Church of the Brethren (Emergency Response/Service Ministries)

September 12, 2008

Urgent Appeal for Emergency Clean-up Buckets

The recent onslaught of coastal storms and flooding has created an urgent need for CWS Emergency Clean-up Buckets. The need for these kits will be even greater after the anticipated 20-foot storm surge from Hurricane Ike hits the Texas coastline this weekend.

"Church World Service has allocated all the buckets we had in the warehouse," said Lorette Wolf, director of Church of the Brethren Material Resources in New Windsor, Md. "We're down to a zero level and they don't have enough."

The buckets are kits that may be assembled by congregations, other groups, and individuals, and donated to the disaster clean-up effort.

Go to www.churchworldservice.org/kits/cleanup-kits.html for information about how to assemble the Emergency Clean-up Bucket kits.

http://www.brethren.org/genbd/BDM/CurrentNews.html

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The Mission:
When disaster strikes, Church of the Brethren Disaster Response provides volunteers to clean up debris and to repair or rebuild homes for disaster survivors who lack sufficient resources to hire a contractor or other paid
labor. The presence of these volunteer work teams helps to ease the trauma that is felt in the aftermath of a disaster.

Each Church of the Brethren district has an appointed disaster coordinator who issues district-wide appeals for volunteers when they are needed for specific disaster response projects. The coordinators gather biennially in New Windsor to receive training in various aspects of disaster response and volunteer recruitment. Also, there are now several dozen trained, volunteer project directors who provide on-site management of the disaster projects.

Over the years, the Brethren have become known for providing capable, caring and hard-working volunteers on behalf of disaster survivors who are incapable of helping themselves. The existing records indicate that, from 1973 through 2001, Brethren Disaster Response initiated a total of 162 recovery projects following major disasters, mostly in the United States and US territories. And from 1978 through 2001, our gracious Lord has enabled 18,263 volunteers to answer the \call by sharing their talents for a total of 90,876 workdays,
or 727,000 work hours, on disaster response projects. The total value of this donated labor in the present-day economy is $11,188,530.