September 12, 2008

ELGIN, IL – Children's Disaster Services has closed out its response to Hurricane Gustav, and is monitoring needs related to Hurricane Ike as it threatens the coast of Texas. Children's Disaster Services is a ministry of the Church of the Brethren, working with the American Red Cross, FEMA, and others to care for children following disasters.

The American Red Cross has requested Children's Disaster Services to prepare 10 teams of volunteers for possible deployment on Monday, in response to Hurricane Ike.

In its recent response to Gustav, Children's Disaster Services collaborated with the American Red Cross to determine where volunteers were most needed. As the hurricane made landfall, Roy Winter, executive director for Brethren Disaster Ministries, departed for Mississippi and Louisiana to manage the Children's Disaster Services response on the ground. Staff at the Church of the Brethren's disaster response offices in Maryland – including Children's Disaster Services director Judy Bezon – kept the operation going by deploying volunteers, communicating with the Red Cross or FEMA, and trouble-shooting issues at the various child care sites.

As the response to Gustav closed out, 6 childcare volunteers were working in shelters on the Mississippi coast; 10 were working in a Super Shelter in Shreveport, La.; and 11 were working in a Super Shelter in Alexandria, La.

Church of the Brethren disaster response staff also are emphasizing an urgent appeal for Emergency Clean-Up Bucket kits from Church World Service (CWS), in anticipation of needs after Ike's 20-foot storm surge hits the Texas coastline this weekend.

CWS disaster relief kits are processed, warehoused, and shipped from the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md.

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

The bucket kits may be assembled by congregations, other groups, and individuals, and donated to the disaster effort. In the last 30 days, CWS also has provided dozens of shipments of blankets, Hygiene Kits, and Baby Kits. CWS kits have helped flood survivors in Iowa, displaced persons from the Russia-Georgia conflict, and those affected by Hurricanes Hannah, Gustav, and Ike.

Go to http://www.churchworldservice.org/kits/cleanup-kits.html for information about how to assemble Emergency Clean-Up Bucket kits.

The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination committed to continuing the work of Jesus peacefully and simply, and to living out its faith in community. The denomination is based in the Anabaptist and Pietist faith traditions and is one of the three Historic Peace Churches. It celebrates its 300th anniversary in 2008. It counts more than 125,000 members across the United States and Puerto Rico, and has missions and sister churches in Nigeria, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and India.

Church of the Brethren