VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 5/8/13)—Visitors can provide much-needed food relief for children and families living in the nine refugee camps on the Thai/Burma border by visiting the International Ministries (IM) exhibit at the ABCUSA Mission Summit/Biennial in Overland Park/Kansas City, June 21-23, 2013.
For each scoop, visitors will make a donation to The Border Consortium that feeds 140,000 people in the refugee camps every day. Contributions can be made in advance of the Mission Summit by going to http://www.internationalministries.org/projects/100.
The IM exhibit will celebrate the 200th anniversary of Ann and Adoniram Judson’s arrival in Burma (now called Myanmar). The Burma Rice project is a tangible way for visitors to assist the ethnic groups who live in refugee camps along the Thai/Burma border.
These refugees are part of oppressed ethnic groups who have fled their homes in Myanmar where they faced persecution and violence. More than 60,000 refugees have been resettled in the U.S. and other countries in the past six years. However, the crowded camps are still home to 140,000 people.
Small contributions go a long way. For example:
$10 supplies rice for a family of five for a week
$50 buys the rice and other food for one refugee for two months
$61 buys 220 lbs. of rice
$100 will feed a family of five for 80 days.
The goal is to raise $5,000 by the end of the three-day Mission Summit Biennial. The project is being managed by IM missionary Duane Binkley. According to Binkley, “This project will improve the overall survival rate of hundreds of refugees and internally displaced persons in the refugee camps and bring them hope.”
In 1984, The Border Consortium, with help from the Baptists in Thailand, began to provide food and assistance to Karen and other refugees fleeing Myanmar and seeking shelter in Thailand. Today there are nine camps for refugees and Internally Displaced People (IDP) along the Thai/Burma border.
For more information and registration information on the ABC Mission Summit/Biennial, June 21 – 23 at the Overland Park Convention Center, Kansas, go to http://www.americanbaptists2013.com/.
All Mission Summit attendees are invited to the IM luncheon. Tickets are $27 and are available when you register. For more information about the IM portion of the Mission Summit, go to: http://www.internationalministries.org/read/46982-2013-mission-summit-biennial.
American Baptist International Ministries was organized in 1814 as the first Baptist international mission agency in America. It began its pioneer mission work in Burma and today works in Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas serving more than 1,800 long-term and short-term missionaries. Its central mission is to help people come to faith in Jesus, grow in their relationship with God, and change their worlds through the power of the Spirit. It works with respected partners in over 70 countries in ministries that meet human need.
American Baptist Churches is one of the most diverse Christian denominations today, with over 5,200 local congregations comprised of 1.3 million members, across the United States and Puerto Rico, all engaged in God’s mission around the world.