Children’s Disaster Services to work in Colorado following floods.

Children's Disaster Services (CDS) is actively assembling teams to support Multi-Agency Resource Centers in response to the Colorado floods. “CDS teams will deploy soon,” said a Facebook post this morning. “Please keep CDS and the affected children and their families in your prayers.”

Roy Winter, associate executive director of Brethren Disaster Ministries, has been contacting CDS volunteers who may be able to travel to Colorado in the next few days. Children’s Disaster Services is a department within Brethren Disaster Ministries and works cooperatively with FEMA and the American Red Cross to provide care for children following disasters, through the work of trained and certified volunteers. CDS has been meeting the needs of children since 1980.

“In conversations with the American Red Cross and Save the Children I have learned several things,” Winter reported, among them that many shelters for flood survivors are being consolidated as families are able to move back home or find other housing. Save the Children has provided care in shelters up to this point, “however, they will only be available through the end of next week (Sept. 27),” Winter said.

The Multi-Agency Resource Centers are just now being organized, and will be the locations where those affected by flooding will go to apply for aid and receive services. “CDS will staff these MARCs as they open and take over providing child care in any larger shelters at the end of next week,” Winter said.

For more information about Children’s Disaster Services go to www.childrensdisasterservices.org. For more about the work of Brethren Disaster Ministries see www.brethrendisasterministries.org.

Source: 9/20/2013 Newsline