Material Resources staff prepare to ships pallets of CWS Emergency Cleanup Buckets.
During the month of July, 480 clean-up buckets and approximately 510 school kits were sent to aid flood relief efforts in West Virginia, shipped by the Church of the Brethren Material Resources program based at the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md. The aid was shipped on behalf of International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) in partnership with Church World Service (CWS).
Material Resources warehouses and ships disaster relief materials in collaboration with a number of partners including ecumenical partners and humanitarian aid organizations.
The IOCC has begun distribution of aid to families in need in remote areas of West Virginia, where access remains difficult due to storm damage, said a release from the organization. “More than 500 clean-up buckets with household cleaning supplies, many donated by Orthodox Christian parishes and organizations from across the country through IOCC’s kit donation program, have been delivered to a distribution center outside of Lewisburg, W.Va., and are being distributed to smaller communities in the area,” the release reported (see www.iocc.org/get-updated/newsroom/iocc-delivers-assistance-west-virginia-families ).
Material Resources also recently provided a number of donated items to a local church agency that could put them to good use. When donated items are not needed in the kits program, the staff may seek local agencies that can use the items.
“Recently, Linthicum Heights United Methodist Church has been able to make use of many of these items,” wrote Terry Goodger of the Material Resources staff. The church received donated hygiene items and shared them with Arden House that provides a safe environment for women and children in crisis, Omni House offering psychiatric and rehabilitative services for adults with mental illness, and the church’s own Heavens Kitchen program providing a meal once a month in cooperation with other churches. The meal serves 60-80 homeless people and others in need of help.
Other donated items will be going to Ferndale United Methodist Church for a program in inner city Baltimore where, on a weekly basis, volunteers serve a meal and offer other services for the homeless living in the city.
Learn more about the work of Material Resources at www.brethren.org/materialresources