APPEAL CODE: #700-M APPEAL GOAL: $750,000 SITUATION: Recovery efforts in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines are ongoing with continued needs that remain staggering. According to the United Nations, 13.2 million were affected; 4.33 million people were displaced; and 1 million homes were damaged. In addition, 2.5 million people require urgent food assistance. CWS RESPONSE: CWS continues supporting …
Family is … Joy
Angela Rupchock-Schafer | November 21, 2013
We all do it. We get so caught up in the day-to-day bits and pieces of our lives, sometimes we forget to sit back and marvel when joy finds us. For the past month, CWS has been working together with Google+, RYOT news, UNHCR and Refugees United to make something new and vibrant happen in the world of communications. And …
Refugee Congress Set for Dec. 9-10 in D.C.
Church World Service is sponsoring several resettled refugees to join former refugees from Syria, Iraq, Rwanda and 20 other nations–all of whom now call the U.S. home– at a Dec. 9 – 10 gathering in the nation’s capital to meet policymakers and to ensure the refugee voice is part of the conversation on U.S. refugee policies and programs. Refugee and …
We Must Act Now and Continue to Advocate for Immigration Reform
Jen Smyers | November 20, 2013
The movement for immigration reform continues to grow stronger by the day. The general public supports a path to citizenship, and we know that we have enough votes in the House of Representatives to enact an immigration reform bill. However, as the 2013 congressional calendar dwindles it has become increasingly clear that House Speaker Boehner (OH-8) is choosing to not …
CWS Extends Relief, Recovery Aid to Storm-battered US Midwest
Church World Service is actively involved with all entities engaged in the relief and recovery efforts following severe weather Sunday, Nov. 17, that battered hundreds of households in 14 US. Midwestern states. The first 200 CWS Emergency Cleanup Buckets are on their way now to Illinois, the state hardest hit by Sunday’s devastating string of tornadoes, hail and high-wind events. …
Appeal Update #5: 2013 US Storms, Floods, Tornadoes and Wildfires
November 19, 2013
Appeal # 627 Y Initial appeal goal: $120,000 Revised appeal goal: $150,000 Received to date: $32,000 Situation: Tornadoes, severe thunderstorms and straight line winds of more than 80 mph hit the Middle Mississippi River Valley, the lower Great Lakes and the Ohio Valley on Sunday, Nov. 17. There were 91 tornadoes, 565 high wind events and 42 hail events, with …
Open the Gates
Joel Cooper | November 18, 2013
As I stepped off the airplane onto the tarmac in Nairobi, Kenya, I glanced at my first Kenyan gate, and honestly, I have no memory of it. A gate at an airport is commonplace, but that was the first of literally hundreds of gates I have seen since. Gates surround restaurants, houses, hotels, malls, schools, hospitals, police stations—anything of any …
#FamilyIs: Global Campaign on Google+ to Connect Separated Refugee Families
Thanksgiving is a time for family to be together. But not everyone is fortunate enough to be with their family. This holiday season, Church World Service, Refugees United and the UN Refugee Agency will bring together families torn apart by war and disaster on Google+ via the free, multi-person broadcast video calling feature, Hangouts On Air. In a series entitled …
CWS Denounces Speaker Boehner’s Unwillingness to Govern
November 15, 2013
WASHINGTON, DC -— Church World Service denounces Speaker John Boehner’s recent refusal to work with the US Senate to fix our nation’s broken immigration system. CWS joins the immigrant rights, faith and community groups across the country that are outraged by the Speaker’s rejection of his responsibility to govern. The Rev. John McCullough, CWS President and CEO released the following …
A CWS Intern’s Tale
Rachel Pizatella-Haswell | November 14, 2013
On October 1st, I woke up to go to work at Church World Service, where I had been interning for 10 months, with horrible anxiety. This was the first day of the government shutdown- something that had not happened since I was 7 years-old, and something that few believed would actually happen this year. As an intern advocating for the …