Friday, June 20, is World Refugee Day. Please consider taking some time in your worship spaces this month to talk about refugees, to pray for their situations, and to honor their stories.
Children’s Disaster Services (CDS) has been requested to serve in St. Louis, Mo., in two shelters accommodating survivors of a massive tornado that hit the city on May 16.
Roger Schrock as former mission staff in South Sudan, Roy Winter as executive for Service Ministries and Brethren Disaster Ministries, and I traveled recently to Uganda to meet with South Sudan staff Athanasus Ungang and two of his team members* to consult on positioning for the future in South Sudan.
Brethren Disaster Ministries has directed grants from the Church of the Brethren’s Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) to fund planning for increased humanitarian needs in South Sudan; an aid program by l’Eglise des Freres au Congo (Church of the Brethren in the DR Congo) for displaced families and refugees in Burundi who have fled the M23 violence; and purchase of medicines and medical equipment for hospitals and clinics serving Palestinians displaced in Gaza City due to the Israel-Hamas war.
The 2025 Annual Conference Blood Drive will be held in the Sheraton Greensboro (N.C.) Heritage Room on Thursday, July 3, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and on Friday, July 4, from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., in partnership with the American Red Cross.
A Children’s Disaster Services (CDS) team of four volunteers (three from Iowa and one from Missouri) will provide disaster child care in Multi-Agency Resource Centers (MARCs) in areas of Missouri hit by tornadoes last week.
In this issue: Remembering Marianne Rhoades Pittman; New and Renew offers March Madness discount; prayer requests for South Sudan, those affected by severe weather, those continuing to suffer impacts of fires in southern California; truck for Uganda; “Toward COP30” webinars from the WCC; threat to the US Institute of Peace, which got its start with help from the Church of the Brethren among other religious groups
Brethren Disaster Ministries has directed grants from the Church of the Brethren’s Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) to continued support for the Nigeria Crisis Response, to aid those affected in three central African countries by the warfare in Goma and the surrounding area, to aid those affected by the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, and to aid those affected by the war in Ukraine, among others.
The Church of the Brethren has signed the “Ash Wednesday Ecumenical Declaration: Defending Refuge” as one of the Covenant Members of Church World Service (CWS).
Children’s Disaster Services (CDS) is preparing to hold three new volunteer training events in March, April, and May 2025. Upcoming CDS Volunteer Training events are as follows:
