Aid to U.S. Midwest Continues

Thursday, January 25, A.D. 2007

Week of Compassion (WOC) funds are working across the Midwest to help loosen the icy grip of some of the worst winter storms to strike the U.S. heartland in recent history. WOC is assisting seven congregations in the Ozark Lakes Area of the Mid-America region (National Avenue CC and Brentwood CC, Springfield, MO; First CC, Mt. Vernon, MO; First CC, Aurora, MO; First CC, Butler, MO; First CC, Elkland, MO; and Nixa (MO) CC) that are providing shelter, warming and feeding services in their communities. WOC has also provided an emergency grant to Kansas Ecumenical Ministries in response to the widespread needs of rural families in the western part of that state. And WOC funds are also being utilized by the Christian Church in Oklahoma to provide generators and chain saws for emergency power and debris cleanup at Camp Christian, Choteau, and South Grand Lake CC, Langley.

Click here for an inside view from the pastor at National Avenue Christian Church.
Click here for another story about a church serving as a shelter in Mount Vernon, Missouri.

Steve Cranford presents a check for $5,000 from Week of Compassion to Sherry Triggs, executive directory of Kansas Ecumenical Ministries (KEM) 

A Story That Never Makes the Headlines

Here’s one of those stories that never makes the headlines or the evening news! In the small, central African nation of Burundi, thousands of people have been displaced by heavy rains and flooding. Important food crops, such as beans, corn, potatoes and peanuts, have been destroyed, raising serious concerns about a severe food shortage for the next several months.

Action by Churches Together (ACT) members in Burundi, including the National Council of Churches of Burundi, have joined together to distribute emergency food and blankets to 1000 households. ACT has rushed a $50,000 grant to Burundi from the ACT Rapid Response Fund to undergird those efforts. (Week of Compassion makes periodic grants to this fund so we Disciples can be included in responses to these kinds of overlooked disasters that happen regularly throughout the world.)

Souper Bowl of Caring

The Super Bowl is only a little over one week away! You know what that means! It's time to register for the SOUPER BOWL OF CARING! While many of us are watching the Super Bowl, so many in our country and world have not even a bowl of soup to eat. So...if you have not done so already, please visit www.souperbowl.org to register officially in the Souper Bowl of Caring. As Disciples of Christ, we are one of the strongest supporters of this ecumenical effort to fight poverty and end hunger. Last year we broke a record by raising close to $95,000, and this year's goal is $150,000. We can do it! So let's rally together, get those soup pots ready to collect $1 from each person attending church on Super Bowl Sunday, and then watch how much good we can do by pooling our resources together. Questions? Contact Amy Gopp, agopp@woc.disciples.org.

Map for Congregations

Click here for the latest additions to the WOC interactive map/poster. For a complimentary copy of the WOC map/poster for your congregation, call the office at 317.713.2442 or send an e-mail to ecleveland@woc.disciples.org.