DISASTER RESPONSE

Brethren Disaster Ministries is continuing work at a rebuilding site in Letcher County, Ky., with new builds and repairs of homes damaged during the July 2022 flooding event. Seth Long, Executive Director, was featured on a Nov. 4 podcast talking about the work on HOMES Inc. in the community. You can listen here: https://www.christianapp.org/news/podcast. We are grateful for volunteers from our district who have assisted at this project. In 2026, our district’s volunteer week will shift to the summer, late August/early September. A group of nearly 100 disaster response volunteers also served in Johnson County, Tenn., from Sept. 21 to Nov. 15 to aid in the recovery from Hurricane Helene.

Brethren Disaster Ministries received a $5,000 UPS Long Term Recovery Grant through a partnership with the UPS Foundation and National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster. These funds supported a portion of the volunteer project operational expenses for the Letcher County rebuilding site. This included finances for meals, tools, fuel, and vehicle repairs to enable volunteers to complete the work. During the term of the grant in September 2025, 55 volunteers provided more than 3,100 hours to support safe and secure housing for 10 households. New construction was completed on nine new homes in a Higher Ground Neighborhood in bordering Knott County in partnership with local partner HOMES Inc. Work completed by volunteers ranged from building foundations to framing walls and roofs to painting and finishing work inside the houses. In addition, one home that was elevated to prevent future flooding received a front and back deck for entrance into the home.

Children’s Disaster Services (CDS), a program of Brethren Disaster Ministries, deployed to western Washington State following catastrophic atmospheric river flooding that began on Dec. 8. For those interested in volunteering with CDS, several trainings are available in late winter/spring 2026: Feb. 20-21 in Beaufort, S.C. or Bradford, Ohio; Feb. 27-28 in Glendale, Ariz.; or March 14-15 in La Verne, Calif. Registration, including all meals, curriculum, and overnight is $55 for early bird, and $65 if sent less than three weeks before the event. Participants in the 25-hour training, which includes a simulated shelter experience, learn to provide comfort and encouragement to children by offering the healing young children need in traumatic situations. Learn more and register at https://www.brethren.org/cds/training/.

With the closure of the Material Resources program in New Windsor, Md. (where the Brethren Service Center offices will remain), the Church World Service Kit Depot location at the Elgin office is also closing and will no longer be a location that receives kits. Learn more at cwskits.org/cws-kits-end-of-the-year-updates. It appears the nearest drop-off location to our district now is the CWS Service Annex in Elkhart, Indiana. There is also a location in Boone, Iowa, near Ames. Kits can also be shipped to one of the remaining depots.