Children’s Disaster Services readies team to go to Oklahoma; Brethren urged to support the work of child care volunteers through donations to the EDF.
Brethren Disaster Ministries
BDM Directs Grants to Support Rebuilding in New York, Send Canned Chicken to the Caribbean
Brethren Disaster Ministries staff are directing grant money to support a continuing home rebuilding effort in New York State following flooding caused by Hurricane Irene in 2011, and a church effort to distribute canned chicken in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
Brethren Disaster Ministries Trains Project Leaders for 2013
On April 23, I traveled to Prattsville, N.Y., to undergo training to become a Disaster Project Leader. Disaster Project Leaders are wonderful men and women called to lead and guide volunteers who come out to Brethren Disaster Ministries rebuilding sites for a week. I was very excited to learn all that happened behind the scenes to keep the project sites running.
Dinner Celebrates Completion of Prattsville, N.Y., Rebuilding Project
On May 1, more than 75 people gathered at Prattsville Community Church in the New York Catskills to celebrate all the work Brethren Disaster Ministries volunteers have done. Delicious dinner and desserts were provided by the church and community for volunteers and homeowners.
Children’s Disaster Services to Work in Boston Following Bombing
A team from Children’s Disaster Services (CDS) is traveling to Boston to help care for children and family affected by the bombings at the Boston Marathon.
Children’s Disaster Services Offers Training Workshop in New England
Children’s Disaster Services is offering a New England training workshop on May 3-4 in Litchfield, Conn., at Friendship Baptist Church. This is one of a series of CDS workshops in Connecticut. The workshops in Connecticut after this will give state residents priority, but for this workshop registration numbers are unlimited.
Disaster and Mission Staff Offer Support After Fire in South Sudan Village
Staff of Brethren Disaster Ministries and Global Mission and Service have offered support to South Sudanese villagers affected by a recent fire, through a grant from the denomination’s Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF). Other recent disaster relief grants have gone to Church World Service work at a refugee camp in Thailand, and areas of southern states in the US affected by recent storms.
Brethren Disaster Ministries Names Advisory Group, Seeks Input to Survey
More than 700 people already have responded to a new online survey about the work of Brethren Disaster Ministries. “We want your feedback!” said an announcement of the survey from Brethren Disaster Ministries and Children’s Disaster Services. Take the survey at www.brethren.org/BDMsurvey .
Major US Ecumenical Organizations Restructure
Two long-standing ecumenical bodies in the United States–the National Council of Churches (NCC) and Church World Service (CWS)–have undergone restructuring and re-envisioning in recent months. The NCC began a plan for re-envisioning and restructuring last fall including elimination of administrative positions on the staff and a move away from historic headquarters in New York. CWS, which formerly shared the same general assembly as the NCC, has instituted a new governing structure that is independent of denominational representation. CWS is the primary means through which Brethren Disaster Ministries extends its work internationally.
Prattsville Rebuilding Project Expands to Schoharie, N.Y.
A Brethren Disaster Ministries home rebuilding and repair project in Prattsville, N.Y., is expanding into a nearby location, the town of Schoharie. The New York State project was established in response to the flooding of homes by Hurricane Irene, and is supported through donations to the Emergency Disaster Fund.