Updates

Children’s Disaster Services (CDS) deployed a team of three volunteers to Oak Park, Ill., to aid children and families among asylum seekers who have been sent to Chicago from the southern border of Texas. The team served from Monday, Nov. 6, to Thursday, Nov. 9, caring for 51 children.

On Oct. 28, Children’s Disaster Services (CDS) deployed a team of five Critical Response Childcare volunteers to Lewiston, Maine, in partnership with the Red Cross. This deployment was made in response to the mass shootings at two locations in Lewiston in which 18 people were killed and 13 others were injured.

Brethren Disaster Ministries has directed grants from the Church of the Brethren’s Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) to respond to multiple crises in Haiti, support continued Brethren Disaster Ministries work following 2022’s summer flooding in the central United States, aid displaced Ukrainians with disabilities, provide school kits for displaced children in the Democratic Republic of Congo, provide flood relief in Rwanda, and support a summer program for migrant children in Washington, D.C.

Talatu Ali has been reunited with her family, along with three of the four children she gave birth to during her 10 years of captivity. She was rescued by the Nigerian military, from the Gavva area of Gwoza Local Government, Borno State, during an operation in which 21 people were rescued including women and children who were mostly trapped in the area by Boko Haram.

Children’s Disaster Services (CDS) has deployed another team to Hawaii in partnership with the Red Cross. The volunteers traveled to Maui on Sept. 4-5.

The Church of the Brethren’s Children’s Disaster services (CDS) has deployed volunteers to Hawaii in partnership with the Red Cross. The volunteers traveled on Aug. 14-15. They have set up a Children’s Disaster Services Center in a Family Assistance Center in Lahaina, on the island of Maui. The volunteers are scheduled to serve through Sept. 4.

The Annual Conference office is calling for more volunteers to staff the silent auction taking place during the event in Cincinnati, Ohio, next week. The silent auction is sponsored by the Program and Arrangements Committee for the Conference.

Children’s Disaster services (CDS) has deployed a team of six volunteers to Guam in partnership with the Red Cross. The first volunteer traveled on June 12, and the full team will be in place by June 16.

Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria) has successfully conducted her annual General Church Council or Majalisa on May 16-19 at its Headquarters located at Kwarhi, Hong Local Government Area, Adamawa State. In attendance were over 1,750, all pastors (serving and retired), delegates from Local Church Councils, representatives of programs and institutions, and observers.

The Brethren Disaster Ministries leadership seminar held May 14-17 at Camp Blue Diamond in Petersburg, Pa., brought together staff, district disaster coordinators (DDCs), and disaster project leaders (DPLs) to review and renew the rebuilding program.