Grants support continuing hurricane response, aid to Iraqis.

Seven grants totaling $116,000 have been given from two funds of the Church of the Brethren General Board. The grants from the Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) and the Global Food Crisis Fund (GFCF) support continuing rebuilding following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, aid to Iraqis affected by the war, support to Church World Service (CWS), and other disaster and hunger relief efforts.

An EDF allocation of $25,000 through CWS supports vulnerable Iraqis both in Iraq and those who have been displaced by the war. The funds will help provide nutrition, water, and sanitation, along with shipping and medical supplies and a children’s program.

The Brethren Disaster Ministries program received an additional allocation of $25,000 from the EDF to support its Hurricane Katrina rebuilding site in Chalmette, La. The funds will continue to provide travel expenses for disaster volunteers, leadership training, tools and equipment, food and housing, and some building supplies.

An EDF grant of $22,000 will help the CWS Disaster Response and Recovery Liaison team’s shift to an Emergency Response Specialist program. The funds help provide longterm recovery and aid to vulnerable communities through this newly permanent program.

A GFCF grant of $15,000 will support a water filtering system in Iraq. The allocation assists Norwegian Church Aid in equipping a hospital in Abu Al-Khasib, Iraq, with a water filtering system to provide clean water for the 85-bed hospital, as well as the area’s 200,000 residents.

A grant of $15,000 from the GFCF will go the Democratic Republic of the Congo where the money will assist CWS through Action by Churches Together to underwrite the cost of rehabilitating 15 of 40 wells. The effort will help bring safe drinking water to 8,000 households.

The sum of $10,000 from the EDF responds to a CWS appeal for southeastern Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma. Flooding began there in late June, and the area has been further contaminated by an oil spill. The funds will help provide protective clothing and respirators for volunteers.

An EDF allocation of $4,000 supports the Southeast Texas Interfaith Organization, an interfaith and interracial coalition of congregations and faith-based service organizations assisting survivors of Hurricane Rita in southeast Texas. The grant will support ongoing disaster response operations at the Port Arthur Recovery Project that is managed by the organization.

Source: 08/29/2007 Newsline Extra