When Disaster Comes, Compassion Responds

In recent weeks, communities across the United States and around the world have faced an extraordinary succession of disasters.  

Storms and floods. Wildfires.  Earthquakes.  And now, catastrophic flooding in Nepal.

Each disaster has its own story.  Each represents lives lost or disrupted, families grieving, homes and livelihoods damaged, and communities beginning what may be a long journey toward recovery. 

With so much happening at once, it can be difficult to know where to begin.

For Week of Compassion, we begin where we always do: with relationships.

At Home
Across the United States and Canada, communities are responding to Hurricane Lala, severe flooding across the Midwest, and wildfires affecting multiple states and territories. 

Behind every headline are families, congregations, and communities facing difficult decisions about what comes next. Week of Compassion continues to connect with Disciples congregations and ecumenical partners in affected areas, responding to immediate needs while also looking toward the longer work of recovery.

We know from experience that recovery does not end when the storm passes, the water recedes, or the fire is contained. Week of Compassion remains committed to walking alongside communities for the long haul.

Around the World
Internationally, our partners are also responding to multiple emergencies, including the recent earthquake in Venezuela and catastrophic flash flooding in Nepal.

On August 26, a devastating flash flood swept through Nepal’s Bhote Koshi and Trishuli river systems. Communities have been devastated; people remain missing; and homes, businesses, agricultural land and critical infrastructure have been destroyed. Roads and bridges have been washed away, leaving some communities isolated and making rescue and relief efforts difficult.

The situation continues to change as responders reach areas that have been cut off. 

Local responders and Week of Compassion partners like ACT Alliance and Global Ministries are already mobilizing in communities affected by catastrophic flooding in Nepal. (Photo Credit: ACT Alliance)

Through Global Ministries and ACT Alliance, partners already rooted in Nepal are mobilizing emergency assistance and assessing the needs of affected communities. Immediate priorities include shelter, food, safe drinking water, health care, protection and psychosocial support. The work will eventually move toward restoring livelihoods, rebuilding homes and strengthening communities for the long recovery ahead. 

​Our Response Begins with Relationships
Week of Compassion does not arrive in a community after disaster and begin building relationships. Those relationships are already there.  

Through Disciples congregations and regions, ecumenical partners, community organizations, and long-standing relationships around the world, Week of Compassion is able to respond because people who know these communities are already present—listening, organizing, caring for neighbors and deterring what is needed most.

Our role is to accompany them.

That means listening before acting. It means supporting locally led responses. And it means remaining present long after the immediate emergency has disappeared from the headlines.  

Some of the disasters we respond to will receive international attention. Others may receive little attention beyond the communities living through them.

Our commitment does not depend on how much attention a disaster receives.

Three Ways to Respond
Your gifts to Week of Compassion make it possible for the whole church to respond to the emergencies we see—and those we don’t.

U.S. Storms and Fires
Gifts with this designation support Week of Compassion responses to hurricanes, flooding, wildfires and other disasters affecting communities across the United States.
International Emergency Response
These designated gifts support emergency response and recovery alongside partners responding to disasters around the world, including the earthquake in Venezuela and catastrophic flooding in Nepal.
Where Most Needed
Undesignated gifts provide Week of Compassion the flexibility to respond wherever needs emerge—including disasters and communities that may never make the headlines. 

However you choose to give, your generosity strengthens locally rooted responses and accompanies communities from immediate relief through long-term recovery.

Thank you for being part of a church that chooses compassion—at home and around the world.

Give to Support Week of Compassion

Resources For Worship: ready-to-use resources for your congregation
We invite Disciples congregations to remember communities affected by disasters in worship. The following resources may be used or adapted freely.

Congregational Update
Over the past several weeks, communities across the United States, Canada, and around the world have experienced an extraordinary number of disasters—from hurricanes, floods and wildfires here at home to earthquakes and catastrophic flooding internationally.

Week of Compassion is responding through relationships already rooted in these communities. Through Disciples congregations and regions, ecumenical partners, our gifts help local partners respond to immediate needs and accompany communities through the long work of recovery.

Today we remember all those who have lost loved ones, homes and livelihoods; those waiting for news of people still missing; and those working to care for their neighbors.

We also remember communities whose disasters may never make our news.

Through Week of Compassion, we can pray, give, and respond together. 

Invitation to Give
When we give through Week of Compassion, we join a network of relationships that reaches across our own communities and around the world.

Our gifts provide relief when disaster strikes, accompany communities through long-term recovery, and make it possible to respond even when an emergency receives little public attention.

Today, we invite you to give generously—to support communities affected by storms and fires in the United States, international emergency responses, or wherever the need is greatest.

Together, our compassion becomes accompaniment, and our generosity becomes hope.

A Prayer for Communities Affected by Disaster
God who accompanies us, we pray that your steadying presence be felt by all who are experiencing disaster. From Indiana to Nevada to Hawaii, from Venezuela to Nepal, we pray for those who have lost homes, lost loved ones, lost a sense of stability in their community. We pray for search and rescue teams, looking for survivors in the midst of earthquakes and floods. 

God, we pray for each place impacted by disaster, both known and unknown to us but always known by you. Where there is fear, bring comfort. Where there is instability, bring community. We pray that you give your church the courage to respond with compassion and by building deeper relationships with those most impacted. 

God, in this time of tumult and chaos, thank you for being a constant presence and source of peace. Help your church, the body of Christ, embody that presence and peace as we continue to respond. Amen.