Lisa Crouch, associate director of Children’s Disaster Services, a program within Brethren Disaster Ministries, has offered some helps and hints for talking with children about the situation in Ukraine.
A devastating outbreak of 59 confirmed tornados occurred overnight on Dec. 10 to 11 in the central US, followed by powerful storms on Dec. 15. District Disaster Response Coordinators (DDCs) from the affected Church of the Brethren districts–Illinois and Wisconsin, Missouri and Arkansas, Northern Plains, Southern Ohio and Kentucky, and Western Plains–report little to no damage in the communities with Church of the Brethren congregations.
The author of this year’s Advent devotional from Brethren Press, Angela Finet, has prepared a free, downloadable prayer and Bible study guide for use by small groups. In another special offer from Brethren Press, there is a discounted price for those who pre-order the new children’s book about Children’s Disaster Services titled Maria’s Kit of Comfort.
The month of September has been a busy one for Children’s Disaster Services (CDS). With pandemic protocols in place, CDS volunteer teams have been responding to many requests to serve.
respond to Hurricane Ida and to provide care for children of Afghan evacuees, after a busy few weeks monitoring several deployment possibilities as well as preparing for multiple trainings to continue to prepare volunteers to respond to the special needs of children in disaster and trauma-related situations.
Children’s Disaster Services (CDS) is announcing its first volunteer training workshops since pandemic restrictions started last year. At this time, three events have been announced:
The Children’s Disaster Services (CDS) team serving at the Surfside building collapse in Florida returned home after a six-day deployment, due to low numbers of children in the facilities.
Children’s Disaster Services (CDS) has deployed a Critical Response Childcare team to Surfside, Fla., to serve families affected by the heartbreaking building collapse that occurred in the early morning hours of June 24. More than 150 people are still missing and the current official death toll is 11.
In updates from Brethren Disaster Ministries and Children’s Disaster Services (CDS), the rebuilding project site in North Carolina has been closed, with the prospect of reopening the site this fall. CDS has sent a second volunteer team to Texas to work with migrant children and families at the border
Brethren Disaster Ministries has directed grants from the Church of the Brethren Emergency Disaster Fund to COVID-19 response in Nigeria through Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria) and the worldwide COVID response by Church World Service (CWS). Another grant supports CWS relief work in Indonesia and Timor-Leste following flooding. A grant also has been given to support a humanitarian response at the southern US border by Children’s Disaster Services (CDS).