Video: CWS - 60 Years of Help and Hope - 10/06  (8:32, requires RealPlayer™)
Dial-up | Broadband

Barney Myer: Earthquake Disaster Response
Ancash, Peru 1971-1972

Raypa today: a village with lights, running water, houses, stores, a church, a health clinic, some municipal buildings and a beautiful plaza...  a complete town. Photo: Barney Myer

Church World Service sponsored me as a member of their disaster team to Peru after the earthquake of 1970.   Here's a report after my August 2007 visit to the one village in which I spent about a year and a half from June 1971 until December 1972.

In June of 1970 I was seconded to Church World Service by the Brethren Volunteer Service.  I was to spend two years with CWS on the disaster team responding to the earthquake in Ancash, Peru which occurred on May 31, 1970.  I ended up extending my time due to obligations to the earthquake victims.

Upon arriving in Peru I was sent to Aija, Ancash.   Aija is a large village at about 10,000 feet in the Black Mountain Range.  I worked there and in one of its sub-villages, Succha, for about  a year and was then sent to Raypa, a small village about 70 kilometers from the coast.  The village had been located at the base of some large mountains and when the earthquake hit, massive boulders wiped out the village.   When I got to Raypa, the village's 90 families were living in lean-to shacks in their chacras (small agricultural lands on the slopes of the Andes).  When asked by CWS of the needs in Raypa, I requested two people: Ruben Paitan, an agricultural engineer, and Nora Passini, an all around administrator with talents in developing an array of programs.   I had met these two people in Aija during my first year in Peru.   Within weeks Ruben and Nora joined me and we started projects cleaning water canals, teaching agricultural improvements, making guinea pig farms, and many more. On a regular basis we had about 40 projects underway at any given time.

And here begins the story I must tell.  Read more »

Elizabeth Johnson

Elizabeth Johnson: My Romance with Church World Service

On a wintry night in the early 1960’s, Mother and I heard a stirring talk by Reverend Reginald Helfferich on the reconstruction work in Europe following World War II. He told of large potato boxes, contributed by Church World Service, used as beds for the children roaming across the cities in Europe. His emphasis on the call to service had a great impression upon Mother and me. Thus, the beginning of my romance with Church World Service!

Church World Service used-clothing drives for men, women and children living in warm and cool climates was the big thrust during the 50’s and 60’s. Our garage in Dalton, Massachusetts became the depot where some 20 to 30 churches brought their donations. One year the collection was three tons. Our family anticipated the spring visit of the huge 18-wheeler CWS truck from the center in New Windsor, Maryland. We always treated the driver to a meal, usually breakfast. Our children helped carry boxes to the truck and were disappointed if it came when they were in school.

Our family has a long-standing CWS joke! One year while checking closets in my brother’s family home, Mother donated a somewhat worn 3-piece wool suit to CWS. When the next funeral came, the minister (my brother) was desperate! His funeral suit had disappeared!

During these years as Church World Service state chair for Church Women United, fliers with directions and current needs were mailed to county churches. In addition, I coordinated the truck route of spring clothing collection with the New Windsor Center, as well as organizing and accompanying three bus trips to New Windsor. Our groups packed clothing for a day with other volunteers. I can testify this was hard work! Read more »

---

Naperville, Illinois, late October 1979

Shanti and Aram Hagopian Photo: Helen Bussey

Rev. Keith Torney, pastor of First Congregational UCC, receives a call from the police station one rainy, cold, late October afternoon in 1979.  Shanti Hagopian, 18 years old from Armenia, is at the Police Station.  Poor language skills, no money and no place to go...can Rev. Torney help?

Paul F. McCleary, CWS Executive Director, 1975-1984 Photo: James Arthur/CWS

Reflections from Paul F. McCleary, executive director of Church World Service from 1975 to 1984, at the 60 th anniversary celebration of Church World Service, in Cleveland, Ohio, October 24, 2006.

I began my work at Church World Service on April 1, 1975. For those of you who may be changing jobs in the future let me recommend that you not start your first day on the job on April 1st.

During the month of April 1975, the North Vietnamese Army began a major push and the ARVN forces began a month long retreat that led to the collapse of the South Vietnamese Government. By April 30, the Vietnam War was over.

Along with LWR and the MCC, CWS supported Vietnam Christian Service, which had a staff of 120 in South Vietnam. When the major offensive began, there was a massive exodus of refugees fleeing south, including our staff. Urgent messages when to Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and elsewhere that we would provide travel and assistance to any of our staff who reached there. Read more »

It was in the year 1966, India faced severe famine condition. During that crisis, then known Mysore Diocese of the Church of South India, [now Karnataka Central/Northern and Southern dioceses] appointed me as the Director of Famine Relief Operations. Our task was to arrange to distribute the food supplies kindly donated by the American people through Church World Service for the starving masses of India. We opened food kitchens for the children and nursing mothers; and organized work projects for the poor and unemployed farmers to gain their livelihood. The villagers dug wells or developed water storage facilities, for which they received wheat, corn, and cooking oil as wages. It was a marvelous emergency operation and challenge, where people of various caste and creed joined hands to fight against hunger. The government also co-operated in our venture.

It became even a memorable operation. We organized students’ work camps in cooperation with the Student Christian Movement of India and All India Catholic Students Federation. Two of the students who were returning home, after such work camp, died tragically in a train accident, and the villagers in grateful remembrance erected a memorial to them in their villages where they served.

This program also witnessed a great ecumenical spirit. The Protestant churches under the National Council of Churches of India operated under the Council for Social Action. It was a most memorable ministry and mission in my life; and a rewarding one.

When I came to USA six years ago, at first I was serving a rural church that was organizing a CROP Hunger Walk for Church World Service. I was thrilled to take part in that program not only as a participant, but also as a blessed person of such philanthropic gestures.

So, as a grateful Indian national and Christian, I take this opportunity to salute you and offer my profound gratitude and deep appreciation for all that you have done for millions of people around the world. I also want to thank the American people for their continued generosity, care, and concern even to this day, one way or other to reach out the least, the last and the lost, in the name of Jesus Christ. You have accomplished His mandate to ‘feed the hungry, clothe the naked, heal the sick, comfort the aged, shelter the homeless, and to give hope for the children and so on!’ May God bless you all!

The Rev. Dr. H. M. Duke
Remsen, New York

John Backer Photo: CWS

John Backer: 50 years of “welcoming the stranger”

CWS staff member John Backer has spent most of his life "welcoming the stranger" as part of the Immigration and Refugee Program of Church World Service. He recently celebrated his 50-year anniversary with CWS.

In 1947, when he was 14, John arrived in New York City alone by ship from Germany. A travelers aid volunteer took him to his waiting father. He so appreciated that assistance that he decided to some day do similar work. Three years later, as a 17-year old volunteer, John began receiving refugees from Europe at New York ports on behalf of CWS. After completing graduate studies at Columbia, John became a full-time CWS staff member in 1956.

Through the years, John has continued to appreciate the willingness of congregations to co-sponsor refugees, knowing only their nationality, names, and ages. “They commit to finding housing, putting food in the refrigerator, meeting them at the airport, and helping with any problems,” he explains.

“It’s important for the U.S. to recognize that we are all part of one world. International exchange gives American students a better understanding of that world,” says Backer, whose interest in fostering understanding between U.S. and international students led him to coordinate the CWS Ecumenical Scholarship Exchange, a program that brought theological students to the U.S. from abroad.

Backer was an IRP associate director when he officially retired in 1995, but he has continued part-time and now serves as assistant to the IRP director and convenor of the CWS Leadership Development Forum and national correspondent for the World Council of Churches Scholarships Program. He helps to place international graduate students at U.S. seminaries, keeping in touch with them while they are in the U.S., and assisting with travel arrangements for their return home.

Now, as CWS-IRP’s living archive, John often fields questions about the past – most recently, from a German-American woman who was a babe in arms when her family resettled in the U.S. under CWS auspices in 1957. Today, as CWS’s longest serving staff member, John continues with IRP, doing, as he puts it, “whatever is needed.”

As CWS Executive Director John L. McCullough observed, "John's 50th Anniversary is a vivid reminder that CWS has always been about people, and our potential to make a positive difference in the lives of others. His service to those in the quest to transform their education into compassionate leadership, and his five decades of witness amongst those seeking rest in their long sojourn from despair to hope is inspiring."

(l-r) Edna Hollis and her daughters Pamela Slaven (CO), Sue Forstner (GA), Ann Nelson (CA) at the 2006 Park Hill CROP Hunger Walk. Photo: provided

A Legacy of Hope

In 1953, Edna Hollis’s father, Professor Harold E. Botsford, accompanied the first of several large shipments of baby chicks to Egypt. The chicks, part of the Church World Service CROP program, were provided to Egyptian farmers struggling to make a living. As part of the contract with the recipients, two chicks born from each set of birds would be returned to the CROP program to be distributed to another Egyptian family. A flier distributed to church women’s groups, church schools, and youth groups in New York in 1953 called for donations to support the program. The cost of one baby chick at the time was 32¢.

Today, Edna Hollis carries on her father’s legacy of providing help and hope to others in need by participating in her local CROP Hunger Walk in the Park Hill neighborhood of Denver, Colorado. As the eldest walker at the event, and the recruiter for her church congregation, Edna has been a model of concern and compassion for the poor and an inspiration to many in her community and throughout the Rocky Mountain Region.

This strong family legacy doesn’t stop with Edna. Her daughters, pictured with her at the 2006 walk event, have gathered together from around the U.S. on several occasions to join their mother in the Park Hill walk.

It is an honor to know Edna and to have her share the stories of her family’s commitment to making the world a better place.

By Deniese Estrada, CWS-CROP Rocky Mountains Region

Erika Heppner Photo: Heppner family

For more stories on refugee resettlement, visit a timeline of CWS refugee resettlement stories.

Refugee Resettlement Story:
Erika Heppner, Germany -- 1957

Erika Heppner was a four-month-old babe in arms when her parents came to the United States as refugees from Germany in 1957. Gerhard and Margot Heppner had fled the Russian army as it took over East and West Prussia. CWS secured First Presbyterian Church in Fairbury, Illinois, as the young family’s sponsor. Gerhard found work as a bricklayer.

“I was the first one in my family to speak fluent English,” recalls Erika, now teaching oral communication to non-native English speakers at LaGuardia Community College in Queens, New York.

Heppner recently contacted CWS as part of research for a documentary she is producing about her family's resettlement.

“I thank the church for all they did for us,” she said, commenting that growing up in Fairbury, population 3,500, “really gave me a sense of place. We stayed there 25 years. My mother is buried there, and I’m still in contact with people there. It’s still home.”

Jose and Virginia Finale Photo: Marzo Artime

Refugee Resettlement Story:
Virginia Finale, Cuba -- 1961

After Fidel Castro took power in 1959, Virginia and José Louis Finale were ordered to teach Marxism and Leninism at their private school. “We didn’t believe in that, so we closed it,” Virginia said. José also balked at orders to give public talks praising the Cuban Revolution.

When U.S.-backed Cuban exiles invaded the Bay of Pigs in 1961, Cuban government forces arrested all the men in their town who were against Castro to prevent them from helping the exiles. The Cuban government told the men it would kill them if the invading forces won. “Hearing this, we said, ‘We have no hope here,’” Virginia recalled.

A friend in Havana helped the couple obtain tourist visas and one of the last flights from Havana to Jamaica. There, “because I could type and knew some English,” Virginia helped other Cuban refugees with their U.S. immigration applications. After about three weeks, the Finales were flown to Miami. They registered with CWS and were sent to Chicago, where Lakeview United Methodist Church set up an apartment for them and helped them find work.

“My husband had a job in a plastics factory three days after we arrived in Chicago,” Virginia said. “I worked in a large insurance company.” The couple owed $700 to friends who had helped them with travel expenses, “and we paid it back in five months. We didn’t eat steak, but we paid our bills!”

In 1965, the Finales returned to Miami, and Virginia got a one-week assignment with CWS that ended up lasting 35 years. She helped waves of Cuban and Haitian refugees, along with Vietnamese, Ukrainians, Russians, and asylum seekers from Nicaragua until she retired in 2000. José worked in a factory and later managed a bowling center before retiring in 1992.

Reflecting on the past 45 years, Virginia said, “You know what I learned? There are people who care about other people. Here, nobody knew us and yet people were willing to give us a hand. Our three sons all graduated from universities. And there is no place that has more freedom.

“Cuba is my country because I was born over there,” she concluded. “The United States is my country because I chose it.”

Trang Van Nguyen; his wife, Ahn, and their children, Sherry and Tom, in 1980 in Sungei Beisi Camp in Malaysia, awaiting resettlement. Photo: Trang Van Nguyen family

Refugee Resettlement Story:
Trang Van Nguyen, Vietnam -- 1981

Nearly 300 men, women and children escaped communist Vietnam with their lives in 1980 thanks to Trang Van Nguyen.

His good judgment and experience navigating ships in South Vietnam’s Navy helped him steer their overcrowded boat through pirate attacks and other perils, finally reaching a refugee camp in Malaysia.

In 1981 under CWS auspices, he, his wife, and their two small children got a new start in Sacramento, California. Bethany Presbyterian Church members, including Carol Merritt, helped them settle in.

Now living in Union City, California, Trang and Ahn Nguyen own two manicuring shops. Their daughter Sherry has a doctorate in pharmacology, and son Tom is a real estate agent.

“We worked very hard,” Trang said. “I am so thankful for our success here.” The Nguyens regularly contribute funds to help newer refugees. Observed Merritt, “They are very generous people, giving back to the church and country in so many ways.”

For more stories on refugee resettlement, visit a timeline of CWS refugee resettlement stories.

Photo: Art Ziemann/CWS

Remembering Rev. Harlan Stenger

Cindy and John Harris (pictured at right) recently told CWS Executive Director Rev. John L. McCullough (l) the story of Cindy's father, Rev. Harlan Stenger, who worked with Church World Service from 1964 to 1967 in Africa.  Rev. Stenger helped to insure that emergency food and supplies sent from the U.S. reached the hungry people for whom they were intended.  Also an accomplished artist, Rev. Stenger painted 25 large canvases of the people of Ghana and the work of CWS in that country. The paintings were shown on a U.S. tour in 1967 and now grace the Harris home.  Their home also features over 133 African objects--each piece telling a story of the life of Rev. Stenger and his work with Church World Service 40 years ago.

SHARE A STORY: If you participated with Church World Service and/or CROP in the early years, we would like to hear from you. Please phone your regional CWS/CROP office toll-free at 888-CWS-CROP (888-297-2767), and tell us your story. Or you can e-mail a photo and vignette to:

Back to top