Title: IMA supports Brethren response to Katrina and Rita disasters June 22, 2006 Church of the Brethren News Service Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford, News Director 800-323-8039 ext. 260 -- cobnews@brethren.org
INTERCHURCH MEDICAL ASSISTANCE (IMA) SUPPORTS
BRETHREN RESPONSE TO KATRINA AND RITA DISASTERS
June 22, 2006 (Elgin, IL) -- The first-ever domestic disaster response by Interchurch Medical Assistance (IMA) has provided $19,500 for rebuilding work coordinated by the Emergency Response program of the Church of the Brethren General Board.
Created in 1960 to support overseas church-based health development and emergency response activities, IMA had never been called on to assist with a domestic disaster until Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf states. Just hours after the hurricane struck, donors began sending contributions to IMA, many of them repeat donors who had appreciated the effectiveness of IMA's assistance for the tsunami disaster in South Asia.
As the extent of the damage became evident in the days immediately following the hurricane, IMA's member relief and development agencies called on IMA to provide Medicine Boxes of emergency medicines and supplies. The boxes were placed in shelters for use by medical personnel treating the everyday health needs of displaced people. Over the course of about four months, IMA coordinated five shipments of medical products with a total value of $89,476.
As relief efforts moved into the longterm phase, medicines and medical supplies were no longer needed. But IMA's emergency fund for the Katrina disaster had not been depleted, and IMA began discussions about longterm recovery projects that needed funding.
IMA has announced that the remaining $19,500 in Katrina disaster relief funds will assist rebuilding activities under the leadership of Emergency Response. The financial support offered by IMA will help pay for building materials and their transport to the affected areas.
The Church of the Brethren response to both hurricanes collectively included deploying 128 Disaster Child Care volunteers who interacted with 3,027 children affected by the disaster; coordinating 183 volunteers who helped to clean up or repair the homes of 188 families in Alabama and Louisiana; facilitating shipments of material aid valued at $2.1 million from the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md., in collaboration with Church World Service; and providing grants totaling $257,000 for the disaster response activities.
"The disaster response work of the Church of the Brethren is well respected on all fronts," said Paul Derstine, IMA president. "IMA is diligent about staying faithful to our donors' wishes, so we're happy to be able to use their contributions for longterm recovery activities in response to the Katrina and Rita hurricane disasters. Having IMA's headquarters located at the Brethren Service Center enables us to maintain a close working relationship with Emergency Response."
IMA is a nonprofit association of 12 Protestant relief and development agencies providing assistance for overseas health programs of partner churches, faith-based development and relief organizations, and public and private agencies with similar goals. See www.interchurch.org.
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.
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For more information contact:
Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford Director of News Services Church of the Brethren General Board 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120 800-323-8039 ext. 260 cobnews@brethren.org
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