August 3, 2009

ELGIN, IL – Two containers of food and supplies have been shipped to help children and others in Haiti this summer, through the work of Brethren Disaster Ministries and the Church of the Brethren's Material Resources program at the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md.

The container shipments are part of an ongoing disaster relief and rebuilding project of Brethren Disaster Ministries and the Church of the Brethren mission in Haiti. The shipments support the work of several organizations serving children in Haiti, including the Church of the Brethren mission; SELEEG, an organization of pastors in the city of Gonaives; the Eben-Ezer Mission in Gonaives; and the organization Feed My Starving Children, which supplied the food for the first shipment.

The first shipment arrived in Haiti in April and cleared customs in May. It included nutritionally balanced food packets to use in schools and church programs for children, reported Roy Winter, executive director of Brethren Disaster Ministries. "Feed My Starving Children donated the food, we provided shipping from Illinois to Gonaives. This was a direct request from the pastors group in Gonaives – SELEEG.... This food is designed to be served as hot meals for the children while at school. That way we know they are getting the food."

A second shipment in June included medical supplies for the hospital and clinic in Gonaives and canned chicken provided by the Meat Canning Committee of the Church of the Brethren's Southern Pennsylvania and Mid-Atlantic Districts. The canned meat from the districts was shipped by Brethren Disaster Ministries, and is intended for distribution by the Church of the Brethren mission in Haiti. The distribution will be coordinated by mission coordinator Ludovic St. Fleur.

Michel Morisset, pastor of the Eben-Ezer Mission, responded to the shipment of food with a thank you letter by e-mail. "In the name of SELEEG and Eben-Ezer Mission, we wish to thank you for the food donation," he wrote. He reported that SELEEG's board held a meeting to plan for the distribution of the food among its members (churches, church organizations, orphans, schools, etc.), and that the distribution began on June 23.

"Many people are happy," his e-mail concluded.

The Church of the Brethren's Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) recently gave a major grant of $65,000 to continue support for the work in Haiti. Previous grants to this project total $305,000.

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 celebrated its 300th anniversary in 2008. It counts some 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.

Newsline: Church of the Brethren News Service