ATLANTA (ABP) — The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship recently gave two grants totaling $10,000 to key areas of flooding in Asia.
Meanwhile, the Fellowship received a $66,000 grant from the W.C. English Foundation to fund a medical consultant in the Middle East.
On Aug. 15, the Fellowship gave $5,000 to 200 families in India, where annual monsoon rains have led to more than 500 fatalities and mass evacuations of low-lying areas.
In partnership with the Amity Foundation, CBF also gave $5,000 Aug. 9 to flood-relief efforts in southern China, where millions have been affected by a deadly rainstorm and typhoon season.
Both China and India have experienced unusually heavy rain and tropical storms this year, which have caused significant flooding, destruction and death.
India's annual monsoon season runs from June to September and is vital for crops like cotton and rice. This year, however, monsoons have led to at least 527 deaths — actual figures may be higher, according to the Associated Press.
In the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, 200 families from the districts of Srikakulam, Machilipatnam and Palkollu will each receive 20 kilograms of rice, bedding, clothing, a Bible and money. Local churches will distribute the goods and provide follow-up care for the families.
According to a CBF press release, a local leader is directing those efforts, and CBF staffers have asked for additional prayer from supporters as relief efforts continue.
“This contribution to flood relief in India will assist families whose lives have been devastated by this disaster to meet their most basic needs for food and clothing,” CBF global missions coordinator Rob Nash said in a statement.
In China, Tropical Storm Bilis triggered flooding in several provinces, resulting in more than 600 casualties, missing persons, and significant damage to millions of acres of farmland and more than 1 million houses, according to the Associated Press.
Most of the CBF relief efforts will center in the Gaungxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and the province of Hunan. Those provinces were affected by Typhoon Prapiroon, which hit China Aug. 3. Prapiroon is the eighth storm in a busy typhoon season that has killed more than 1,400 people in five southeastern provinces, according to AP reports.
Officials at the Amity Foundation said they plan to help 3,000 homeless families return to normal life, providing 1,500 people with medicine, and repairing five medical clinics or hospitals. According to a press statement, they also plan to rebuild three water systems, three irrigation systems, five schools and 400 houses.
“We want our friends in China to know that their pain has touched us,” said Jack Snell, CBF director of global field ministries. “We have personnel in the Guangxi Province and have formed many deep relationships there, so this becomes personal for us. Amity is a valued partner, and we are glad that we can join their efforts in addressing some of the pressing needs of the most impoverished in the region.”
Snell also praised the $66,000 grant from the W.C. English Foundation, a group that has helped fund medical missions projects with CBF for six years. Prior to the grant, the foundation provided funding for CBF medical missions personnel in Thailand.
He said the long-term partnership has enabled both groups to “touch literally thousands of lives through the years.” Without their support, he added, medical work at CBF would be hampered.
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