Brethren Disaster Ministries (BDM) and its associated programs have monitored Hurricane Florence’s advance toward the United States and begun response efforts following the hurricane’s landfall on the North Carolina coast.
The Church of the Brethren Emergency Disaster Fund has made several recent allocations, supporting efforts on the Texas border and refugee work in the Middle East.
Dates for the next workcamp in Nigeria are Nov. 2-19, sponsored by the Church of the Brethren Global Mission and Service. American Brethren and others who are interested in joining in a workcamp with members of Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria) are invited to consider this opportunity.
Children’s Disaster Services (CDS) over this past weekend sent a team of volunteers to work at the Catholic Charities Rio Grande Valley Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen, Texas. In the first two days, the team served more than 150 children.
Church World Service (CWS) has put together an extensive online resource titled “Interfaith Toolkit to End Family Separation and Keep Families Together.” The Church of the Brethren is a member denomination of Church World Service, and partners with CWS through Brethren Disaster Ministries. CWS has worked for decades with refugee resettlement and support for migrants.
Children’s Disaster Services (CDS) has sent a new team to Hawaii to continue the response to the volcanic eruption that was begun by local volunteers Petie Brown and Randy Kawate. The American Red Cross had requested a CDS team to respond on the Big Island of Hawaii. The new team arrived at the Pahoa shelter on Wednesday, June 6.
The Centre for Caring, Empowerment, and Peace Initiatives (CCEPI) Humanitarian Analysis project tells many stories. Dr. Rebecca S. Dali started the non-governmental organization (NGO) 29 years ago, in 1989 before Boko Haram violence began to plague northern Nigeria. She started CCEPI because she herself experienced hunger, gender-based violence, and extreme poverty growing up. Her passion for those struggling to live in northeast Nigeria led Dali to provide livelihood, trauma healing, protection monitoring, as well as basic food, clothing, and shelter, and most recently re-integration of abducted women into society.
Devastated church denomination Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria) has organized a day-long Interfaith Peace Conference in Yola, the state capital of Adamawa State. President of the denomination, Joel S. Billi, spoke at the occasion urged participants from the major religions, Christians and Muslims, to be ambassadors of peace.
Kathy Fry-Miller is retiring as associate director of Children’s Disaster Services (CDS), effective Sept. 13. She began leading CDS on Feb. 1, 2014, working from her home in North Manchester, Ind., and from the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md.
Children’s Disaster Services (CDS) volunteers Petie Brown and Randy Kawate have cared for children at the shelter in Pahoa on the “Big Island” of Hawaii. The effort has aided children and families affected by the volcanic eruption that has displaced hundreds of residents.
