Episcopal Relief & Development Applauded for Emergency Response, Increased Giving
Episcopal News Service. September 29, 2004 [092904-1]
The House of Bishops, meeting yesterday in Spokane, Washington, applauded Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) for the agency's overall emergency-response services and a 40-percent increase in giving, while also receiving advance word of the Bishop of Pittsburgh's announcement today that a parallel agency has been launched under the auspices of the Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes (NACDAP).
"Giving to ERD is up by 40 percent over last year even before adding the recent outpouring of support for hurricane response," Bishop Harry Bainbridge III of Idaho, chairman of ERD's board of directors, told the bishops yesterday. ERD's total expenditures in 2003 were $7.9 million; expenditures are projected at $8.5 million for 2004.
The ERD chairman also advised the bishops regarding Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan's announcement today of the formation of an "Anglican Relief and Development" fund, envisioned to serve donors and aid recipients who apparently decline affiliation with ERD because, among other reasons, the Episcopal Church of which it is a part includes an openly gay bishop in the Diocese of New Hampshire.
Duncan is moderator of the Network, which challenges the ministries of openly gay clergy and laity, and with which diocesan conventions of eight of the Episcopal Church's 112 dioceses have voted to affiliate.
Bishops commenting on the announcement said that careful clarification would now be necessary to distinguish the identity of ERD, with its 60-year record of service, from the similarly named ARD.
Formation of the new fund comes after a September 23 statement from Archbishop Henry Orombi, declaring that the Anglican Church of Uganda would no longer accept grants from ERD or the Episcopal Church's United Thank Offering. "The Bishop of Luweero has notified UTO that he is returning the US$30,000 recently received from a 2004 UTO grant to his diocese," Orombi said in the statement. (For full statement, see ACNS 3889 http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_51498_ENG_HTM.htm. )
According to a news release from the Diocese of Pittsburgh, Duncan's announcement came today at a meeting in Jacksonville, Florida, of the Network's deans and steering committee. Duncan did not attend the House of Bishops meeting in Spokane.
The news release further states that the Most Rev. Peter Akinola, primate of the Anglican Church in Nigeria, has agreed to serve as patron of the new fund, and that the chairman of its board of trustees is the Very Rev. Peter C. Moore, president emeritus of Trinity Episcopal Seminary in Ambridge, Pennsylvania.
The release quotes Moore's statement that the new fund is "trying to do something to be of very practical help to the Global South. The needs there are almost incomprehensible to us; but they are a daily reality for them."
According to the Pittsburgh release, the new fund is "working to fund a total budget of $1.25 million," said Moore. The money will then be apportioned among scores of projects identified and vetted by an established philanthropic organization called Geneva Global. The projects, most with an individual cost between $10,000 and $30,000, will do "everything from building clinics in poor areas of Cairo, Egypt, to support evangelism efforts in Argentina," said Moore.
In a statement, Moore added: "Geneva Global is both research and donor partner. Geneva's professional staff of over 50 and its existing volunteer field force of over 400 will work with our own Episcopal and Anglican missionaries to identify and research the best high impact
projects in the Anglican Communion. Projects that have been carefully qualified will be sent to the Fund's Trustees for their consideration.
Geneva currently does similar work for other donors desiring to fund the best projects in the Global South. Through its own Foundation, Geneva Global has also offered to match the first $2 million raised with an additional $500,000 contribution."
"We will channel North American Anglicans' contributions directly to the best local projects in poorer countries," Moore said in a statement that also named three additional sitting primates among trustees of the fund:
* The Most Rev. Datuk Yong Ping Chung, Archbishop of the Church of the Province of South East Asia and Bishop of Sabah
* The Most Rev. Henry L. Orombi, Archbishop of the Church of the Province of Uganda
* The Most Rev. Drexel W. Gomez, Archbishop of the Church in the Province of the West Indies
* The Anglican Church in Kenya's retired primate, the Most Rev. Dr. David M. Gitari, Archbishop of the Anglican Church in Kenya.
The Diocese of Pittsburgh identifies other trustees as laypersons Laura Allen, William Blackburn, and Paul Marshall, and clergy Greg Brewer of Good Samaritan, Paoli, Pennsylvania, and Praveen Bunyan of Newport Beach, California.
News releases further identify the Rev. Simon Barnes as senior vice-president of Geneva Global and an Episcopal priest.
Reports say the new fund is located at the offices of Geneva Global in Radnor, Pennsylvania.
Following are facts about Episcopal Relief and Development
(from www.er-d.org)
Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) is a compassionate response of the Episcopal Church to human suffering in the world. For more than 60 years, ERD has worked in more than 100 countries providing emergency relief in times of disaster, rebuilding devastated communities after the immediate crisis is over, and supporting long-term solutions to challenging problems.
Formerly known as the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief, the organization's name was changed to Episcopal Relief and Development in July 2000. Episcopal Relief and Development is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization governed by a 21-person Board of Directors. The Board is responsible for governance of the organization.
EMERGENCY RELIEF
ERD provides relief after disasters strike and helps supply food, water, shelter, and other basic necessities. ERD does this by providing funding and expertise to Episcopal churches in the affected area. Sometimes, ERD partners with ecumenical organizations.
REHABILITATION
ERD helps rebuild after the immediate crisis is over by remaining with communities. ERD partners with local communities to construct new buildings, replant crops, restore clean water systems, and repair clinics and schools.
DEVELOPMENT
ERD finds long-term solutions that make life safer, healthier, and more productive. In partnership with Episcopal and Anglican Churches and grassroots organizations, we help people earn an income for their families by providing them with seeds, training, and livestock. We build medical clinics, support home care for HIV/AIDS patients, and train rural health workers to prevent diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis.