The Camp Fire in Butte County in northern California overran the town of Paradise and other smaller communities on Thursday, Nov. 8. Lost in the fire were all of the buildings on the property of Paradise Church of the Brethren, which includes the main church facility and sanctuary, the parsonage, a youth building, and two rental cottages.
A series of volunteer training workshops will be offered by Children’s Disaster Services (CDS) in early 2019. Cost to attend one of these workshops, where potential volunteers are trained to serve with CDS, is $45 for early registration or $55 for registrations mailed less than three weeks before the event. CDS volunteers receiving retraining pay
Three new grants from Church of the Brethren funds will aid projects in Honduras, Indonesia, and Haiti, responding to disasters and assisting training for farmers. Two of the grants come from the denomination’s Emergency Disaster Fund. The most recent provides $18,000 in emergency relief for Honduras, which suffered severe flash flooding in its southern region
Brethren Disaster Ministries and Children’s Disaster Services work in Florida, North Carolina, Haiti, Texas, the US Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico
The Church of the Brethren Emergency Disaster Fund has issued a major grant for the Nigeria Crisis Response and a smaller one to assist with tornado recovery efforts in Iowa.
Brethren Disaster Ministries (BDM) and its associated programs have monitored Hurricane Florence’s advance toward the United States and begun response efforts following the hurricane’s landfall on the North Carolina coast.
The Church of the Brethren Emergency Disaster Fund has made several recent allocations, supporting efforts on the Texas border and refugee work in the Middle East.
Global Food Initiative grants, summer 2018.
Children’s Disaster Services (CDS) over this past weekend sent a team of volunteers to work at the Catholic Charities Rio Grande Valley Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen, Texas. In the first two days, the team served more than 150 children.
Brethren Disaster Ministries is working with Puerto Rico District to plan its response following last year’s hurricanes. An allocation of $200,000 from the Church of the Brethren’s Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) has been approved by the denomination’s Mission and Ministry Board to provide funding for the effort.
