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South Asia Aid: Episcopal Relief and Development disburses first $250,000 in long-term response
Planning begins for strategic outreach as crisis continues
Episcopal News Service
Issue:
Section:
ENS 123004-01
Posted: Thursday, December 30, 2004
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Putting congregations' and individuals' donations to immediate use, Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) has disbursed its first $250,000 in emergency aid to regions hard hit by the South Asian tsunami disaster. The agency also asks Episcopalians to continue financial contributions needed to assist in long-term, strategic response.
"This is not a response of two weeks; it's a response of 10 years," said ERD Vice President Don Hammond, who is now working with colleagues to coordinate the Episcopal Church's response, including liaison with U.S. congregations that have Sri Lankan, Indian, and other South Asian constituencies.
Needs are unprecedented as the death toll nears 100,000 with homelessness, illness, and orphaned children also on the rise. Hammond said ERD's web site, www.er-d.org, received visits at the rate of one per minute December 29-30. An ERD bulletin insert is available on-line for use in congregations. Groups and individuals may forward contributions on-line (www.er-d.org) or by postal mail: Episcopal Relief and Development, South Asia Relief Fund, P.O. Box 12043, Newark, NJ 07101.
"We at ERD are already planning how we are going to work beside, and with, those affected over the next few months and years as they rebuild their lives," said ERD President Sandra Swan. "ERD is a ministry of the whole church, for the whole world, and this disaster just points up how interconnected we are. Episcopalians have been extremely generous already, and we are getting relief funds and supplies as quickly as possible to those suffering."
Working with Anglican partners in South Asia, ERD has sent $50,000 to the Church in Sri Lanka where the agency is also working to provide emergency shelter materials, $50,000 to the Church of North India, and $50,000 to the Church of South India. ERD has also sent $100,000 to assist the ecumenical work of Church World Service in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand.
Episcopal Church mission volunteers serving the disaster areas include Randall Giles in Chennai, India, and Katharine Babson, who will soon arrive in Myanmar.
Dioceses across the Episcopal Church are creating partner responses with ERD. Tthese initiatives include the following: The Diocese of Connecticut has allocated funds of $10,000 and called upon its congregations to match or exceed that amount. Response continues in the Diocese of New York, which has a companion relationship with the church in Madras. Florida dioceses have also made lead gifts to ERD, as has the Diocese of Minnesota. On the West Coast, Bishop Johncy Itty, who was born in one of India's devastated regions, is leading response from the Diocese of Oregon, while Bishop William Swing in San Francisco has called all in the Diocese of California to generous response. Meanwhile, Seattle-based ERD regional representative Brian Sellers-Peterson is working with All Saints Church in Pasadena, Calif., to generate matching funds from varied sources.
Looking ahead to long-term response, the Presiding Bishop's Office has convened strategic planning meetings involving ERD and several departments of the Episcopal Church Center, including the Office of Anglican and Global Relations, the Office of the Suffragan Bishop for Chaplaincies (including the Armed Forces), and the Office of Communication. These consultations will be widened to include the Episcopal Church's Office of Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations, Office of Government Relations, and Office of Peace and Justice Ministries.
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