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.
Brethren Disaster Ministries
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.
Children’s Disaster Services Offers Workshops in Georgia, Connecticut
Children’s Disaster Services (CDS) is holding volunteer training workshops in Georgia and Connecticut in February and March, respectively. An article about the recent–and first–CDS workshop in Connecticut is at http://canton-ct.patch.com/articles/group-learns-how-to-help-children-in-the-midst-of-a-crisis .
Volunteers Prepare $100,000 Christmas Gift for Hurricane Victims–And Set Record
On Dec. 14, 2012, 150 Brethren Disaster Relief Auction (BDRA) volunteers from the Atlantic Northeast and Southern Pennsylvania Districts assembled 1,000 Emergency Clean-up Buckets for victims of Hurricane Sandy at Florin Church of the Brethren in Mt. Joy, Pa.–and they did it in 60 minutes.
Fund Makes Grants to Start New Brethren Disaster Project, Aid Congolese Refugees
Grants from the Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) have been given to start a Brethren Disaster Ministries rebuilding site in southeastern Indiana, and to help a church group aid Congolese refugees fleeing violence.
Brethren Disaster Ministries Celebrates with Pulaski
Brethren Disaster Ministries started its Pulaski, Va., project site in August last year. Since then, several hundred volunteers have helped rebuild what two tornadoes tore down.
Bezon to Retire from Leadership of Children’s Disaster Services
Judy Bezon Braune has announced her retirement as associate director of Children’s Disaster Services (CDS) as of the end of the year. She has led CDS for five years, having started in the position in Sept. 2007.