Staff of Brethren Disaster Ministries continue to work with district leaders to help coordinate response efforts including the collection and distribution of relief materials and donations for emergency funding–especially for the hardest-hit areas in Southeastern District. Another conference call with district leaders is planned for Friday afternoon, Oct. 11. Brethren Disaster Ministries urges church members
As media report that the death toll from Hurricane Helene has topped 200–with more than half of the deaths in western North Carolina–Brethren Disaster Ministries and Children’s Disaster Services (CDS) have begun active responses to aid survivors of the storm and its aftermath.
Church of the Brethren congregations and members are among those who have been affected by Hurricane Helene and its aftermath, especially in Southeastern District denominational staff have learned in conversation with district executives. The General Secretary’s office, Brethren Disaster Ministries, and the Ministry office have connected with leaders in the church districts covering the states where the storm was most destructive–Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.
Brethren Disaster Ministries staff have requested the following grants from the Church of the Brethren’s Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF): $10,000 for a rebuilding project in York County, Pa., following Tropical Storm Ida; $15,000 to support training models and resource development by Children’s Disaster Services (CDS) partner Child Life Disaster Relief; and $5,000 to support families connected with the Maui (Hawaii) Economic Opportunity, Inc.’s Head Start center.
A grant of $7,500 from the Church of the Brethren’s Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) has been directed by Brethren Disaster Ministries to aid 12 families in York County, Pa., who have no other means of recovery from damage by Tropical Storm Ida in 2021.
Brethren Disaster Ministries has directed grants from the Church of the Brethren’s Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) to send $100,000 to the work of Church World Service (CWS) with Ukrainian refugees, $30,000 to l’Eglise des Freres au Congo (Church of the Brethren in the Democratic Republic of Congo or DRC) to provide food aid following flooding, and $7,500 to support an epidemic relief program of ASIGLEH, the Church of the Brethren in Venezuela.
An appropriation of $143,000 from the Church of the Brethren’s Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) is being directed by Brethren Disaster Ministries for a humanitarian response to multiple crises in Haiti. The money will provide emergency food distributions at all the congregations and preaching points of l’Eglise des Freres d’Haiti (the Church of the Brethren in Haiti).
In addition to the large grant of $225,000 that extends the Nigeria Crisis Response program through 2024, the Church of the Brethren’s Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) has provided grants to various countries including a grant that will help start a new South Sudan Crisis Recovery Initiative with staff from Global Mission.
A last round of grants for the year 2023 were given from three funds of the Church of the Brethren: the Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF–support this ministry with donations at https://churchofthebrethren.givingfuel.com/bdm); the Global Food Initiative (GFI–support this ministry with donations at https://churchofthebrethren.givingfuel.com/gfi); and the Brethren Faith in Action Fund (BFIA–see www.brethren.org/faith-in-action).
Brethren Disaster Ministries has directed grants from the Church of the Brethren’s Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) to respond to multiple crises in Haiti, support continued Brethren Disaster Ministries work following 2022’s summer flooding in the central United States, aid displaced Ukrainians with disabilities, provide school kits for displaced children in the Democratic Republic of Congo, provide flood relief in Rwanda, and support a summer program for migrant children in Washington, D.C.
