CHICAGO (ELCA) -- International Disaster Response of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) provided $75,000 to help rehabilitate southern Bahr el Ghazal in southern Sudan. The funds sent by the church will help deliver food and other materials needed there.
The Rev. Y. Franklin Ishida, director for international communication, ELCA Division for Global Mission, said $25,000 was delivered to Lutheran World Relief to support its relief efforts in southern Sudan, and $50,000 was given to Action by Churches Together (ACT) to be implemented by the Lutheran World Federation.
ACT is a worldwide network of churches and related agencies meeting human need through coordinated emergency response. ACT is based with the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Switzerland. The ELCA is a member of both the WCC and LWF. Ishida said the food security situation in Rumbek and Yirol counties in Sudan has improved since the start of emergency relief operations there in May 1998. "But the World Food Programme's 1999-2000 Annual Needs Assessment -- conducted in the two counties in November 1999 -- indicated that, due to the erratic and insufficient rainfall and widespread pest infestation in crops, about 40 percent of the population will experience food deficits in 2000, notably during the 'hunger gap' period from March to September." Such critical food shortages will be "exacerbated by the expected continuing influx of returnees and internally displaced people fleeing the fighting in northern Bahr el Ghazal and western Upper Nile," Ishida said. LWF's Sudan Emergency Operation began in 1988. By 1991 LWF focused on the large-scale delivery system of food on behalf of an ecumenical development consortium. Since then, LWF has distributed hundreds of metric tons of seeds and cereals and has provided other materials needed for the rehabilitation of the population, Ishida said. "The funds sent by the ELCA will help provide food security, skills training and income generation, secondary school education, and capacity building and training," Ishida said. Members of the ELCA contribute funds to the church's International Disaster Response fund. Coordinated through the ELCA Division for Global Mission, the International Disaster Response helps relief agencies provide food, medicine, drinking water, emergency shelter, and other materials and supplies. Funds are also used to rebuild communities and to repair structures destroyed by major disasters.
INTERNATIONAL DISASTERS:
Editors: When listing organizations receiving funds for aid to
survivors of major disasters outside the United States, Puerto Rico or
the U.S. Virgin Islands, please include:
Lutheran World Relief
PO Box 17061
Baltimore, MD 21298-9832
1-800-LWR-LWR2
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html
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About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with 2.8 million members in more than 8,500 worshiping communities across the 50 states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of "God's work. Our hands.," the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA's roots are in the writings of the German church reformer Martin Luther.
For information contact:
Candice Hill Buchbinder
Public Relations Manager
Candice.HillBuchbinder@ELCA.org
