Brethren funds give grants for disaster and hunger relief.

The Church of the Brethren’s Global Food Crisis Fund (GFCF) has announced grants supporting hunger relief projects in Guatemala and Honduras. The church’s Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) has given grants to begin a new disaster rebuilding site in Indiana and to support relief efforts following storms in the United States.

An allocation of $25,000 from the EDF has been given for Brethren Disaster Ministries work along the Tippecanoe River in Indiana following heavy rains and flooding in the winter of 2008. The funds will support the opening of a new project site in Winamac, Ind., as well as volunteer housing, food, on-site expenses, tools, and equipment.

An EDF grant of $25,000 has been given in response to a Church World Service (CWS) appeal following extreme storms that caused flooding and damage in several areas of the US. The funds will support CWS shipments of cleanup buckets, hygiene kits, and school kits to Kentucky, Florida, Maine, and New York, as well as supporting local partner recovery efforts.

A GFCF grant of $8,500 has been given to an organization named Pastoral Social for operation of a tree nursery at San Ildefonso Ixtahuacan in Huehuetenango, Guatemala. Pastoral Social is a long-time partner of the Church of the Brethren. The grant was recommended by Todd Bauer, a Brethren Volunteer Service worker who has assisted with the program for several years.

A GFCF grant of $4,700 has been given to SERRV International for a rural project in Honduras planting new cashew trees. The project is replenishing aging cashew trees that are basic to the Just Cashew organization with which SERRV partners.

Source: 9/24/2009 Newsline