Covenant News

Relief Funds Already At Work in Pakistan

CHICAGO, IL (October 11, 2005) - As of Monday afternoon, Covenant World Relief (CWR) already had dispersed $50,000 through its partners to victims of disasters in Pakistan, where an earthquake killed thousands of people Saturday, and Guatemala, which has been devastated by heavy rain that triggered a massive mudslide in a remote western region, killing an undetermined number of people.

In Pakistan, where a 7.6 magnitude earthquake killed an estimated 40,000 inhabitants, the Covenant is working through the Evangelical Fellowship India Committee on Relief to deliver emergency assistance including food, water and clothing. In late December last year, CWR worked with this same committee in the early days following the tsunami to rush emergency aid to victims of that disaster. World Relief also is working through Shelter Now in Pakistan and Afghanistan, with whom the organization has worked in the past. Several Covenant laypeople work for Shelter Now.

In Guatemala. CWR is working through the World Relief International office in Nicaragua to determine the best ways to provide assistance to the area. "Even the military is having trouble getting to that area," notes Jim Sundholm, director of Covenant World Relief. "It's a huge problem."

The emergency funds sent on Monday come from a "first responder" disaster fund established by the Covenant with one of its partners, World Relief International. "It (the special fund) enables them to do what they do in responding so quickly," Sundholm notes, adding that the organizations with which World Relief and CWR work are indigenous ministries.

Each year, the Covenant deposits $250,000 into the "first responder" fund from the denomination's fall Covenant World Relief appeal. That money is distributed as needed and usually is replaced by money donated to World Relief, Sundholm says. Money that is designated for specific relief does not go into the fund, he adds.

The goal each year, Sundholm says, is to spend the fund down so that all of the money goes to helping people through crises. "Unfortunately, there are so many places and so many needs in the world that they don't have any problem doing that," Sundholm says.

To read an earlier report on the Pakistan response, please see Evaluating the Needs. More information on these disasters and the Covenant's response will be posted to this online Covenant news report as it becomes available.

The disasters in Pakistan follow closely other disasters in the Gulf Coast and elsewhere. Covenanters interested in supporting these relief efforts can send checks made payable to Covenant World Relief, 5101 N. Francisco Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60625. All gifts are acknowledged for income tax purposes.

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