (Sacramento, 
Stockton and Nevada) and West Virginia.  The SDOP committees of the Synod 
of The Trinity and the Synod of Southern California & Hawaii were also 
certified. 
 
    Those certified committees will now be able to make SDOP grants locally 
within their bounds. 
 
    New SDOP members Gurnie Gunter of Kansas City, Mo.; Karen Jones of 
Grand Rapids, Minn.; Kennedy McGowan of Brentwood, N.Y.; and Morris 
Stimage-Norwood of Springfield, Mass., were welcomed. 
 
(Marianne Cashatt is a retired journalist and a member of the National 
Committee on the Self-Development of People.) 

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