Presiding Bishop's Fund Grants of $833,035 Extend a Network of Caring Around the Globe
Episcopal News Service. April 29, 1991 [91107]
The Board of Directors of the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief announced a total of $833,035 in grants for the first quarter of 1991, during an April meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Although the grants will help to extend a network of caring around the globe, the desperate needs of the Kurdish people, the continuing suffering of the victims of the war in the Persian Gulf, and the life and death struggle of the people in the Sudan elicited the largest portion of grants this quarter.
The people of Sudan are in danger of dying by the millions because of continuing civil war, a lengthy drought, and an epidemic of meningitis. John Atkins, a liaison between the church in the Sudan and the Anglican Communion who is stationed in Kenya, said that "despite all this suffering the [Sudanese] people have a sweet and courageous spirit." The PB's Fund sent $100,000 to Archbishop B.W. Yugusuk to be used for relief and rehabilitation.
In addition to the $200,000 sent to the bishops of Jerusalem and the Middle East and Cyprus and the Gulf, the fund has awarded a total of $115,120 in emergency grants to the Middle East since September 1990.
In. an immediate response to the Kurdish disaster, the fund sent $25,000 to assist the Middle East Council of Churches in relief work. "We work through the Anglican bishops, through the Middle East Council of Churches, and through Church World Service," said Nan Marvel, director of the grants program. (See separate story.)
In addition to short-term disaster and crisis relief, the fund continued to send aid to projects aimed at long-term development, including purchase of agricultural equipment, creation of loan funds for improved housing, and purchase of preventive medicines.
A review of the grants by region around the globe shows: $262,528 was sent to dioceses in Africa, $200,000 to the Middle East, $171,044 to dioceses in the United States, $54,000 to Central America, $75,000 to Eastern Europe, and $40,000 to South America.
In the last week in April, the fund sent an emergency grant of more than $25,000 to the bishops of Costa Rica and Panama for relief from the recent earthquake.