In two new efforts related to Church World Service (CWS) work for refugees, immigrants, migrants, and most recently Afghan evacuees, the ecumenical humanitarian organization has announced “Together We Welcome: A National Faith Gathering to Strengthen Support for Refugees, Immigrants and Migrants” and a new “Welcome Backpack” kit.
Monday of this week was the busiest day at the Material Resources warehouse in years. Staff unloaded 1 trailer from Ohio, 4 trailers from Wisconsin, 1 trailer from Pennsylvania, 3 U-Haul trucks from Pennsylvania, and quite a few cars, pickup trucks, and a church bus filled with donations for Lutheran World Relief.
Ilexene Alphonse, pastor of Eglise des Freres Haitiens, a Haitian Brethren congregation in Miami, Fla.; Jenn Dorsch-Messler, director of Brethren Disaster Ministries; and Eric Miller, co-executive director for Global Mission traveled to Saut Mathurine in southwest Haiti in the second week of September.
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.
Brethren Disaster Ministries has directed $125,000 in grants from the Church of the Brethren’s Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) to relief efforts following the earthquake that hit southern Haiti on Aug. 14.
reres d’Haiti (the Church of the Brethren in Haiti) this week met and traveled to the area of southern Haiti most affected by the recent earthquake. The trip was to identify emergency needs and possible response by the church.
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.
Brethren Disaster Ministries staff have directed a grant of $15,000 from the Church of the Brethren’s Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) to the Rwanda Church of the Brethren. The grant will be used to help families who have been displaced by the eruption of the Mount Nyiragongo volcano. In related news, an EDF grant of $20,000–representing a donation from The Meat Canning Committee of the Church of the Brethren districts of Southern Pennsylvania and Mid-Atlantic–has been given to Proyecto Aldea Global (PAG) in Honduras for a chicken-raising project to aid survivors of Hurricanes Iota and Eta.
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
The Church of the Brethren’s Material Resources director Loretta Wolf has issued a plea for more donations of Church World Service (CWS) disaster relief kits. The Material Resources staff process, warehouse, and ship disaster relief materials and other goods working out of the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md.
