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| Photo by ACT |
| A Syrian family displaced by the violence in their home country lives in a refugee camp in Iraq, in this photo from the ACT Alliance. |
A grant of $100,000 from the Emergency Disaster Fund is being prepared by Brethren Disaster Ministries, to go to the ACT Alliance for the humanitarian crisis in and around Syria.
Brethren Disaster Ministries is challenging the Church of the Brethren and its members to provide additional resources to expand the Brethren support of this response. To give to this response online, go to www.brethren.org/edf ; or send to Emergency Disaster Fund, Church of the Brethren, 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120.
“As the civil war in Syria extends into its third year, the resulting humanitarian crisis has resulted in more than 4,000,000 internally displaced people in Syria and nearly 2,000,000 refugees that have fled to Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey and northern Africa countries,” writes Roy Winter, associate executive director of Brethren Disaster Ministries and Global Mission and Service.
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| Photo by ACT/Paul Jeffrey |
| Syrian women in a refugee camp in Jordan. |
“Those trying to live inside Syria have been displaced multiple times as they flee the violence. Those traveling to other countries are experiencing a growing intolerance and resentment from their host countries. Recent developments including use of chemical weapons are one of several indicators of an increasing severity of the conflict. The result is a humanitarian crisis that ACT Alliance defines as both a mega and protracted emergency.”
The ACT Alliance has been helping coordinate humanitarian aid since the Syrian civil conflict began. Implementing partners include the International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC), Lutheran World Federation, Finn Church Aid, the Middle East Council of Churches, and Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe (the Evangelical Church in Germany). Brethren Disaster Ministries intends half of this initial grant of $100,000 to support the IOCC work in Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon, with half designated to be applied where it may be needed most.
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| Photo by ACT/Wayne de Jong |
| One of the food packages distributed to refugees in Lebanon, through the work of the ACT Alliance |
The ACT Alliance response prioritizes food, water, safe sanitation, shelter, household supplies, education, and psychosocial interventions. The Brethren grant will help provide aid to 55,700 people displaced in Syria, 326,205 Syrian refugees in Jordan, 9,200 refugees in Turkey, and 40,966 refugees in Lebanon. Goals include providing direct aid to more than 432,000 Syrian people throughout the next year.
Support the aid to Syrian refugees with a donation to the Emergency Disaster Fund, either online at www.brethren.org/edf or by mail to Emergency Disaster Fund, Church of the Brethren, 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120.