Hurricane Work Groups
Urgently Needed This Fall

Thursday, August 17, A.D. 2006

As Disciples prepare to launch a major two-year hurricane recovery initiative to send 750 volunteer work groups to the Gulf South from September 1, 2006 to August 31, 2008, scores of congregations are already calling for details, work trip grant applications, and to schedule work trips. There is an urgent need for work groups for September and October for all five Disciples mission stations and several interfaith recovery groups with whom we are working. And there is a particular need for skilled volunteers for two upcoming Disciples/Habitat Builds, one in Lake Charles, LA, October 14-28 and the other in Beaumont, TX, November 4-18. Please call Tod Iseminger in Disciples Home Missions' Office of Disciples Volunteering at 888.346.2631 or 317.713.2649 for details and scheduling. Week of Compassion work trip grants are available. A printable form can be downloaded from the WOC website, www.weekofcompassion.org, or call Elaine Cleveland at 317.713.2442.

Church Partners Respond to Returning Refugees

As a fragile cease-fire continues to hold between Israel and Hezbollah, thousands of displaced and war-weary persons are returning to their homes in southern Lebanon and northern Israel even before the U.N. peacekeeping forces arrive. With so many people displaced (more than 1 million) and so much infrastructure destroyed, relief agencies face enormous challenges. Action by Churches Together (ACT), through the Middle East Council of Churches and International Orthodox Christian Charities and a network of local churches and church-related organizations, is providing emergency assistance to thousands of displaced persons. ACT has issued a major appeal to its members for $4.6 million dollars, to which Week of Compassion is working to provide $60,000. WOC has sent $20,000 already and is preparing to send another grant this week. Designated contributions are needed and can be made via the WOC website: www.weekofcompassion.org or sent to WOC, P.O. Box 1986, Indpls, IN 46206. Contributions will be used in their entirety for war relief and recovery efforts. Click here to read a recent release from ACT on the dangers and difficulties the church faces in providing humanitarian relief in the midst of war, and click here to read the most recent update from ACT partners on the ground.

Elsewhere This Week

Week of Compassion is also responding this week to emergency requests from church partners in India for the massive flooding that has driven 4.5 million people from their homes; in East Timor to assist thousands of displaced from the country's civil strife; in Niger to support ongoing food security efforts in the aftermath of last year's drought; and in El Paso, TX, to aid with flood relief. For a complete list of WOC's disaster and development responses for the year, visit the interactive map/poster page on the WOC website. The WOC Office has copies of the WOC map poster still available for interested congregations. Email or call Elaine Cleveland (ecleveland@woc.disciples.org - 317.713.2442) for a complimentary copy.