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Trinidad-Tobago Gives Church World Service $500,000 for Katrina Recovery
The Rev. John McCullough accepts $500,000 donation for post-Katrina recovery work from Trinidad-Tobago Ambassador Marina A. Valere.
Photo: William Farrington
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NEW YORK -- Church World Service has received a half-million-dollar boost for its Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts. The donation from the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago was presented at a ceremony last week in the republic’s New York City consular office.
The gift is part of a $2-million contribution by the Caribbean nation to four charitable organizations in the United States providing relief and recovery assistance for storm survivors.
In making the donation, Trinidad and Tobago Ambassador Marina Valere emphasized the "high esteem" in which the republic holds "all the members of our regional family" and the republic's "special regard for America." She commended Church World Service (CWS) for its "selfless efforts in tending to those most affected" by the storm's devastation.
CWS Executive Director Rev. John L. McCullough called the gift "an expression of love and support from the government and people of Trinidad and Tobago," and said CWS is "honored to walk in partnership" with Trinidad and Tobago as the agency continues its humanitarian efforts in the Gulf Coast.
Immediately after the storm ripped through the Gulf Coast, CWS delivered blankets, supplies, and resources to help meet the material and spiritual needs of survivors. The agency now is working with its interfaith partners to assist people with reconstruction and relocation.
The untold story of the disaster, McCullough said, is the "tremendous response of churches--large and small, urban and rural--that opened their doors and received and comforted people in a way that only the church can do."
Church World Service is the relief, development, and refugee assistance agency of 35 Protestant, Orthodox, and Anglican denominations in the United States. In addition to disaster response, the agency supports a broad range of social and humanitarian programs designed to eliminate hunger and poverty in countries throughout the world. In the Caribbean, Church World Service supports the ministries of the Trinidad-based Caribbean Council of Churches.
McCullough assured Valere and some 20 assembled guests that CWS will use the donation with integrity to help assure that the needs of the most vulnerable victims are met, not just in the short run, but over the months or years that it will take for the people of the affected areas to rebuild their lives.
"We pledge that we will stay with them until the journey is finished," McCullough said.
The three other recipients of $500,000 grants from the republic are the Bush/Clinton Katrina Fund, the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Fund, and the Habitat for Humanity International Katrina Relief Fund.
Media Contact:
Lesley Crosson, CWS/New York, 212-870-2676;
Jan Dragin, 781-925-1526;
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