IMA supports Brethren response to Katrina and Rita disasters.

The first-ever domestic disaster response by Interchurch Medical Assistance (IMA) has provided $19,500 for rebuilding work coordinated by the Emergency Response program of the Church of the Brethren General Board, according to a release from IMA.

Created in 1960 to support overseas church-based health development and emergency response activities, IMA had never been called on to assist with a domestic disaster until Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf states, the release said. Just hours after the hurricane struck, donors began sending contributions to IMA, many of them repeat donors who had appreciated the effectiveness of IMA's assistance for the tsunami disaster in South Asia.

As the extent of the damage became evident in the days immediately following the hurricane, IMA's member relief and development agencies called on IMA to provide Medicine Boxes of emergency medicines and supplies. The boxes were placed in shelters for use by medical personnel treating the everyday health needs of displaced people. Over the course of about four months, IMA coordinated five shipments of medical products with a total value of $89,476.

As relief efforts moved into the longterm phase, medicines and medical supplies were no longer needed. But IMA's emergency fund for the Katrina disaster had not been depleted, and IMA began discussions about longterm recovery projects that needed funding.

IMA announced early this month that the remaining $19,500 in Katrina disaster relief funds will assist rebuilding activities under the leadership of Emergency Response. The financial support offered by IMA will help pay for building materials and their transport to the affected areas.

The Brethren response to both hurricanes collectively included deploying 128 Disaster Child Care volunteers who interacted with 3,027 children affected by the disaster; coordinating 183 volunteers who helped to clean up or repair the homes of 188 families in Alabama and Louisiana; facilitating shipments of material aid valued at $2.1 million from the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md., in collaboration with Church World Service; and providing grants totaling $257,000 for the disaster response activities.

"The disaster response work of the Church of the Brethren is well respected on all fronts," said Paul Derstine, IMA president. "IMA is diligent about staying faithful to our donors' wishes, so we're happy to be able to use their contributions for longterm recovery activities in response to the Katrina and Rita hurricane disasters. Having IMA's headquarters located at the Brethren Service Center enables us to maintain a close working relationship with Emergency Response."

IMA is a nonprofit association of 12 Protestant relief and development agencies providing assistance for overseas health programs of partner churches, faith-based development and relief organizations, and public and private agencies with similar goals. See www.interchurch.org.

Source: 6/21/2006 Newsline
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