Local churches give hurricane victims a fresh start
-19/11/05
Though the devastating r
Local churches give hurricane victims a fresh start
-19/11/05
Though the devastating results of the hurricane season in the USA have receded in the headlines, churches in America are continuing to work with displaced communities to assist relief and reconstruction.
Partnerships between local congregations and refugee resettlement agencies are the key to the support that Church World Service is providing in 10 states to people affected by the Gulf storms, says CWS.
Lessons are also being learned from programmes designed to support refugees and asylum seekers coming into the US from other parts of the world.
The humanitarian agency is working through its Miami office and eight of its local resettlement affiliates around the country to provide comprehensive, individualized services to Gulf Coast residents who have relocated to their communities.
Resettlement agencies train participating congregations on ways to provide moral and material support help uprooted people as they recover their dignity and self-sufficiency in new communities, whether their stay ultimately is short or long.
In order to give priority to people most in need, the Church World Service (CWS) response is to help hurricane evacuees sort out the myriad disaster relief programmes; find jobs, health care, and affordable housing and furnishings; get their children enrolled in school, and orient themselves to their new communities.
ìThis privately funded [initiative] takes the professional case management and congregational co-sponsorship model that CWS uses to help refugees – people fleeing persecution in their home countries for safety in the United States – and applies it to help meet the particular needs of Americans displaced by the Gulf hurricanes,î says Erol Kekic, associate director of the CWS Immigration and Refugee Program.
Every year, Church World Service serves tens of thousands of refugees, immigrants, and asylum seekers with case processing, resettlement, chaplaincy, legal, and other services.
National church bodies that support the CWS Immigration and Refugee Program (IRP) stepped forward with special funding for the hurricane evacuees, and additional money is being raised through public appeals for funds to support a broad CWS programme of assistance to Gulf hurricane survivors.
CWS/IRP participating denominations are American Baptist Churches in the USA, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Reformed Church, Presbyterian Church (USA), Reformed Church in America, United Church of Christ, and The United Methodist Church.
Church World Service, part of the international and ecumenical ACT network, is also playing a major role in assistance to post-tsunami communities in Asia and to earthquake victims in Pakistan and India.
Also on Ekklesia: US churches assist in Katrina relief efforts ; Black Christian leader calls for new US civil rights drive]
Local churches give hurricane victims a fresh start
-19/11/05
Though the devastating results of the hurricane season in the USA have receded in the headlines, churches in America are continuing to work with displaced communities to assist relief and reconstruction.
Partnerships between local congregations and refugee resettlement agencies are the key to the support that Church World Service is providing in 10 states to people affected by the Gulf storms, says CWS.
Lessons are also being learned from programmes designed to support refugees and asylum seekers coming into the US from other parts of the world.
The humanitarian agency is working through its Miami office and eight of its local resettlement affiliates around the country to provide comprehensive, individualized services to Gulf Coast residents who have relocated to their communities.
Resettlement agencies train participating congregations on ways to provide moral and material support help uprooted people as they recover their dignity and self-sufficiency in new communities, whether their stay ultimately is short or long.
In order to give priority to people most in need, the Church World Service (CWS) response is to help hurricane evacuees sort out the myriad disaster relief programmes; find jobs, health care, and affordable housing and furnishings; get their children enrolled in school, and orient themselves to their new communities.
‘This privately funded [initiative] takes the professional case management and congregational co-sponsorship model that CWS uses to help refugees – people fleeing persecution in their home countries for safety in the United States – and applies it to help meet the particular needs of Americans displaced by the Gulf hurricanes,’ says Erol Kekic, associate director of the CWS Immigration and Refugee Program.
Every year, Church World Service serves tens of thousands of refugees, immigrants, and asylum seekers with case processing, resettlement, chaplaincy, legal, and other services.
National church bodies that support the CWS Immigration and Refugee Program (IRP) stepped forward with special funding for the hurricane evacuees, and additional money is being raised through public appeals for funds to support a broad CWS programme of assistance to Gulf hurricane survivors.
CWS/IRP participating denominations are American Baptist Churches in the USA, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Reformed Church, Presbyterian Church (USA), Reformed Church in America, United Church of Christ, and The United Methodist Church.
Church World Service, part of the international and ecumenical ACT network, is also playing a major role in assistance to post-tsunami communities in Asia and to earthquake victims in Pakistan and India.
Also on Ekklesia: US churches assist in Katrina relief efforts ; Black Christian leader calls for new US civil rights drive]