ATLANTA (ABP) — The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship's fund for tsunami relief topped $890,000 by the end of January, surpassing all previous CBF relief efforts
“With nearly a million given by churches and individuals, CBF will be able to continue our ministry beyond the emergency stage and into the development stage, where communities and families can return to some sense of normalcy,” said Barbara Baldridge, CBF global missions coordinator.
The Asian Response Fund has surpassed the Fellowship's previous major relief efforts. Individuals and churches gave more than $675,000 in response to the 1999 Kosovo crisis and more than $200,000 following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 of 2001, Baldridge said.
Fellowship missionaries and relief volunteers will use the tsunami relief funds to rebuild houses, schools and businesses; restore wells, water systems and soil in farmers' fields; provide fishermen with necessary equipment to return to work; and work with partners to meet needs of children and orphans.
In other reports:
— Tsunami donations to the Baptist General Convention of Texas have surpassed $860,000. Texas Baptist Men and Baptist Child and Family Services of San Antonio are spearheading Texas Baptist ministry in Sri Lanka. Among the work supported is home rebuilding and water-well cleaning.
— One concert by choirs from Trinity Baptist Church and First Baptist Church in San Antonio, as well as the youth choir from Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston, raised $23,000 for Baptist Child and Family Services' tsunami relief.
— At the recent birthday party for Cindy Bell, a student at McAfee School of Theology in Atlanta, friends gave $208 to tsunami relief in lieu of presents. “For seminary students, that's a lot,” Bell said. “If you're going to get together, there might as well be some good come out of it,” she added.
— Baylor University students, faculty, staff and alumni raised $55,000 through the student government's Bear the Burden campaign. The funds will be divided between the Baptist General Convention of Texas and Samaritan's Purse.
— First Baptist Church of Rome, Ga., and First Baptist Church of Wilmington, N.C., each donated $50,000.
— With the dollar bills and coins they collected taped to yardsticks and rulers, children at Riverchase Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., paraded down the sanctuary aisles Jan. 30 to contribute money raised door-to-door and from making pipe-cleaner bracelets and necklaces. “They wanted to make sure people saw that they were contributing. It wasn't just mom or dad giving them pocket change,” said Ron Grizzle, the church's pastor.