African Refugees, Others, Receive PB Fund Aid
Episcopal News Service. May 18, 1978 [78151]
GREENWICH, Conn. -- A $15,000 grant to provide pastoral help for refugees in Botswana was made by the Board of Directors of the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief, meeting here May 15-16. The grant, which will be administered by the Rt. Rev. Shannon Mallory, Anglican Bishop of Botswana, will help provide salary, housing, transportation and program funds for a priest who will work with the increasing number of refugees pouring into Botswana from South Africa, Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) and Namibia.
Most of the refugees in Botswana are between the ages of 16 and 20, come from urban environments, and are unprepared for life and conditions in a rural, agricultural environment. The priest will work on a one-to-one pastoral counseling basis to help these young refugees cope with the problems of readjustment.
Money for this grant was allocated from contributions to the Fund's special African Refugee Appeal, launched last fall by Presiding Bishop John M. Allin.
The Board also made 11 other rehabilitation and development grants:
- TAP Water Project, Inc., Vermont -- $5,000 in continuing support for a program to bring plumbing and sewage facilities to houses in rural areas of the state. The Fund gave $20,000 to TAP in 1977.
- Committee on Social Betterment of Province IX -- $9,000 towards the services of a critically-needed construction engineer/project supervisor for a housing program in various dioceses of the Episcopal Church's Central American Province.
- Appalachian People's Service Organization (APSO) -- $6,000 for the Kentucky Mountain Housing project, to help secure government building funds for lowincome housing and to coordinate the repair work of 500 church volunteers in the Kentucky area.
- AFRICARE -- $25,399 for a vegetable production project in Seguenga, Upper Volta, including well construction and vegetable gardening. This grant is funded from a special $911,000 gift from the Diocese of Rochester
- Ecumenical Coalition of the Mahoning Valley, Youngstown, Ohio -- $15,000 to support a feasability study for wide-ranging program dealing with the problems of massive unemployment and economic depression resulting from the closing of major industries in the Youngstown area. This program has also received funding from the Diocese of Ohio and from the national Church's Coalition for Human Needs, as well as an additional $10,000 emergency grant from the Fund in March.
- Diocese of Northern Mexico -- $4,250 for additional staff and equipment at the St. John's Mission Medical Dispensary, Reynosa. The clinic serves an average of 1,200 patients a year. This grant will enable the clinic to operate on a full-time basis.
- Action Training Network of Ohio -- $4,000 to support this ecumenical model for a public policy network on local, state and world hunger. The grant will assist member denominations in training church people as advocates for public policy changes on hunger issues.
- Hunger Ecumenical Action Taskforce (HEAT), Los Angeles -- $12,000 from the Diocese of Rochester gift for a hunger outreach and advocacy program for the poor of greater Los Angeles. HEAT is sponsored by the Southern California Council of Churches.
- Diocese of Los Angeles -- $12,000 (including a $1,000 emergency grant made April 11) for the Episcopal Church Immigration Service, to provide legal assistance for undocumented immigrants arriving in southern California.
- Diocese of West Virginia -- $2,000 to the Highland Education Project (HEP). This program offers a multiplicity of services to the poor in McDowell County, including senior citizens and youth ministries, clothing distribution, theological training for miners, and pastoral counseling.
- Diocese of Ecuador -- $24,600 to help expand the successful Indian education program in the Oriente region. Training includes agricultural techniques, dressmaking, basic literacy, livestock care and handicrafts. The Fund made an initial grant of $24,600 to this project in 1976.
The Board approved a special grant of $9,000 to set up an Episcopal Church Ad Hoc Committee on Immigration and Refugee Concerns. The committee, which will operate under the supervision of the Executive Director of the Presiding Bishop's Fund, will sponsor a series of conferences across the country to deal with the problems of immigrants and refugees in the U. S. The committee will also serve as a starting point for the development of a church-wide network to aid in refugee and immigrant placement.
This grant, made in response to concerns expressed by the Eighth Province at its 53rd Synod, received special support in a formal resolution by the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church which met here immediately following the Fund's Board meeting. The Council resolution also instructed the Fund's Executive Director to convey to Church World Service (CWS), the relief arm of the National Council of Churches, "this Church's support of ecumenical community centers serving refugees and immigrants" and urged that federal funds be made available to CWS to support such centers. (Editors, see DPS release # 78145.)
The Board also ratified the following emergency grants made since its February meeting:
- Diocese of New York -- $500 and $750 for emergency housing assistance for two African refugee students.
- Church World Service -- $2,500 for food and supplies for Tamil refugees in Sri Lanka (Ceylon).
- APSO -- $5,000 in food and other relief for coal miners in West Virginia, Virginia and Kentucky, during recent strike.
- Diocese of Nicaragua -- $5,000 for food and medical assistance during recent civil strife.
- Church World Service -- $8,000 in emergency relief for displaced persons in Lebanon.
- St. John's Church, Guam -- $3,000 to rebuild vicarage after fire.
- St. Luke's Center for the Mentally Retarded, Beirut, Lebanon -- $3,000 in emergency aid after bombing.
Mr. Joseph Hargrove of Shreveport, La., presented the final report of the Ad Hoc Committee on relationships between the Fund and Church World Service. The committee, formed in September 1977 at the request of the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church, held several meetings with representatives of CWS to discuss the agency's budgeting procedures -- especially in the area of overhead costs -- Mr. Hargrove said that the conversations with CWS were very helpful in identifying cost items in the CWS budget but that some budgetary areas needed further clarification. He also said that his committee recommends that the Fund "insist, to the greatest extent practicable," that CWS develop a systematic reporting procedure for project evaluation. and the need for current and accurate project evaluation of CWS projects around the world.
Mr. Hargrove said that the conversations with CWS were very helpful in identifying cost items in the CWS budget but that some budgetary areas needed further clarification. He also said that his committee recommends that the Fund "insist, to the greatest extent practicable," that CWS develop a systematic reporting procedure for project evaluation.
The committee also recommended the recruitment of "qualified nonstaff members of the Church, and particularly lay people," for work on CWS committees and subcommittees.
Regarding Episcopal Church support of the CWS base budget, Mr. Hargrove's committee recommended that beginning with the 1980 triennium one third of the Church's support be paid from the General Church Program Budget, and two thirds by the Fund. At present the Fund pays the entire Episcopal Church share of the CWS operating budget.
The Ad Hoc Committee's report to the Executive Council contained two resolutions which were adopted by Council. In the first resolution, the Council agreed to consider the committee's funding recommendation for the 1980 triennium; and in the second, the Council supported the Board's initiative for continuing negotiations with CWS. (Editors: see DPS release # 78145.)
Presiding Bishop John M. Allin joined the meeting on the second day and complimented the Board on its increased efficiency resulting from a recent restructuring process. For the past year the group has been functioning with committees for grants, communication/education and administration/finance. A great deal of planning and preliminary work is done in committees prior to discussion and vote by the entire Board in plenary sessions.
Bishop Allin also thanked the Board and the Fund's new Executive Director, the Rev. Samir J. Habiby for effecting a smooth transition in the granting process since the retirement of Mrs. Howard O. Bingley, former Executive Director.
The Board welcomed Fr. Habiby to his first meeting as Executive Director. Fr. Habiby was rector of St. Anselm's Church, Garden Grove, Calif., and was active in refugee work in the Diocese of Los Angeles prior to assuming his new post on April 1.