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Is Your Church Disaster Ready?
CBF’s Disaster Ready Church program equips churches to respond with compassion, coordination and care. Through hands-on training and practical planning, congregations learn to view disaster response as a ministry opportunity.
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In times of emergency CBF supports recovery, rehabilitation and resilience
CBF is uniquely situated to provide support for natural and human-caused disasters in areas where CBF works.
Our Active Disaster Response Initiatives
Relief:
- Floods in Eastern Kentucky
- Venezuela: In partnership with Venezuela National Baptist Convention. In this initial phase, donations are most needed. GIVE HERE
Recovery:
- Hurricane Helene/Asheville, NC
- Wildfires in Pasadena, CA
- Jamaica: Hurricane Melissa
Humanitarian Response:
- Acacia Project (20 families with 79 children participating in a program for sustainability), Togo, Africa
Disaster Response Updates
Ukraine
Updates from CBF’s Ukraine Response Efforts – May 24
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship field personnel are working to provide relief to Ukrainians. Below are several updates from the week of May 24:
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship field personnel are working to provide relief to Ukrainians. More than 1200 Cooperative Baptist individuals, churches, partners and state/regional organizations have contributed to CBF’s Ukraine Relief Fund.
These gifts exceeding $800,000 are making an impact in Ukraine and across Europe as CBF field personnel and ministry partners help provide safety, shelter and Christ’s love to refugees. Learn more about how some of these funds have been distributed here.
Below are several updates from the week of May 24 from CBF field personnel:
Gennady and Mina Podgaisky — Kyiv, Ukraine (Currently in Krakow, Poland)
The Podgaiskys continue to work with their networks to provide friends and neighbors with evacuation information and connecting Ukrainians to resources in the country such as transportation, relocation to safety, and contact information for medical advice and the location of food/shelter.
They are also sending funds contributed by Cooperative Baptists through the CBF Ukraine Relief Fund to trusted ministry partners and individuals in Kyiv, Romania and Spain to provide humanitarian relief.
Gennady and Mina are counselors and have been providing around-the-clock emotional support to ministry partners, church council, church members, Bible study members, and other friends and neighbors. Below are several recent updates from the Podgaiskys:
- Zoom meeting with FBC Rome, Ga. Missions committee
- Mina shared at Churchland Baptist Church in Chesapeake, Va.
- Counseled people in Ukraine
- Spent time researching and sending several e-mails/messages to try to find two sponsors for Ukrainian families coming to the States. Talked to the families several times and to the pastor helping connect with some sponsors from several churches.
- Held Zoom team meeting with Outback Ukraine Leadership Team. Present were 12 people in different countries who joined the call.
- Led break-out session at the CBF Florida Spring meeting in Orlando, and shared during the General Session
- Spoke at Church on the Drive, Orlando, Fla.
- Continued answering numerous e-mails and messages with many questions in regards with Ukraine refugees, new Ukrainian refugee immigration policies, church and individual offers to help with Ukrainian needs and scheduling speaking engagements in the U.S.
- Continued conversations with ministry partners in Ukraine
- Continued sending funds to individuals, families and ministry partners doing humanitarian work in Ukraine
- A second van in Ukraine has been purchased and fix — it is now being used for bringing humanitarian aid and with ministry to disable people
- Visited with a Ukrainian family/refugee that we helped find a house in Sarasota, Fla.
Mary van Rheenen — Romany Ministries in Europe
Mary van Rheenen, who serves in The Netherlands alongside her husband Keith Holmes, has strong partnerships with Christians in Moldova, which borders Ukraine. Mary continues to send contributions from the CBF Ukraine Relief Fund to support partners across Moldova, who are providing front-line emergency assistance to Ukrainians.
Below is an update from Mary regarding a partner in Moldova, Pastor Petru:
On May 10 Petru Ciochina visited a refugee center in Chisinau where only Roma are housed. He wrote, “It is the only center in Moldova that has captured Roma men. Inside there were three police officers who were watching the order. (Only in the Roma, this)”
I take this to mean that of all the centers Petru has visited, only the Roma one has a police presence. It was not clear whether Petru thought this was necessary . . . or a result of general prejudice against Roma.
Petru took supplies that the center was not providing. He noted that there were 200 adults and 90 children there. He met a lawyer, a Roma Christian woman from Moldova who is advocating for these refugees. They are going to work together.
Petru verified that this is the same lawyer mentioned in the Christianity Today article (which also quoted Shane; see excerpt below about Moldova). She is related to the wife of one of the strong believers from the Roma church that Petru pastors.
I continue to assist in translation for Ukrainian refugees in our Dutch church. Our own town (Westervoort) is considering housing refugees in the town hall. We would not be the first Dutch town to do this.
Read this recent feature story on Mary and her ministry: “In Living Memory: Netherlands-based CBF field personnel helps meet needs of Ukrainian refugees”
Eddie Aldape — Almería, Spain (previously Slovakia)
Eddie Aldape serves alongside his wife, Macarena, as a CBF field personnel in Almería, Spain. He spent a month in Slovakia providing emergency relief to refugees. Here are a few brief updates from Eddie, who has returned to Spain:
- Continue reaching out to Ukrainian families in Almería for weekly prayer, support and updates
- Assisted a mother and son with funds for travel from Ukraine to Poland and then Poland to Spain
- Assisted family members escape from one area to a safer area as they are not able to leave
- Some of the people we are assisting with funds in Ukraine are sharing with others that don’t have assistance from outside.
Read more about Eddie’s ministry here: “CBF’s Eddie Aldape works long days to move Ukrainian refugees through Slovakia.”
Please give generously to the Ukraine Relief Fund at www.cbf.net/ukraine.
Additional Reading:
Ukraine Update — April 26 here.
Ukraine Update — April 12 here.
Ukraine Update — April 5 here.
Ukraine Update — March 29 here.
Ukraine Update — March 22 here.
Ukraine Update — March 15 here.
Ukraine Update — March 8 here.
Volunteer Opportunities to Engage in Disaster Response
CBF is grateful for those who wish to serve in communities after a devastating event.
All volunteers are required to:
- Complete background checks (ages 18+)
- Complete a waiver acknowledging the realities of your responsibilities when engaging in volunteer missions service
- Take online Child Protection Training through our partner services
- Comply with contextual requirements
- Take online CBF Missiology training through our partner services.
- For international trips, it is highly recommended to purchase travel insurance. See below for more details
- Complete an orientation supplied by the mission partner.
- Check with the mission partner and country state department to identity and obtain any needed vaccines
Volunteer Insurance
Your organization should have Domestic or International Travel Insurance.
We urge you to purchase affordable, supplemental policies for you and your group.
CBF is grateful for those who wish to serve in communities after a devastating event. We are currently promoting training opportunities to be able to join response efforts with CBF or DR partners. If you are interested in being a volunteer, please contact dr@cbf.net
Featured Resource
Cleanup Bucket Kit Guide
Inspired by cleanup kits promoted by disaster response agencies such as UMCOR (United Methodists) and Church World Service in response to floods and other disasters, Disaster Response is now inviting CBF churches to engage in a similar initiative. We invite the involvement of churches and CBF state/regional organizations to prepare these kits for delivery to specific recovery sites in coordination with the assigned Local Response Contractor.
Preparedness Resource Links
Download Toolkits for CBF Congregations and Disaster Recovery Teams
CBF Collaborates in Crisis
CBF’s crisis focus is on long-term impact. We participate in networks that are immediately seeking to help communities after a devastating event and employ resources for long-term recovery, rehabilitation, and resiliency of a community after first responders have finished their work. Long-term recovery takes time and planning. We work together with state and regional organizations, CBF Congregations,, National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters (VOAD), and other local and national partners including friends in the North American Baptist Fellowship.
Your donation benefits all active disaster response projects.
Help Provide the Spiritual Care People Facing Disaster Need
We give thanks for congregations and individuals who have provided prayer and financial support for CBF Disaster Response ministries.
Please pray for families who have lost everything they own and first-responders who are giving everything they must save lives. Pray for communities as they cope and as they heal.
About CBF’s Disaster Response
CBF’s Disaster Response supports Christians and churches to serve communities affected by disaster.
Effective response during a time of crisis is vital. CBF is dedicated to a response cycle that begins with readiness. Following disaster events, as requested by local, state and/or regional partners, we offer appropriate relief and recovery efforts, particularly among the vulnerable and underserved. Ultimately, we seek to improve the resilience of recovering communities.
Four Stages of Preparedness
1. Readiness
Enable households, congregations, and communities to be better prepared for local diaster events and be ready to assist with recovery efforts elsewhere
2. Relief
Respond to requests of CBF state and regional organizations by providing limited financial and/or volunteer assistance for immediate local needs for a short period
3. Recovery
Assist in long-term recovery of vulnerable and underserved communities through funding, project coordination, and recruitment of volunteers
4. Resilience
Engage at-risk individuals and communities and the organizations that serve them to expand access to social services and to strengthen communication, collaboration and social connectedness
CBF Disaster Response does not accept food, water, or material donations.
If you prefer, you may also give by mailing a check payable to “CBF” to:
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship
PO Box 102972
Atlanta, GA 30368-2972
*Be sure to include the specific disaster response in the memo line.
For more information about overall CBF Domestic Disaster Response activities, please contact the CBF Disaster Response Team at: zzabalarivera@cbf.net