The Brethren Disaster Ministries Rebuilding Program local partner in eastern Kentucky’s Letcher County to support the recovery from July 2022 flooding is HOMES, Inc. Originally a project of Mennonite Central Committee, HOMES began in the 1980s and has always focused on more than just initial disaster recovery by working to repair homes in the area and to provide affordable rental properties.
Brethren Disaster Ministries received a $5,000 UPS Long Term Recovery Grant through a partnership with the UPS Foundation and National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster.
A new rebuilding project site in Letcher County, Ky., has been announced by Brethren Disaster Ministries staff. The project will do rebuilding and repair of homes following flooding that affected the area in the summer of 2022.
Brethren Disaster Ministries staff have announced that the rebuilding project currently serving Dawson Springs, Ky., has been extended until Aug. 17, 2024. This project is rebuilding homes as part of the 2021 tornado recovery in Hopkins County. Brethren Disaster Ministries opened the project site in January 2023.
Brethren Disaster Ministries staff and volunteers celebrated house blessings for homes that the disaster rebuilding program completed last year in Kentucky. House blessings were held last summer and fall for homes completed for tornado survivors in Dawson Springs, Ky.
Brethren Disaster Ministries has directed grants from the Church of the Brethren’s Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) for a tornado response and rebuilding program in Kentucky, aid to Ukrainian refugees and others affected by the war, a hurricane response in Honduras, projects of the Church of the Brethren in the Democratic Republic of Congo, among other needs.
Brethren Disaster Ministries (BDM) staff have directed Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) grants to support grants in Lebanon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the U.S., to respond to flooding and provide assistance to asylum seekers.
These past few weeks have provided several opportunities for CDS volunteers to put their compassion, training, and servant leadership into practice.
During the week of July 25, a single storm system moved across multiple states causing flash flooding from Missouri to parts of Virginia and West Virginia. The flooding resulted in damaged homes and buildings, loss of life, and whole towns left underwater, especially in the greater St. Louis, Mo., area and a large area of southeastern Kentucky. Brethren Disaster Ministries and the Material Resources program have been responding as possible and requested.
Brethren Disaster Ministries is monitoring the situation in eastern Kentucky, where devastating flooding has resulted in tremendous need. Material Resources has sent two shipments for Church World Service.
