Brethren bits: Material Resources, Emergency Disaster Fund.

• The Material Resources program at the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md., has packed its last box of clothing. The program reports that Lutheran World Relief has wound down its clothing processing efforts. Material Resources continues to process, warehouse, and ship a wide variety of relief goods to areas in need around the world, including quilts, blankets, medical supplies, and all kinds of relief kits. The shipments are made on behalf of a number of ecumenical partners. The program reports that staff and volunteers also are opening all health kits to remove toothpaste that may be tainted, and to make sure the contents are standard.
  
  
• Material Resources shipments this spring have included blankets and hygiene kits to the homeless in Alabama, Massachusetts, and Washington States; blankets for refugees in Iowa; clean-up buckets to Arkansas and Missouri following flooding; a 40-foot container shipped to Burkino Faso on behalf of Global Assistance; a 40-foot container shipped to the Congo for IMA World Health, containing nearly 37,000 pounds of medical supplies; a cooperative shipment of Church World Service (CWS) and International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) to Moldova with health kits and toothpaste; a cooperative shipment of Lutheran World Relief and IOCC to Jordan containing layettes; two 40-foot containers shipped to the Dominican Republic for CWS, including a variety of relief materials; and a cooperative shipment by Lutheran World Relief, CWS, and IOCC to Bosnia with layettes and school kits.
  
  
• Recent grants from the Emergency Disaster Fund have given a total of $6,500 for relief efforts following spring storms, and flooding in Nevada. The Emergency Disaster Fund is a ministry of the Church of the Brethren General Board. A grant of $4,000 has been given in response to a Church World Service (CWS) appeal following more outbreaks of tornadoes and flooding across the US. The funds will help provide material aid, staff deployment, training, and financial support for longterm recovery groups in parts of Iowa, Minnesota, Colorado, and Oklahoma. A grant of $2,500 responds to a CWS appeal following the breach of an irrigation canal in Fernley, Nev., where flooding has affected more than 500 homes and 3,000 people were evacuated.

Source: 6/5/2008 Newsline Extra