New Family Household Kit collection is announced for Haiti.

Brethren Disaster Ministries and the Church of the Brethren’s Material Resources program at the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md., have announced a new kit collection for families affected by the earthquake in Haiti.

The Church of the Brethren also continues the appeal for donations of other relief supplies for Haiti earthquake survivors, including hygiene kits, baby care kits, and tarpaulins

The new Family Household Kit is specially designed for the needs of the Haitian Brethren families in Port-au-Prince area who have lost their homes in the earthquake. Because the kits are particularly heavy, and thus expensive to ship to the Brethren Service Center, the Brethren Disaster Ministries staff are working to set up collection points in each Church of the Brethren district across the United States.

"Pick-ups will be the first of March and again the first of April," said an announcement. "Otherwise, ship to the Brethren Service Center, 601 Main St., New Windsor, MD 21776, or bring to Annual Conference," which will take place in Pittsburgh, Pa., in early July.

The Family Household Kit contains critical supplies that enable Haitian families to prepare their own food and take care of family needs with dignity. Like-new items are welcome.

Contents for the Family Household Kit are as follows:

• A heavy 8-10 quart cast aluminum cooking pot, should be all-metal without plastic handles (like a dutch oven or brazier pan) and thus safe for cooking over charcoal. The best options come from commercial kitchen suppliers. Accompanied by a lid to fit the cooking pot.
  
  
• A heavy duty butcher knife.
  
  
• A small kitchen knife or paring knife.
  
  
• A manual can opener.
  
  
• Two large metal spoons for cooking and serving.
  
  
• Table service for six to eight people including metal flatware, durable and unbreakable plates and bowls, heavy plastic cups.
  
  
• Four coffee mugs, unbreakable.
  
  
• A plastic water pitcher with lid.
  
  
• A heavy plastic dish tub, for washing dishes.
  
  
• Two hot pads.
  
  
• Two dishcloths.
  
  
• Two bath towels.
  
  
• Two flat sheets (full size bed), 100 percent cotton.
  
  
• 100 feet of 1/8 inch or 1/4 inch braided nylon cord (two 50-foot sections are fine).
  
  
• One small personal item for the family such as a Creole songbook or Bible, a windup flashlight, a decorative item for the home, work gloves, a stuffed animal toy, etc. Most of the recipients of these kits will be Church of the Brethren members, so personal items can be religious.

The kit should be packed in the dish tub and place in a sturdy cardboard box for shipping. On arrival in Haiti, the Family Household Kits will be combined with Water Filtration Buckets, a water purification system using five-gallon buckets fitted with a water filter to provide a lifetime of safe drinking water. Brethren Disaster Ministries is purchasing the water filters and buckets in bulk for assembly at the New Windsor, Md., facility.

For instructions to donate hygiene kits and baby care kits, go to www.churchworldservice.org/kits, or download a CWS Kit Guide at www.churchworldservice.org/site/DocServer/KitGuide.pdf?docID=361. Tarpaulins should be heavy duty tarps of the size 8 by 10 feet or 10 by 10 feet, intended for long-term use. Hygiene and baby care kits and tarpaulins may also be brought to district collection points, to Annual Conference, or otherwise should be sent to the Brethren Service Center at the above address.

For more information about this kit collection contact bdm@brethren.org or 800-451-4407 ext. 3. To view a short video of Brethren Disaster Ministries executive Roy Winter illustrating how to put together one of the new Family Household Kit, go to www.brethren.org/site/PageServer?pagename=serve_brethren_disaster_ministries_HaitiEarthquakeVideo#2.

Source: 2/5/2010 Newsline Extra