DISASTER RESPONSE

Brethren Disaster Ministries has updated its website with information for its second project response, which will mark a return to projects in Dawson Springs, Kentucky. The area was struck by a strong tornado in 2021. It joins another BDM rebuilding site in Letcher County, Ky. Information is at: https://www.brethren.org/bdm/rebuild/schedules/. Several individuals from our district recently served at Dawson Springs.

The church is also supporting collections of disaster relief kits by Church World Service (CWS), many of which are warehoused and shipped by the denomination’s Material Resources staff at the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md. Most needed right now are Clean-Up Buckets, and also Hygiene Kits and Period Packs. Find out how to assemble these kits at https://cwskits.org/assemble-kits. Staff are encouraging people who put together CWS kits to take them to a CWS “depot”; find locations at https://cwskits.org/ship-kits. To make a monetary donation for hurricane relief, go to www.brethren.org/givehurricaneresponse or send via mail, through checks made out to the Emergency Disaster Fund with “hurricane response” in the notation line. Mail to: Emergency Disaster Fund, Church of the Brethren, 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin IL 60120. For more tips for how to help, visit www.brethren.org/news/2024/how-you-can-help.

Children’s Disaster Services (CDS) recently deployed a local team of volunteers to Ventura County, Calif., providing a calm presence to children affected by the Mountain Fire, which began Nov. 6. Volunteers living within a two-hour drive served at a Local Assistance Center (LAC) in Camarillo, Calif., by setting up a care center and utilizing a Kit of Comfort containing play materials and activities specifically chosen to help children begin the healing process.