Diocesan coordinators will seek to strengthen support of PB's Fund at local level
Episcopal News Service. June 7, 1993 [93117]
Heartened by the signs of resurrection in the area of Florida destroyed by Hurricane Andrew, diocesan coordinators for the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief concluded a recent meeting determined to strengthen support for the fund at the local level of the church.
A bus trip to nearby Homestead, Florida, by 87 diocesan coordinators from across the church during their annual network meeting in Delray Beach, May 27-31, confirmed that the fund was critical in early response to human need in the wake of Andrew's fury. The fund's success in response to the hurricane was cited as a model for its efforts in other parts of the world.
Not only did the PB's Fund assist with grants to the Diocese of Southeast Florida --$25,000 immediately and $700,000 in later grants -- it publicized the needs in a way that inspired many Episcopalians to send help directly. The Rev. Ronald Fox, coordinator of relief efforts for the Diocese of Southeast Florida, said that help from the fund enabled the Episcopal Church to respond before most other denominations.
At St. John's Church in Homestead -- one of two parishes visited by the coordinators -- senior warden James Good reported how discouraged he was to discover the doors and windows of the parish house destroyed and water standing on the floor immediately after the storm subsided. However, with swift assistance from the PB's Fund, Good recounted, the same parish hall was soon serving as a distribution center for relief supplies.
Although there were relatively few deaths in the area as a result of the hurricane, many people whose homes or businesses were destroyed decided to leave the area. The Rev. Terence Harris, rector of St. John's, said that his parish lost 40 percent of its membership and half of its pledges. However, it was able to continue its ministry and open a day school for another year with assistance from the PB's Fund grant. Some independent churches and schools that did not have such resources available have still not reopened, he noted.
At the Church of the Ascension in Richmond Heights, a parish that includes immigrants from Jamaica, Trinidad and other islands, diocesan coordinators were served a Caribbean dinner in a parish hall that has housed a feeding program for needy people ever since the hurricane.
The rector of the Church of the Ascension, the Rev. Norbert Cooper, said that blessings have exceeded the destruction wrought by the hurricane, and that the experience has "brought the community together as one."
Many diocesan coordinators expressed optimism that the fund could repeat such success stories if more Episcopalians supported the fund. Although support for the fund is growing throughout the Episcopal Church, many Episcopalians are still unaware of its work.
The Rev. Marlyne Seymore, a deacon from Christ Church in Delavan, Wisconsin, who was recently appointed as PB's Fund coordinator in the Diocese of Milwaukee, said, "They've heard of [the fund], but they haven't been accustomed to responding to it."
Barry Jackson, an executive of the Small Business Administration, said that he had been diocesan coordinator for the fund in the Diocese of Missouri since the 1980s. "The fund is starting to get accepted. Many parishes are already engaged in local relief ministries -- such as food pantries -- and it is now a matter of getting people to realize that there is a Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief."
Much of the conversation at the meeting focused on efforts to build up the Annual Appeal so that the PB's Fund will not have to depend so much on special disaster appeals. Increased success for the appeal would provide a regular flow of undesignated funds for both immediate emergency needs and long-range development projects.
As coordinators considered how to strengthen support for the fund across the church, several participants reminded the gathering that a broad cross-section of Episcopalians -- no matter their status or means -- already contribute.
"Many Latin Americans have extended the hand to ask for help," said the Rev. Benito Juarez Martinez, executive secretary of Province IX, based in Quito, Ecuador. Yet, Juarez said that Episcopalians in Latin America were now also contributing to the fund because "we think it is possible to join hands with Episcopalians in the United States so that together we help people in each place who have needs."
Rosella Jim, coordinator for the Navajoland Area Mission, expressed a similar view. Navajos have received grants from the PB's Fund, but also give to it, she said. Her own congregation, All Saints Church in Farmington, New Mexico, contributes regularly, she reported.
The PB's Fund 1993 Annual Appeal had raised about $500,000 as of April 30, officials reported, but they expressed confidence that the figure could be significantly increased.
The fund has set an annual goal for an average contribution of $20 from each Episcopalian. One coordinator, John McDonald from the Diocese of Maine, reported that his parish, St. Mary the Virgin in Falmouth, had already reached the goal.