wfn.org | Brethren hunger fund makes $75,265 in grants

[COBNews@aol.com]

Date: Jan. 19, 2006
Contact: Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
V: 847/742-5100 F:  847/742-6103
E-MAIL: _CoBNews@AOL.Com_ (mailto:CoBNews@AOL.Com) 
 
GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS FUND MAKES $75,265 IN GRANTS
 
Jan. 19, 2006 (Elgin, IL) --  The Global Food Crisis Fund of the  Church of 
the Brethren General Board has made $75,265 in six grants for hunger  relief 
programs in Guatemala, Armenia, Niger, Indonesia, Zimbabwe, and the US.  The
six 
grants bring to $325,000 granted from the fund since a year ago, and a	bit 
over $750,000 over the past two years, reported fund manager Howard Royer. 
 
Royer also celebrated the giving to the fund in 2005. "Given the  emergencies

and their attendant needs of 2005, the church's giving for longterm  
development programs is quite remarkable," Royer said. 
 
An allocation of $20,265 has been given for costs for an ongoing trees,  
cisterns, and stoves program in Guatemala in 2006. The program is being
carried  
out by Church of the Brethren mission staff.
 
A grant of $15,000 will provide start-up assistance for 15 Church of the  
Brethren Foods Resource Bank growing projects in 2006. 
 
A grant of $12,000 will fund rehabilitation of the environment and  
enhancement of productivity in Zimbabwe's Zhomba area. The initiative
partners  with 
Heifer International in a three-year, agro-ecology project focused on  
reclamation, protection, and sustainable utilization of natural resources.  
Additionally, the grant will help fund work with human nutrition and food 
security with 
communities impacted by HIV/AIDS.
 
A grant of $10,000 is going for food security, economic, and social  
development work among rural women in Armenia who are heads of households.
The  
initiative joins Heifer International to help provide seeds and livestock, as
 well 
as nurturing relationships through rural women's unions. Additionally,	
"pass-on" gifts will benefit women in neighboring countries of Georgia and  
Azerbaijan.
 
An additional allocation of  $10,000 has gone for continuing food  security 
measures in West Timor in Indonesia. This follows an initial $10,000  
allocation given to Church World Service in 2005 for food security in West 
Timor.
 
An additional allocation of  $8,000 will be spent for emergency and  longterm

development work in Niger. An initial $10,000 grant was given in 2005  to a 
Church World Service appeal for the work in Niger.
 
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 Brazil, the  
Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Nigeria.
 
# # #
 
For more information contact:
 
Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
Director of News Services
Church of the  Brethren General Board
1451 Dundee Ave.
Elgin, IL 60120
847-742-5100  ext. 260
_cbrumbaugh-cayford_gb@brethren.org_ 
(mailto:cbrumbaugh-cayford_gb@brethren.org) 
 
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 director of news services for the Church of the Brethren General Board. 
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