A solidarity visit to Hawaii by Presbyterian Disaster Assistance and other representatives of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) generated goodwill and helpful information for future humanitarian assistance. But most of all, it cultivated empathy and compassion for the people impacted by wildfires on Maui, where a historic blaze killed nearly 100 people and destroyed about 2,000 buildings in August.
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is helping the church to understand healthy volunteerism through training that it also calls “decolonizing volunteerism.”
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, in collaboration with World Mission and the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program, has awarded nearly $100,000 in grant funding to support relief efforts in Israel-Palestine. The now month-long conflict continues to escalate and exact a heavy toll on civilian casualties along with crippling home and property loss in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and Jerusalem.
Leland Presbyterian Church in Mississippi welcomed four members of the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) National Response Team on Sunday, Oct. 29, as part of a commissioning ceremony for the church’s recently established disaster recovery volunteer host site as well as for the site’s coordinator.
Those attending the PC(USA)’s first-ever Young Adult Advocacy Conference, “Jesus and Justice,” concluded their time together Sunday morning with a silent march and a prayer at the steps of Old National Bank in Louisville, where on April 10, 2023, a former bank employee killed five people before being fatally shot by police.
After a deadly shooting at Westside Middle School near Jonesboro, Arkansas, David Gill and others pined for a way to aid students in their emotional and spiritual recovery. He began delving into the idea of holding a healing camp at Ferncliff Camp and Conference Center, where he worked a few hours away.
Earthquakes in Afghanistan and massive flooding in Libya have left scores of people in need of humanitarian aid. Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is among those providing help through partners active in the affected areas.
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance has been keeping a close watch on Hurricane Idalia, which pummeled Florida and other areas Wednesday, bringing strong winds, rain and dangerous storm surge.
A community in Upcountry Maui that endured a wildfire at the same time as Lahaina is receiving a helping hand from concerned Presbyterians who are answering the call to donate to Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA).
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is working with the Presbytery of the Pacific following this week’s fires that killed at least 55 people in Lahaina on the Hawaiian island of Maui. Earlier this week fires also burned brush on the Big Island of Hawaii, but those fires have been largely controlled.
