Brethren Disaster Ministries has directed a grant of $25,000 from the Church of the Brethren’s Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) to support the Church World Service response to the surge of unaccompanied child refugees entering the United States.
Brethren Disaster Ministries
CWS Announces Efforts for Unaccompanied Child Refugees, Faith Leaders and Immigrant Activists to Protest Deportations
Church World Service is involved in an action of civil disobedience at the White House this week, as the Congress and US administration consider expediting deportations of refugee children. Also, CWS has announced a number of ways it is working to aid the refugee children, and is asking supporters to call Congress to urge passage of a “clean” supplemental funding bill responding to the situation of unaccompanied children fleeing violence in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. CWS is a longstanding ecumenical humanitarian organization, of which the Church of the Brethren is a member denomination.
Resolution Supports Nigerian Brethren, Invites Worldwide Community of Brethren to a Week of Fasting and Prayer
Annual Conference delegates voted Saturday in favor of a resolution indicating solidarity with Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria). The resolution comes as the Nigerian Brethren endure turmoil in their country.
James Risser to Serve as Director of Brethren Disaster Ministries
James K. (Jamie) Risser of Sterling, Va., will begin on July 1 as director of Brethren Disaster Ministries, working with Roy Winter, associate executive director of Global Mission and Service. Risser will work out of offices located at the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md.
Disaster Staff Direct Grants Totaling $74,000 to Flood Relief in Afghanistan and the Balkans, Response to Spring Storms in US
In four grants from the Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF), Brethren Disaster Ministries staff have directed a total of $74,000 to relief efforts following floods and landslides in Afghanistan, flooding and landslides in Balkan nations, and spring storms in the United States.
Brethren Disaster Ministries Directs $175,000 in EDF Grants to the Philippines
The Brethren Disaster Ministries staff are directing three grants totaling $175,000 to rehabilitation and livelihoods work in the Philippines. The grants from the denomination’s Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) follow up on the devastation caused by Typhoon Haiyan in Nov. 2013. The grants will support Heifer International livelihoods work on the island of Leyte, Lutheran World Relief livelihoods work on the islands of Cebu and Leyte, and rehabilitation work by a Filipino nonprofit organization in the coastal community of Tanauan, Leyte.
Church of the Brethren Chief Executives Join CWS at Gathering to Strengthen Ties for Work Together
“CWS is about our members, partners, and a myriad of colleagues working together, as institutions and as coalitions, but even more, as people. That is the vision of our faith and our values.”
Children’s Disaster Services Begins New Collaboration with Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Disciples Home Missions (DHM), Week of Compassion, and the National Benevolent Association of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), are collaborating with the Church of the Brethren Children’s Disaster Services (CDS) to create a new position and initiative that will help meet the needs of children affected by disaster.
Children’s Disaster Services Responds to Washington Mudslide
Children’s Disaster Services (CDS) deployed seven volunteers in response to the catastrophic mudslide in Snohomish County, Wash. CDS is a program of Brethren Disaster Ministries. The CDS team served in Darrington, a community near the slide location. The response ended Sunday, April 6, having made a total of 83 child contacts, according to CDS associate director Kathy Fry-Miller.
General Secretary, Mission and Service Executive Visit with Brethren in Nigeria
Church of the Brethren general secretary Stanley J. Noffsinger has visited Nigeria for the Majalisa or annual meeting of Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN–the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria), with Global Mission and Service executive Jay Wittmeyer. Noffsinger wrote this e-mail report April 14 from the capital city of Abuja on the last day of the trip.