Brethren funds give $150,000 for hunger, disaster relief.

Two Church of the Brethren funds have given a total of $150,000 for hunger relief and disaster response, through five recent grants. The Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) and the Global Food Crisis Fund (GFCF) are ministries of the Church of the Brethren General Board.

An EDF grant of $60,000 has been made to SHARECircle, a relief and rehabilitation organization working in Angola. The funds will help expand services to a recently received USAID grant for feeding centers at schools in Bie province, and will provide medical supplies, medicine, and school kits to be shipped from the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md. Medicine and supplies will be provided by Interchurch Medical Assistance (IMA), and school kits and Gift of the Heart Kids Kits will be provided by Church World Service (CWS).

An EDF grant of $30,000 has been given to Brethren Disaster Response to open a “Hurricane Katrina Rebuilding Site 4" in Chalmette, La. This is a new rebuilding site for the Brethren response to the hurricanes that affected the Gulf coast area. The money will pay for travel expenses, leadership training, additional tools and equipment, food and housing, and some building supplies.

An allocation of $25,000 has been made from the GFCF for the Darfur crisis in Sudan. The grant responds to a CWS appeal for Darfur at the outset of 2007. The grant will help build new water points, maintain or repair existing wells and pumps, construct latrines, conduct health and nutrition education, and distribute tools and seeds.

An allocation of $20,000 from the GFCF will work on reforestation, and supply stoves and cisterns in Guatemala. The grant continues support of a community development program in Guatemala. Work projected to take place in 2007 includes construction of rainwater catchment systems, building fuel-efficient cookstoves, operation of a tree nursery, and transportation of organic fertilizer.

An allocation of $15,000 from the GFCF supports the Rural Service Center in Akleshwar, India. This grant continues Church of the Brethren support of the center, and will help the center engage the rural poor with animal husbandry, soil conservation, vocational guidance, water and soil management, social forestry, public health, and multiple cropping. A portion of the amount of the grant--$5,000--will be used for an assessment of the center’s role in a rapidly changing society.

For more about the Emergency Disaster Fund go to www.brethren.org/genbd/ersm/EDF.htm. For more about the Global Food Crisis Fund go to www.brethren.org/genbd/global_mission/gfcf.htm.

Source: 1/31/2007 Newsline