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phone: 800-323-8039, x234 mail: General Board, 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120

Church World Service Kits Emergency Clean-up Kits - Need More! Hygiene Kits - No Toothpaste! Baby Kits School Kits Information about these kits is at www.churchworldservice.org.

July 7, 2008
Making a difference in Louisiana,” South West Virginia Today, Richlands, Va.

A group representing Topeco Church of the Brethren gave a week of their time to help their neighbors…in Louisiana. The volunteers included seven adults and seven youth, and they worked in the St. Bernard Parish. Read more at
http://www.swvatoday.com/comments/making_a_difference_in_louisiana/news/3020/

June 25, 2008
Newsline Extra: Disaster Response News

1. Northern Plains District is part of relief effort for Iowa floods.
2. Grant will help Northern Plains District disaster work.
3. Children’s Disaster Services cares for children in Cedar Falls.
4. Church World Service aids nearly 1 million people in Myanmar.
5. Disaster response bits: Correction, Indiana flood response, grants, more.

June 20, 2008
Newsline Extra: Disaster Response News

1. Children’s Disaster Services ramps up response in flooded midwest.
2. Brethren Disaster Ministries calls for clean-up volunteers in Indiana.
3. CWS repeats call for Emergency Clean-up Buckets, issues correction to drop-off site in Indiana.
4. Plains states Brethren still dealing with destruction caused by tornadoes.
5. International Christian leaders call for a season of prayer for Zimbabwe.

June 18, 2008

Brethren and Sisters Who Care
Douglas Lent

(Cedar Falls, IA) A visit to the American Red Cross service center in Cedar Falls is the first stop on the road to recovery for many affected by flooding in the region. For those with children, the process can be more difficult. That's why the volunteers with the Church of the Brethren's Children's Disaster Services are a welcome sight for these parents.

Grandma Jackie holds seven-week-old Robynn. Submitted by Douglas Lent/ARC

Eighty-five-year-old Jacquelyn Snyder, or Grandma Jackie as she's known to the kids, is one of these volunteers. She comforts the children by playing games, reading stories and just spending time with them.

"It's so rewarding to know that you can give people a little relief even if it's only for a few hours," says Snyder who has been with the program for over 10 years. "I went through the flood of 1993 so I can relate to what they are going through."

Volunteers like Snyder have been offering child care assistance to parents and children during local and national disasters since Children's Disaster Services was founded in 1980.

At a time in her life when many people would be slowing down, the Iowa resident says she has a lot more help to give.

"As long as I can get around, I'll keep volunteering."

June 13, 2008
Newsline Extra: Disaster Response News

1. Brethren Disaster Ministries responds to storms, flooding in Midwest and Plains.
   
2. Disaster grant goes to Myanmar cyclone response.
   
3. Church of the Brethren congregation takes part in Indiana relief effort.

June 10, 2008

Erwin Church of the Brethren destroyed by lightning-sparked fire
cited from June 10, 2008 Newsline Extra

The church building of Erwin (Tenn.) Church of the Brethren has been destroyed in a fire after lightning hit the steeple yesterday evening, June 9.

(Click here to read more>>)

June 6, 2008

Total rebuilds started in Rushford, Minn.

Brethren Disaster Ministries has committed to doing six complete rebuilds by the end of this year for persons who lost everything in the August 2007 floods. The goal is to work on 3 or 4 houses at once, in various stages. Full work crews of 15 persons are needed to reach this goal.

Click here to view more photos

Framing of the first two new houses started on June 5, reported disaster project director Jerry Moore. “We may be able to borrow a crane to set trusses on the two houses next week,” he said. Volunteers will then begin roofing and siding. “We’re not expecting another foundation for at least three weeks, so these two homes will be well on the way.”

In addition to the new homes, volunteers have been doing major repair work such as insulation, drywall, flooring, cabinets, and painting since the project started last October.

One particularly energetic and enthusiastic bunch of volunteers was a group of Manchester College students, who thought that drywalling crawlspaces was “extremely fun” according to student Stephen Schellenberg.

Another student, Carol Fike, remarked, “I was completely unsure what to expect, considering I have very little construction skills. But Jerry convinced me that I could do it and I was capable of framing a basement – who knew?” Sam Wysong felt that “the sense of accomplishment when we finished a project made the trip worth it.”

Over 100 volunteers have repaired 30 homes so far. Skilled volunteers are a plus, but less skilled volunteers who are willing to learn are always welcome.

June 5, 2008

Brethren in Northern Plains District respond to Iowa tornado
cited from June 5, 2008 Newsline Extra: Disaster Response

Brethren in Northern Plains District have been responding to needs of those who lost homes in the tornado that hit Parkersburg and other areas of northeastern Iowa on May 25. One Church of the Brethren family who are members at Ivester Church of the Brethren in Grundy Center, lost their home in Parkersburg and most of their household belongings.

(Click here to read more>>)

June 5, 2008

Brethren Bits: Material Resources, Emergency Disaster Fund
cited from June 5, 2008 Newsline Extra: Disaster Response

• The Material Resources program at the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md., has packed its last box of clothing. The program reports that Lutheran World Relief has wound down its clothing processing efforts. Material Resources continues to process, warehouse, and ship a wide variety of relief goods to areas in need around the world, including quilts, blankets, medical supplies, and all kinds of relief kits. The shipments are made on behalf of a number of ecumenical partners. The program reports that staff and volunteers also are opening all health kits to remove toothpaste that may be tainted, and to make sure the contents are standard.
  
  
• Material Resources shipments this spring have included blankets and hygiene kits to the homeless in Alabama, Massachusetts, and Washington States; blankets for refugees in Iowa; clean-up buckets to Arkansas and Missouri following flooding; a 40-foot container shipped to Burkino Faso on behalf of Global Assistance; a 40-foot container shipped to the Congo for IMA World Health, containing nearly 37,000 pounds of medical supplies; a cooperative shipment of Church World Service (CWS) and International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) to Moldova with health kits and toothpaste; a cooperative shipment of Lutheran World Relief and IOCC to Jordan containing layettes; two 40-foot containers shipped to the Dominican Republic for CWS, including a variety of relief materials; and a cooperative shipment by Lutheran World Relief, CWS, and IOCC to Bosnia with layettes and school kits.
  
  
• Recent grants from the Emergency Disaster Fund have given a total of $6,500 for relief efforts following spring storms, and flooding in Nevada. The Emergency Disaster Fund is a ministry of the Church of the Brethren General Board. A grant of $4,000 has been given in response to a Church World Service (CWS) appeal following more outbreaks of tornadoes and flooding across the US. The funds will help provide material aid, staff deployment, training, and financial support for longterm recovery groups in parts of Iowa, Minnesota, Colorado, and Oklahoma. A grant of $2,500 responds to a CWS appeal following the breach of an irrigation canal in Fernley, Nev., where flooding has affected more than 500 homes and 3,000 people were evacuated.

May 28, 2008

CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN RESPONDS TO DISASTER WITH GRANTS TOTALING $117,000

The Church of the Brethren has responded to recent disasters around the world, and to the world hunger crisis, with grants totaling $117,000. The grants focus on response to the China earthquake and the cyclone in Myanmar. The grants were given from the denomination’s Emergency Disaster Fund and Global Food Crisis Fund.

The two funds--Emergency Disaster Fund and Global Food Crisis Fund--each provided a grant of $30,000 to support Church World Service (CWS) and its partner agency Amity Foundation following the massive earthquake in China. The initial response by CWS and Amity Foundation includes immediate relief supplies of food, quilts, and shelter materials. A longterm response will include the rebuilding of homes, schools, hospitals, and safe water supplies.

Photo courtesy of ACT International

The Global Food Crisis Fund gave a grant of $30,000 to support CWS hunger development work in Myanmar following the cyclone. The money will help purchase rice seed that is urgently needed for this planting season. Another allocation of $15,000 from the Global Food Crisis Fund supports Heifer International designated hunger development work in Myanmar, assisting 1,700 families toward achieving sustainable food sources and income over the next three years.

A grant of $7,000 from the Emergency Disaster Fund responds to spring storms in the United States, given to a CWS appeal following a severe outbreak of tornados and flooding. The money will help provide material aid, staff deployment, training, and financial support for longterm recovery groups in parts of Georgia, Maine, Missouri, and Virginia.

An allocation of $5,000 from the Global Food Crisis Fund assists with distribution of 250,000 packets of seeds in Liberia. The logistics for the project are handled by Church Aid Inc., Liberia, a Global Food Crisis Fund partner.

May 24, 2008

60,000 saved: How one church leader helped mobilize communities to survive the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis.
by Stacey Winston/CWS

http://www.churchworldservice.org/news/archives/2008/05/900.html

May 19, 2008

Click this link to view a slide show with commentary by a Church World Service employee in Bankok who is working on the Myanmar response.

http://churchworldservice.org/news/gallery/myanmar/index.html

May 16, 2008
Newsline Update: Disaster Response

CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN GRANTS TOTALING $70,000 SUPPORT ECUMENICAL RELIEF EFFORT FOR MYANMAR AND CHINA

The Church of the Brethren has given $40,000 for relief efforts in Myanmar following Cyclone Nargis. The sum of $30,000 has been given for disaster relief following the China earthquake. The grants were requested by Brethren Disaster Ministries, and are given from the denomination's Emergency Disaster Fund. (MORE>>)

May 13, 2008
Newsline Special: Disaster Response

CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN RESPONDS TO MYANMAR CYCLONE; STAFF MONITOR NEEDS FOLLOWING STORMS IN CENTRAL US, EARTHQUAKE IN CHINA

A second grant of $35,000 from the Emergency Disaster Fund of the Church of the Brethren is in process to support the work of Church World Service (CWS) in Myanmar following Cyclone Nargis.

(Click here to read more>>)

Stan’s the Man!
By Mary Mueller

We had the privilege of celebrating two milestones with Stan Barkdoll while he was with us volunteering at the Hurricane Katrina recovery project in Chalmette, Louisiana. Not only did he turn 79, he also marked this as his 50th trip with the Brethren Disaster Ministries.

I talked with his wife, Hazel over the phone about his many years of service. She told me that Stan started volunteering around 1980. He was the Brethren Camp Manager in Michigan then, and he went to White Falls, Texas his first time out. I don’t think she mentioned them all, but Hazel listed the states Stan has served in … Texas, South Carolina, Alabama, North Dakota, Tennessee, Kansas, North Carolina, Virginia, Mississippi, Florida, Nebraska, Ohio, and Louisiana!

Photo Credit: Mary Mueller Stan Barkdoll (center) recently returned from his 50th disaster response trip.

For many of his years as a volunteer, he was also a pastor. Hazel says, “He would preach at the church on Sunday and get in the car and drive to the disaster site. At the end of a week of volunteering, he would drive back to the church in time to preach.”

After he retired from part-time pastoring in 1995, he figured he had time to be a disaster project director. He and Hazel took the training and have served together many times since 1996.

I especially enjoyed Stan leading us in singing the blessing before the evening meals … does anyone else besides Stan know how many tunes you can sing the Doxology to?

His strong yet gentle presence is an asset on any disaster site. To give you an idea of how hard he works, these are the things Stan did this week: he worked on installing laminate floor and interior trim in one house, helped repair flashing on a roof of a second house, started the soffit and fascia repair on a third house, and worked on a variety of punch-out items on still another house. He does this all with grace and good humor as though it is the standard week for any 79-year-old retired pastor!

Stan Barkdoll is an inspiration to us and gives us a goal to aspire to!

(Mary Mueller, along with husband John, is Regional Project Director for BDM in Louisiana.)

March 10, 2008

Church of the Brethren Called to Partner with New Orleans Churches

When Hurricane Katrina pummeled the Gulf Coast in August of 2005, all aspects of normal life were devastated, including the faith community. Nearly three years later, many churches, particularly in the hardest hit areas of New Orleans, are still struggling to regain their capacity to carry out their ministries. Pastors are attempting to function with depleted resources, while the social problems in their poverty-stricken communities have mounted higher than ever.

The Church of the Brethren is one of six denominations and three ecumenical organizations that have joined together in the National Council of Churches working group called Churches Supporting Churches (CSC). The goal of CSC is to help 36 congregations in 12 predominantly African-American neighborhoods that have been destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

The mission of CSC is to “Restart, Reopen, and Repair or Rebuild the Churches in order for them to be agents for Community Development and to Recreate their Community.”

Brethren Disaster Ministries (BDM) and the Brethren Witness/Washington Office are representing the Church of the Brethren on the CSC national working group. Phil Jones, director for Brethren Witness, has been a resource for the peace and social justice issues that CSC is facing and has been endeavoring to find partner churches within the denomination.

Zach Wolgemuth, associate director for BDM, has helped provide some resources for long-term recovery and rebuilding efforts, as well as exploring the possibility of responding to the rebuilding needs in CSC church neighborhoods.

Congregations are being called on to become “Katrina Church Partners” by adopting churches that have been affected and making a commitment to support their efforts to rebuild for at least a year. There is still a great need to get more Church of the Brethren congregations to establish a partnership with some of the affected churches.

Unitversity Baptist and Brethren Church, in State College, PA, recently partnered with St. John’s Baptist Church, a CSC church in New Orleans. Dale Roth, member of the State College congregation, reported, “At this time our church's Women's Mission Fellowship is inquiring as to the needs of St. John's so we can determine how best to support that church. At a minimum, they want to establish prayer partnerships with women at St. Johns.”

Roth had the opportunity to worship at St. John's Baptist and visit with their Senior Pastor, Rev. Donald Boutte while was working at the BDM disaster recovery project in Chalmette, La. last February. He learned through Rev. Boutte that “there is great need for expertise with mental health counseling, as many people suffer with depression as they continue to recover from Hurricane Katrina. This is an area that some at the State College church may be able to assess.”

For more information on how you or your congregation can establish a partnership with a New Orleans church through Churches Supporting Churches, please contact:

Brethren Witness/Washington Office
337 North Carolina Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20003
Phone #: 1-800-785-3246
E-mail: washington_office_gb@brethren.org
www.brethren.org/genbd/washofc/ChurchesSupportingChurches.html

February 13, 2008

Emergency Disaster Fund issues $53,700 in grants
(Excerpted from Church of the Brethren Newsline, Feb. 13, 2008)

Five grants issued by the Emergency Disaster Fund send assistance to Kenya following rioting and violence, along with grants to Bangladesh, the south-central US following storms, and continuing support for Brethren Disaster Ministries rebuilding projects. The Emergency Disaster Fund is a ministry of the Church of the Brethren General Board. (MORE>>)

February 12, 2008
WINK News

John and Mary Mueller were recently featured on WINK News, their hometown news station in Cape Coral, Fla. The Muellers serve Brethren Disaster Ministries as regional project directors working on Hurricane Katrina recovery in Louisiana. WINK had picked up the recent USA Today article on the Muellers and paid them a visit. Check out the video report here:

http://www.winknews.com/news/local/15510117.html#

February 12, 2008

BDM Supports Tornado Relief

Brethren Disaster Ministries (BDM) is supporting tornado relief efforts in the central/southern United States through a $7,000 grant from the Emergency Disaster Fund. The violent tornado outbreak swept through six states on February 5-6, killing at least 59 people in Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky and Alabama, the deadliest tornado system since 1985.

In the wake of the storms, Church World Service has issued an appeal for support to its ecumenical partners, including the Church of the Brethren. CWS relief efforts include material aid shipments consisting of blankets, hygiene kits and clean-up kits; deploying staff to assist with training and project development; and financial support for local long-term recovery groups.

BDM staff have been in touch with denominational representatives in the affected regions to gather information and offer assistance.

Children’s Disaster Services has been monitoring the situation. In addition, high winds and dry conditions have fueled wildfires in Virginia. Judy Bezon, CDS associate director, says she is “in the process of offering child care to the many assistance centers that are opening in the impacted areas of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Virginia.”