P.B. Fund Board Meets, Makes Grants
Episcopal News Service. February 13, 1986 [86026]
SAN ANTONIO (DPS, Feb. 13) -- The Board of Directors of the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief met prior to the Executive Council Meeting here on February 2-4. The Board's Chairman, Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning, attending his first Board meeting, heard from the Executive Director, the Rev. Canon Samir J. Habiby, that the Fund had received a record sum of just under $10 million in 1985.
Habiby gave thanks for "the witness of thousands of Episcopalians and their friends, who responded compassionately to the needs of millions around the world." He went on to observe that, "If the growth was unprecedented, so was the demand," commenting on the "terrible disasters" which characterized the year 1985.
Church contributions totalled $6,271,749 in 1985, compared to $4,073,451 in 1984. U.S. Government funds for domestic refugee resettlement and for the Southern Sudan Refugee Assistance Project totalled some $2.1 million. The balance came from a carryover from the previous year and from Venture in Mission monies specifically designated for the use of the Fund.
While about fifty percent of these contributions came in response to the Fund's Special Appeals -- over $2.4 million for African appeals; over $500,000 for the Mexican earthquake; and over $150,000 for the volcanic disaster in Colombia;-- there was also growth in undesignated contributions to the Fund. This was attributed to efforts by the Board, the staff, and the network volunteers of the Fund.
Four dioceses -- Connecticut, Los Angeles, New York and Virginia -- exceeded $200,000 in contributions for the first time in the Fund's history, with Los Angeles leading with total contributions of $276,399. Twenty-three dioceses more than doubled their 1984 contributions. In commenting on this, Habiby said that it represented "a record of commitment and compassion for which the Board and staff can give thanks and praise to God."
After reviewing the program areas of the Fund, Habiby expressed the hope that a goal of total contributions of ten million dollars from the Episcopal Church was attainable by 1988.
The Board later heard from the Rev. Charles Sherlock, director for the Fund-supported Child Care Centers in Ethiopia, which serve children orphaned in the famine. Sherlock described the rehabilitation efforts and needs in Ethiopia. He also discussed the Anglican Child Care program, which will be part of a major fund-raising drive. The Board also heard from the Rt. Rev. Clovis Rodrigues, Anglican Bishop of Recife, Brazil, concerning the poverty in his diocese.
The Board approved grants of over $800,000, in addition to endorsing emergency and Special Appeal grants totalling $289,000 which had been by passed by the Executive Committee, chaired by the Hon. Leonard S. Coleman, Jr., Diocese of New Jersey.
The chairmen of the Administration and Finance Committee, the Very Rev. G. Cecil Woods, former dean of Virginia Theological Seminary, reported on the Special Appeals grants. Those for East Africa included two grants totalling $125,000 to the Church of Uganda. The first of these was in response to Archbishop Yona Okoth's appeal for relief assistance to civil war victims. It would provide shelter, clothing and medicines as well as seeds and farming implements. The second was to provide core support for the Church of Uganda in its planning, development and rehabilitation program. These grants served to supplement an earlier one of $150,000.
In Southern Africa, the Diocese of Namibia received $49,000 for the Onekwaya school cafeteria and youth farm, which had been set up for children forcibly removed from the war zone. This completed the Fund's commitment to match, dollar for dollar, a $79,000 gift from the Diocese of Hawaii. The close relationship between these dioceses was exemplified by the presence for the Bishop of Namibia, the Rt. Rev. James Kauluma, at Browning's installation as Presiding Bishop.
Other Special Appeal grants went to Ethiopia, the Province of the Sudan and Beirut University College. The Diocese of Jerusalem received two grants. The first was for an Anglican housing project in Nazareth. The second for a multi-purpose vehicle for the transportation of thirty refugee children attending St. George's Anglican School in the city of Jerusalem. This school is the only institution in the area that provides a certificate of matriculation accepted by both the Jordanian and the Israeli systems.
The refugee grants were reported out by the chair of the Refugee/Migration Committee, Beverly P. Eggleston, III, of the Diocese of Virginia. Domestic refugee grants went to:
- The Diocese of Long Island for its refugee resettlement program;
- The Diocese of Chicago for its migration ministries, through its affiliated social service agency, Cathedral Shelter of Chicago;
- The Diocese of Utah for Guadeloupe Educational Programs, Inc., a program of individual instruction in survival English to non-English speaking adults;
- The Dioceses of Texas and West Texas for a three-year development education program, Heart of the Matter, to deal with the tensions and problems arising from immigration;
- The Diocese of Ohio for the Southeast Asian population in Toledo metropolitan area;
- The Diocese of Los Angeles for El Rescate, a project of the Southern California Ecumenical Council to meet the social and legal emergencies of the Central American refugee community.
Several grants for overseas refugee projects were also approved. The Lebanon Archdeaconry of the Diocese of Jerusalem received $50,000 for the St. Luke's Center for the Mentally Retarded, serving severely retarded children. This is one of two such institutions and is unique in an area undergoing sectarian strife in being multi-religious in both students and staff. A project serving refugees from the Tigray region in Ethiopia who have settled in the cities of the Sudan was funded through Grassroots International, an organization in the Diocese of Massachusetts. This project was also approved by the Episcopal Church of the Sudan.
A nonpolitical and humanitarian organization, Aesculapius International Medicine, located in the Diocese of New York, received $20,000 for its health care teams serving the thousands of displaced persons in El Salvador. The Diocese of Faisalabad in Pakistan received $50,000 for the Ansari Hospital in Quetta to provide medical aid, food, shelter and refuge for the victims of the war in Afghanistan.
A total of 23 development and education grants were reported by the chair of the Grants Committee, the Rev. Dr. John C. Harper, rector of St. John's, Washington, D.C. The Diocese of Natal in South Africa received $3,000, as part of a multi-agency funding package, for the Philisiwe Clinic. A training grant for $15,000 went to the St. Columba's Development Project in the Diocese of Matabeleland, Zimbabwe.
World Neighbors received $30,000 for its Ayacucho Development Program in Peru to train Quechua-speaking extension agents. Another training grant for $20,000 went to the Foundation of the South Pacific for the Hanuatek Small Business Center in Papua/New Guinea. This seeks to develop entrepreneurial skills among poor people in order to create employment. This organization also received a $10,000 grant for its work in Aguan in Papua/New Guinea to discourage rural youth from leaving school and migrating to the cities.
The Diocese of South Central Brazil's Terrae Solidariedade project to resettle ten landless families and provide training for rural youth was granted $12,500. The Diocese of Jamaica pastoral care program received $10,000. Another training grant went to the Capaciacion Tecnica Para Familias Marginadas ($30,000) in the Dioces of El Salvador.
Domestic hunger received attention: Food banks in San Antonio and Corpus Christi in the Diocese of West Texas and the Eastern Illinois Foodbank in The Diocese of Springfield received grant support. Requests from the St. Louis Food Crisis Network and Oregon Food Share also were granted.
The Development Institute at the UCLA African Studies Center, partially supported by the Diocese of Los Angeles, received a further grant of $80,000 to continue its work training people from overseas as well as missionary personnel and volunteers in development principles. The Institute is also supported by Catholic Relief Services and World Vision International.
Three projects were funded through the Appalachian People Service Organization (APSO). These were Madison County Crafts, Inc. in the Diocese of Western North Carolina; Dungannon Development Project in the Diocese of Southwestern Virginia; and Good Samaritan Project of Rural Cumberland Resources in the Diocese of Tennessee.
In final action, reported by the acting chair of the Education and Communication Committee, Dr. Carroll Brewster, president of Hobart and William Smith College, Geneva, N.Y., the Board welcomed the new Assistant for Interpretation and Network Development, Dr. David E. Crean. Crean shared some ideas regarding the Fund's promotional activities.
The Board approved a change in the Fund's newsletter which would now be titled Anchor 86. They also approved two major audiovisual resources, one on the overall ministry of the Fund, which would replace "Yes, A Difference", and the other, in Spanish, on the work of the Fund in Latin America and among Hispanic communities in the United States.