WOC Committee Meets
Wed., April 28, A.D. 2004

The Week of Compassion Committee met in St. Louis, MO April 22-23. Under the leadership of Chair Roger Fisher of Ft. Worth, TX, the Committee approved grants from the Compassion Response Fund for revised and expanded emergency appeals from Church World Service for Haiti and Liberia. Ten grants for self-help development projects were also approved for projects in Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa, Liberia, Nicaragua, Argentina, China and India, and numerous reports and updates were received from previously funded projects. In response to the growing interest in Foods Resource Bank, the Committee also allocated $25,000 to support at least 25 community growing projects. Last year, WOC provided $10,700 in grants to 11 such projects that returned more than $76,000 to FRB which was then matched dollar for dollar. In other words, a $10,700 investment from WOC became more than $150,000 that can now be used to help hungry people in the world grow their own food.

Disciples pastor and FRB representative Fran Schnarre visited with the Committee and shared the story of the growing partnership between FRB, WOC and local Disciples congregations.

The Committee celebrated the continued good support from Disciples members and congregations across the whole church. At the end of the first quarter, regular giving to WOC was $1,142,490, up 3.09%, and designated giving for the same period was $115,491, up 140.77%. The Committee also was pleased to learn that the WOC endowment funds in the Christian Church Foundation have grown to $1,335,915, up by more than $86,000 since the end of the year.

The next meeting of the Committee will be October 28-30 at the CWS Service Center in New Windsor, MD.

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Late Friday evening an explosion rocked a chemical plant in Illiopolis, IL. Four people were killed and numerous others injured, many of them critical. The entire town was evacuated. WOC has been in touch with the Christian Church of Illiopolis, and the pastor, Melissa Meers, reports that most of the immediate needs are being handled. However, Melissa is deeply concerned about the long-term economic and psychological impact on the community. WOC is now in touch with CWS about the possibility of using its expertise in technological disasters and trauma counseling to assist the people and churches of Illiopolis.

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Tuesday morning, WOC Director Johnny Wray joined UCC colleague Susan Sanders and CWS International Consultant Ivan DeKam for a ten-day trip to southern Africa. They will be visiting partners and projects in Mozambique and Zimbabwe as part of a commitment by the Disciples, the UCC and CWS to respond to drought/famine that has gripped the area over the past several years. WOC continues to provide support to several Church World Service appeals in the region, as well as support a major effort of Disciples and UCCs to provide seeds to some 75,000 families so that they may grow an adequate supply of food to feed themselves. We would appreciate your prayers!