Emergency Disaster Fund disburses six grants totaling $232,500.

Six grants totaling $232,500 have been given from the General Board's Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) for tsunami relief and work in Sudan, Arizona, Mexico, and China. Giving to the EDF in 2005 has now topped $1 million, totaling $1,036,024 as of today.

An allocation of $150,000 continues Church of the Brethren support of a Church World Service appeal for work in southern Asia following the tsunami Dec. 26. The money will provide emergency food, medical support, drinking water, and shelter, along with mental health interventions and income-generating programs. Another $30,000 will go to Service Ministries' tsunami relief efforts. As a result of this disaster, the program based at the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md., has received 330,000 pounds of Gift of the Heart kits and over 327,000 pounds of aid. The funds will help cover additional staff and volunteer expenses needed for this large response effort. Including these two grants, to date the EDF has given a total of $360,000 toward tsunami relief.

An allocation of $25,000 supports an Action by Churches Together International (ACT) appeal for repatriation, relief, and rehabilitation for displaced families returning to southern Sudan. The money will help with food production, infrastructure development in health and education, and social services and activities.

Another $10,000 supports an ACT appeal for relief work in China following snowstorms and accompanying avalanches, landslides, and mudslides. The grant will help distribute food and blankets and rebuild homes, schools, and irrigation canals for drinking water systems.

An allocation of $10,000 supports the work of Companeros en Ministerio after mudslides destroyed more than 150 homes in Tijuana, Mexico. The funds will help repair and rebuild homes and build retaining walls. The General Board's Emergency Response program and Companeros have had successful partnerships in rebuilding homes damaged by a variety of disasters, said Roy Winter, director of Emergency Response.

A grant of $7,500 supports No More Deaths, an Arizona-based multifaith coalition supplying food, water, and medical assistance to migrants crossing the Arizona desert. "Over the last six years more than 2,000 men, women, and children have died trying to cross the Mexican border into the United States. Most of these deaths occur in the brutal heat of the summer months," Winter said. "Recognizing the current militarized border enforcement strategy is a failed policy, No More Deaths determined an around-the-clock, nonviolent, humanitarian physical presence in the desert was needed." Central to the program are camps called "Arks of the Covenant," where volunteers keep water and shelter available for migrants.

The grant has the support of Brethren congregations in Arizona. "Prior to requesting this grant, the district executive of Pacific Southwest District and all of the Church of the Brethren congregations in Arizona were consulted," Winter said. "Each of the churches that responded supported a grant to No More Deaths."

In other news, the board's Disaster Response program and volunteers who worked on a rebuilding project in Poquoson, Va., were recognized by the city council in a resolution dated Dec. 13. Poquoson was devastated by Hurricane Isabel on Sept. 18, 2003. The Brethren rebuilding project completed on March 18 repaired more than 40 homes. "The Church of the Brethren Disaster Response Program volunteer teams immediately responded to the city's needs," the resolution said. "Their dedication to the highest principles of service to humanity has earned respect, praise, and admiration of the citizens of this community."

Source: 4/13/2005 Newsline
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