Friday, September 01, 2017

IL/WI Participation in Brethren Disaster Ministries — Missouri Flood Recovery

The IL/WI District is scheduled to send a volunteer team the week of November 12-18, 2017, to the Brethren Disaster Ministries (BDM) project in Eureka, MO. This area was devastated by floods in 2015 and again in 2017. Persons with an interest in being part of this team should return the attached registration form, or submit questions, by October 1, 2017, to Loren Habegger, BDM District Disaster Coordinator at ILWI.DDC.LH@gmail.com or by regular mail to Loren at 211 James Dr, Westmont, IL 60559.

Also, IL/WI persons could be part of an additional district volunteer team scheduled to be in Eureka the week of January 21 - 27, 2018.

BDM Response to Hurricane Harvey

BDM will be supporting both the short and longterm recovery of the impacted communities in Texas and Louisiana (and possibly Florida, depending on the path of Irma). Current details are provided on the BDM web site: brethren.org/bdm/hurricane-harvey.html

Before Hurricane Harvey made landfall, Children’s Disaster Services (CDS) teams of trained and certified volunteers were activated and ready to travel. By the end of August, CDS had deployed 24 volunteers to Texas, with at least 30 more volunteers planning to arrive soon.

At this stage cash donations are a preferred response. Donations can be sent to:
Emergency Disaster Fund
Hurricane Harvey Response
Church of the Brethren
1451 Dundee Ave.
Elgin, IL 60120
There is also an urgent need for Clean-up Buckets and Hygiene Kits. Completed kits are being collected for shipment by the Brethren Service Center at 601 Main Street, New Windsor, MD 21776. Learn more about these and other kits at cwskits.org.

Volunteers interested in assisting in on-site recovery should coordinate with BDM to be placed on a volunteer list. In the mean time volunteers can continue to serve on other BDM project sites.