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Date: July 22, 2005
Contact: Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
V: 847/742-5100 F:  847/742-6103
E-MAIL: _CoBNews@AOL.Com_ (mailto:CoBNews@AOL.Com) 
 

CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN NEWSLINE
July 22, 2005
 
BRETHREN FUNDS TEAM UP TO RESPOND TO SUDANESE REFUGEES, WEST TIMOR  DROUGHT
 
July 22, 2005 (Elgin, IL) -- Two funds of the Church of the Brethren  General

Board--the Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) and the Global Food Crisis Fund  
(GFCF)--are both contributing aid to Sudanese refugees returning to their
homes  
after years of displacement due to war, and to West Timor, Indonesia, 
following  a severe drought. The EDF gave $50,000 and the GFCF $20,000 to the
needs of 
the  Sudanese refugees. Responding to West Timor, the EDF gave $20,000 and 
the GFCF  $10,000. Two other recent grants from the EDF support relief work
in 
India and  China. 
 
The Sudan emergency appeal comes from the Church World Service (CWS)  
Emergency Response Program and the ACT Alliance. The EDF grant will help
provide  
basic needs for refugees including fresh water, sanitation, household
supplies,  
tools, and seeds. The GFCF grant will help provide seeds and tools, develop  
vegetable plots for training subsistence farmers, introduce new crops, train 

farmers and extension workers in appropriate technology, and create  
income-generating activities to spur employment, the grant request said. "A 
strong 
component of the effort is to reduce the dependency of hosts and  returnees
on 
food aid, building longterm food security," said Howard Royer, GFCF  manager.
 
The signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the government of  
Sudan and the rebels in southern Sudan has created the opportunity for
refugees 
 to return home, reported Roy Winter, director of the board's Emergency 
Response,  in the grant request. "Many have been displaced for years because
of the 
civil  war that started in 1955. They are currently living in Internally 
Displaced  People camps in northern Sudan and as refugees in surrounding 
countries," the  grant request stated. "While organized resettlement of these
people 
has not  occurred, as many as 1,500 Sudanese are spontaneously returning to 
their home  areas each day."
 
CWS also is the recipient of the Brethren grants for relief work in West  
Timor. The assistance from the EDF will be implemented through feeding
centers  
and used to help prevent famine among the poor and most vulnerable. The GFCF 

grant will contribute to sustainable livelihood development programs and  
community-based health organization training. Royer said that as many as one 
third 
of the area's children under five suffer from malnutrition and nearly  seven 
percent from severe malnutrition. "One of the priorities of CWS is to  ensure

basic levels of nutrition for pregnant women and for children under  five,"
he 
said.
 
In other grants, the EDF gave $15,000 for a CWS appeal in the wake of  severe

flooding in the Gujarat and Madhay Pradesh States of India, where funds  will

help provide food, drinking water,relief kits, dry rations, and materials  
for shelters. Gujarat State is home to many of the Brethren in India, and  
long-time partner the Church of North India is also active there.
 
EDF also gave $5,000 to a CWS appeal for severe flooding in southern China  
that has affected 17 million people. Funds will help provide medicine, food, 

quilts, mosquito netting, and construction materials for homes and irrigation
 
canals.
 
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 about 130,000 members across the United	
States and Puerto Rico, and has missions and sister churches in Brazil, the  
Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Nigeria.
 
# # #
 
For more information contact:
 
Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
Director of News Services
Church of the  Brethren General Board
1451 Dundee Ave.
Elgin, IL 60120
847-742-5100  ext. 260
_cbrumbaugh-cayford_gb@brethren.org_ 
(mailto:cbrumbaugh-cayford_gb@brethren.org) 
 
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The  Church of the Brethren Newsline is produced by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford,

 director of news services for the Church of the Brethren General Board. 
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