wfn.org | Newsline: Brethren send two shipments of food to Haiti

[Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford <CBrumbaugh-Cayford@brethren.org>]

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

CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN SENDS TWO SHIPMENTS OF FOOD TO HAITI

(Aug. 3, 2009) Elgin, IL -- Two containers of food and supplies have been s hipped to help children and others in Haiti this summer, through the work o f Brethren Disaster Ministries and the Church of the Brethren's Material Re sources program at the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md.

The container shipments are part of an ongoing disaster relief and rebuildi ng project of Brethren Disaster Ministries and the Church of the Brethren m ission in Haiti. The shipments support the work of several organizations se rving children in Haiti, including the Church of the Brethren mission; SELE EG, an organization of pastors in the city of Gonaives; the Eben-Ezer Missi on in Gonaives; and the organization Feed My Starving Children, which suppl ied the food for the first shipment.

The first shipment arrived in Haiti in April and cleared customs in May. It  included nutritionally balanced food packets to use in schools and church  programs for children, reported Roy Winter, executive director of Brethren  Disaster Ministries. "Feed My Starving Children donated the food, we provid ed shipping from Illinois to Gonaives. This was a direct request from the p astors group in Gonaives--SELEEG.... This food is designed to be served as  hot meals for the children while at school. That way we know they are getti ng the food."

A second shipment in June included medical supplies for the hospital and cl inic in Gonaives and canned chicken provided by the Meat Canning Committee  of the Church of the Brethren's Southern Pennsylvania and Mid-Atlantic Dist ricts. The canned meat from the districts was shipped by Brethren Disaster  Ministries, and is intended for distribution by the Church of the Brethren  mission in Haiti. The distribution will be coordinated by mission coordinat or Ludovic St. Fleur.

Michel Morisset, pastor of the Eben-Ezer Mission, responded to the shipment  of food with a thank you letter by e-mail. "In the name of SELEEG and Eben -Ezer Mission, we wish to thank you for the food donation," he wrote. He re ported that SELEEG's board held a meeting to plan for the distribution of t he food among its members (churches, church organizations, orphans, schools , etc.), and that the distribution began on June 23.

"Many people are happy," his e-mail concluded.

The Church of the Brethren's Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) recently gave a  major grant of $65,000 to continue support for the work in Haiti. Previous  grants to this project total $305,000.

The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination committed to continu ing 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 t raditions and is one of the three Historic Peace Churches. It celebrated it s 300th anniversary in 2008. It counts some 125,000 members across the Unit ed 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