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CWS officers praise CWS course, achievements

November 8, 2007

Woodbridge, NJ -- Church World Service ended its annual meeting with the National Council of Churches with a wrap-up of the quadrennium by departing officers Betty Voskuil and John Paterakis.

Voskuil, the outgoing CWS Board Chair, urged greater representation of Church World Service among delegates to the NCC/CWS General Assembly, which met here November 6 - 9, and shared a "Top Five" list with participants.

Topping Voskuil's "Top Five" list was the CWS Strategic Plan, a document designed as a blueprint for the agency's programs and focusing on chronic, crisis and partnership goals. The list also included the 60th Anniversary of CROP Hunger Walks; the four star rating CWS earned from Charity Navigator; the newly signed Ecumenical Covenant; and the introduction of missiological reflection to board meetings over the next four years.

Before leaving the podium Voskuil urged the gathered communions to better reflect the partnership between CWS and NCC by increasing the number of CWS board members represented as delegates to General Assembly. "There are few of the sixty on the Church World Service Board who are delegates to the General Assembly," she noted.

Departing CWS Board Treasurer John Paterakis also pointed to the top rating from the charity evaluating agency as the biggest financial news of the quadrennium.

The independent organization Charity Navigator evaluates the financial health of America's largest charities in order to help donors make informed decisions about contributing to a particular organization.

Paterakis led assembly participants through an overview of the humanitarian agency's finances over the last four years of supporting global development projects and providing refugee assistance and disaster relief in the United States and around the world.

He reported on the significance of donations received to fund CWS disaster relief and reconstruction efforts in the wake of major disasters-the Southeast Asia tsunami; the earthquake in Pakistan; and the Gulf Coast Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Those donations, Paterakis said, had a positive impact on the agency’s revenues and allowed CWS to provide broad assistance in a number of areas that are helping both children and adults.

The long-term work of helping communities, local service agencies, families and individuals to recover and rebuild their lives, homes and communities will continue over the next several years, Paterakis pointed out.

Much of CWS's work-from providing School Kits to youngsters displaced by emergencies to digging wells in villages with little access to safe water-- is made possible by the contributions of congregational giving by member communions and support for the CWS Tools and Blankets program. Paterakis also noted the importance of financial commitments from member communions and partners like Habitat for Humanity, Action by Churches Together, and International Orthodox Christian Charities.

The outgoing treasurer emphasized that the agency could benefit from more denominational participation in the agency's popular CROP Hunger Walks. The walks, held annually in some 2,000 U.S. communities are the chief source of unrestricted income for Church World Service, which allows the agency to serve the broadest spectrum of the poor and marginalized.

"We need your help and the help of your communions and your congregations. Get out, and CROP Walk," Paterakis said.

His exhortation to people to get involved with the hunger walks jibed neatly with his closing description of his tenure at CWS as a "journey." Paterakis ended his tenure with an appreciation of the many people he has worked and traveled with in the course of carrying out CWS' mission over the last four years.

Media Contact:
Lesley Crosson, CWS/New York, 212-870-2676;
Jan Dragin, 781-925-1526;

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