Disaster Grants Go to South Sudan, Honduras

Brethren Disaster Ministries has directed grants from the church’s Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) to the needs of people displaced by armed conflict in South Sudan, and to people threatened by food insecurity after Honduras declared a state of national emergency due to a disease affecting the coffee harvest.

An allocation of $15,000 responds to an appeal from ACT Alliance following heavy armed fighting that began in Dec. 2013 in South Sudan, resulting in the displacement of up to 194,000 people. Many of the displaced are seen in the Torit area of the Eastern Equatorial State, where the Church of the Brethren’s Global Mission and Service is active with two mission workers and several partnerships. Additional grants are anticipated in the future to support the response efforts organized by Global Mission staff and volunteers. The grant will help to provide emergency food, water, sanitation, and household supplies to families displaced inside South Sudan.

An allocation of $10,000 responds to a Church World Service (CWS) appeal following the declaration of a national emergency in Honduras due to the worst Coffee Rust plague since 1976. The grant will support CWS partnering with the Mennonite Social Action Commission of Honduras to assist 200 families at very high risk of food insecurity. The families will be provided with vegetable seeds, plantain trees, aquaculture, chicken coops, and help with improving agro-livestock production, agricultural inputs, nutritional education, access to alternative livelihoods, and on-site technical assistance.

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