VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 9/20/18)—In response to Hurricane Florence, American Baptist Home Mission Societies (ABHMS) has begun to release One Great Hour of Sharing (OGHS) Emergency Disaster-response funds, on behalf of American Baptist Churches USA.
Today, $20,000 in OGHS funding was released by ABHMS to American Baptist Churches of the South. Karen Baptist Churches USA (KBCUSA) will receive $5,000.
Making landfall Friday on the North Carolina Coast, the storm—at its peak a Category 4—brought destruction, fatalities and what news reports have called the highest rainfall total for any tropical system to strike the East Coast.
Evacuations were ordered in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Approximately 3,000 Karen and 800 Chin ethnic people live in North and South Carolina, according to KBCUSA. Flooding and falling trees have damaged 35 Karen homes in New Bern, N.C., and 30 Karen homes in Wilmington, N.C., KBCUSA further reports. While many Chin have evacuated to Georgia and Kentucky with friends and family, many Karen families have been taken in by Karen churches in Pennsylvania; upstate and metro New York; and Washington, D.C. KBCUSA has been sending donations to evacuees to purchase items for emergency needs as well as gas money to return home.
As recovery efforts continue, ABHMS expects to receive additional damage assessments.
Donations can be made via your church; by visiting https://www.abc-usa.org/ and clicking “Give Online” at the top right of the page; or check designated to “OGHS-Hurricane Florence” and mailed to the attention of Kim Wilkins at American Baptist Home Mission Societies, P.O. Box 851, Valley Forge, PA, 19482-0851.
One hundred percent of donations go to relief efforts; no dollars are retained for administrative costs. To ensure that your church receives credit for your gift, write the church name on your check or, if giving online, in the “comment” box.
One Great Hour of Sharing is administered by the World Relief Committee of the Board of General Ministries of American Baptist Churches USA. The committee facilitates American Baptist emergency relief, disaster rehabilitation, refugee work and development assistance by establishing policy guidelines and overseeing distribution of the annual One Great Hour of Sharing offering received by churches.
American Baptist Home Mission Societies partners with American Baptists to promote Christian faith, cultivate Christ-centered leaders and disciples, and bring healing and transformation to communities across the United States and Puerto Rico.
American Baptist Churches USA is one of the most diverse Christian denominations today, with approximately 5,000 congregations comprised of 1.3 million members, across the United States and Puerto Rico, all engaged in God’s mission around the world.