Disaster grants fund storm relief, aid Sudan and Sierra Leone.

A total of $55,000 in grants from the General Board's Emergency Disaster Fund have been given to storm relief efforts and to aid Sudan and Sierra Leone.

A grant of $20,000 will continue funding a long-term Emergency Response project in Poquoson, Va. The repair and rebuilding project was begun following Hurricane Isabel, which caused extensive coastal damage in Sept. 2003. The project is expected to continue into 2005.

In the aftermath of a multitude of spring storms and extreme weather across the US, an allocation of $10,000 supports a Church World Service (CWS) appeal for aid. Since April, 520 tornadoes have caused deaths and injuries in 14 states and Puerto Rico, and widespread damage including the destruction of homes, power outages, flooding, and thousands of tons of debris. The spring storms relief effort also includes shipments of supplies from the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md., and a grant of $5,000 to fund Disaster Child Care in affected areas. The child care program has deployed volunteers in Nebraska, following a tornado in Hallam, and in West Virginia where four counties—Mingo, Raleigh, Wyoming, and Logan—have had repeated flood damage.

Another $5,000 has been given to open a flood recovery project in Greenbrief County, W.Va. Last November, storms again flooded numerous communities that already had suffered multiple floods in less than two years. About 19 families currently await assistance from the Brethren volunteers who are doing repair work, Emergency Response staff reported.

The Church of the Brethren has responded to an appeal for Sudan with $15,000 to help displaced people in the Darfur region with food, medicine, water, and agricultural training. Sudan is holding peace talks to end its civil war but continues to experience violence. "One of the worst humanitarian crises in Africa has been unfolding in Darfur," according to the appeal from CWS, which said that the area has suffered systematic killings, the burning of villages, and human rights violations by militias tied to the government.

The Brethren fund also is supporting civil war recovery in Sierra Leone, sending $10,000 to a community empowerment and sensitization project for children, youth, and young workers. Following a decade-long civil war, the grant will support a program combining education, food production, and skills and management training as an alternative to armed conflict.

Source: 6/18/2004 Newsline
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