Mission Yearbook: Rural community in Haiti gets clean water thanks to PDA collaboration

In the heart of Meyer, Haiti, a rural community just 10 kilometers east of Jacmel, a new wave of hope is on the horizon.

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A collaboration between Living Waters for the World and Presbyterian Disaster Assistance has produced a source of safe drinking water in Meyer, Haiti (Photo courtesy of Living Waters for the World).

Thanks to a transformative collaboration between Living Waters for the World Haiti and Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, Meyer has received a water purification system that promises to bring health, dignity and relief to families who have struggled far too long without reliable access to clean water.

Among the many voices celebrating this change is Father Guy Bellange, leader of the local parish, who has personally experienced the hardships caused by the lack of clean water.

“I don’t like purifying water with chemicals,” he said. Instead, Bellange had been traveling into the city of Jacmel to fill containers with what treated water he could find.

This routine, which is time-consuming and physically demanding, has now come to an end with the installation of the Living Waters for the World purification system. Bellange is not only grateful for the system — he’s also committed to its success. He has pledged to assist with its maintenance, understanding that clean water is not just a convenience but a necessity for community well-being.

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Potable water is now close at hand in Meyer, Haiti (Photo courtesy of Living Waters for the World).

Nurse Monia Jean, who leads health education for Living Waters for the World Haiti, said, “A local mother shared with me how difficult it has been to provide safe water for her children. Families like hers have had to walk long distances or spend money on chemicals to ensure safe drinking water. Now, they have reliable access to clean, affordable and sustainable water right in their neighborhood.”

For this mother in Meyer, the new system means peace of mind. It means no longer worrying about whether water will make her family sick. And most importantly, it means hope — hope that her children will grow up strong, healthy and with every opportunity to thrive.

As Bellange embraces the system and prepares to serve in a new way, his message is clear: “When clean water flows, so does hope, dignity and the promise of a better future.”

A new Living Waters for the World water system is now installed in the community of Meyer, Haiti, in partnership with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance. The system, installed solely by Haitians, is located at a very large Catholic church. The church has more than 1,000 parishioners and also operates a school on site. Upon dedication of the system on June 1, 2025, clean water is now being provided to the school children, the church community, and the Meyer community at large. The church and the people of this community have been in severe need of clean water for many years and have shown great interest in the new water system. More than 300 enthusiastic people attended the dedication celebration.

Living Waters for the World (Click here to read original PNS Story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Samuel Putt, Summer Fellow, Office of Public Witness – Washington, Presbyterian Life & Witness
Chloe Snyder, Summer Fellow, Office of Public Witness – Washington, Presbyterian Life & Witness

Let us pray:

God of mercy, we are privileged to be called to join Christ in the world as we seek to do ministries of justice and kindness and to bring glory to your name. Give us the courage to act boldly and let all that we do be conducted in a spirit of humility and love. In Christ’s name. Amen.

Mission Yearbook: Florida church is celebrated as PDA volunteer host site

Three years after Port Charlotte, Florida was hit by Hurricane Ian, a church that hosted as many as two to three teams of volunteer groups per month is closing the door on that chapter but leaving room for an epilogue.

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The Rev. Devon Andrews is pastor of Wintergarden Presbyterian Church in Port Charlotte, Florida. (screenshot)

The Rev. Devon Andrews, pastor of Wintergarden Presbyterian Church, recently led a poignant service honoring the church’s tenure as a Presbyterian Disaster Assistance volunteer host site.

Thanks to the small-but-mighty 33-member congregation, volunteers from all over the country received a place to stay while helping residents recover from 2022’s Hurricane Ian and subsequent storms that have moved through the gulf coast of southwest Florida.

The church opened its property despite having extensive hurricane damage to its sanctuary and property and provided a welcoming presence during a harrowing time for the community in the wake of one of the worst hurricanes to hit the U.S.

The service, with a liturgy of thanksgiving from PDA, was a time to reflect on the host site years and to thank those whose love and partnership helped Wintergarden to provide for the community while it persevered through its own challenges.

“Our church is a church of servants,” Andrews explained in an interview with Presbyterian News Service. “We serve our community in the best way we know how to.”

After the devastation wrought by Ian, “we started hearing all the stories of all the damage, and the question was, how can we (as a church) help and what do we do?” Andrews said.

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Operating the volunteer host site was a labor of love for Wintergarden Presbyterian Church and its partners. (Photo courtesy of Wintergarden Presbyterian Church)

Along with becoming a host site, Wintergarden continued serving hundreds of neighbors through its food pantry program and obtained critical funds, including a $100,000 grant from the Community Foundation of Sarasota County to support the purchase of rebuilding materials to help residents who had sustained significant damage to their homes.

“The majority of what we received (through grants) all went back out into the community,” Andrews said. “So, we were able to help homeowners with new doors, with garage doors, with windows, with paying a portion of their roof, helping buy drywall and insulation — all different building materials, really — to make their homes safe, sanitary and secure.”

Jim Reitz, a member of the PDA National Response Team (NRT), praises the congregation for its dedication. Despite being small, “it is an amazing group of people that are doing a lot of good stuff,” he said. It‘s helpful to have a pastor who cheers you on, “saying, ‘We can do this. Let's go.’”

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The Volunteer Host Site helped Port Charlotte to recover from Hurricane Ian. (Photo courtesy of Wintergarden Presbyterian Church)

When Reitz arrived in the community shortly after it was hit by Ian, up to 80% of roofs he saw were covered with blue tarps. But now he’s struck by the many new roofs and repairs he’s seen in the community as well as the restoration of the church.

“You laid the foundation, the footer, if you will, and then teams came in and they started building the brick walls, one layer at a time,” Reitz said during the service, which included a presentation of gifts from PDA.

“I, this morning, am just inspired by hearing your stories, and the stories of the other work partners and your listening to the Spirit calling, and trusting God to be with you,” said Michele Holifield, a fellow NRT member who presented the church with a cross and a certificate of appreciation from PDA.

Andrews credits much of the success of the host site to an array of partners that have included not only PDA, Peace River Presbytery and the Florida Presbyterian Disaster Assistance Network but also the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church and the United Methodist Committee on Relief. Others include SBP (the St. Bernard Project), Mennonite Disaster Services, Church of the Palms in Sarasota, the Gulf Coast partnership, the United Way in Charlotte County and Palma Ceia Presbyterian Church in Tampa, among others.

“All those partnerships are what kept us going and kept us motivated because we couldn't have done anything without the partnerships that we had,” Andrews said.

PDA has several other host sites. For general questions about volunteering, contact the PDA Call Center at pda.callcenter@pcusa.org or 866-732-6121.

Darla Carter, Communications Strategist, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (Click here to read original PNS story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Golnaz Golriz, Guest Relations Manager, Stony Point Center, Interim Unified Agency
Sheldon Sorge, Field Study Coordinator, Stewardship & Funds Development, Administrative Services Group

Let us pray:

Gracious God, we give thanks for the hands that served, the doors that opened and the hearts that said yes when the needs were great. Bless the volunteers, partners and neighbors who rebuilt hope one board, prayer and act of love at a time. In Jesus’ name. Amen. 

Mission Yearbook: Texas Hill Country gets help after flooding from PDA

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Flooding of the Guadalupe River near Kerrville, Texas (Photo by U.S. Coast Guard)

As David Rauer eyed the Guadalupe River during a recent Presbyterian Disaster Assistance deployment to Texas, it was hard to fathom how the seemingly innocuous river could have grown so ferocious during the weekend of July 4.

“It's not a big river,” said Rauer, a member of PDA’s National Response Team (NRT).

Yet, in about two hours, the river rose from hip-height to three stories tall, leading to devastating flash flooding, according to The Associated Press.

“It's hard to imagine that difference when you look at this mild, small river, and you realize how much water was coming down it during the worst part of the flooding,” Rauer said.

Rauer was one of four PDA National Response Team members who traveled to the Texas Hill Country Aug. 7–12 to listen, learn and provide support, following catastrophic flooding that killed at least 138 people.

The deployment by Rauer, the Rev. Pat Ashley, Jan Spence and the Rev. Jim Reitz focused mostly on Kerr County, where at least 119 people were killed, many of them children in places like Camp Mystic.

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From left: The Rev. Bobby Musengwa, transitional general presbyter for Mission Presbytery; the Rev. Laurie Palmer, Mission Presbytery's stated clerk; and David Rauer, Pat Ashley, and Jan Spence, who visited Texas as part of a deployment of the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance National Response Team. (Photo courtesy of David Rauer/PDA)

Though Kerr County was the hardest hit, “there's widespread flooding and disaster from this same storm throughout that mid to western side of Texas,” said Rauer, team lead for PDA’s Long-Term Recovery ministry.  “A lot of homes have been impacted and people’s lives are upturned because of this flooding.”

The deployment enabled the National Response Team to see some of the damage for themselves, talk to people affected by the disaster and connect with representatives from Mission Presbytery, Synod of the Sun and others involved in the recovery.

“It was an initial deployment, so the primary purpose was assessing immediate needs” but also to discuss “possibilities around long-term recovery,” said Ashley, a retired Presbyterian minister who’s been with the NRT for about 15 years. “And, of course, emotional and spiritual care is always a part of it because so many of the people we meet are affected.”

The team — which was joined by the Rev. Kathy Lee-Cornell, director of the Synod Partnership for Disaster Recovery — also was able to share information from previous disasters, Rauer said. “They were very appreciative that we came in to give them some knowledge of recovery from other disasters to help them as they navigate this,” he said.

During a visit to First Presbyterian Church of Kerrville, the team was able to meet with a caseworker, Bailey Havis, who’s been hired by the church to assist people affected by the flooding. The team also attended a service at the church that included a blessing of backpacks for children going back to school, Ashley said.

Later, “there was a luncheon, and so we had the opportunity to go to that lunch and just talk with people and heard their stories,” she said. It was “human-to-human connection … very connective and heartwarming.”

In this way, deployments help to show that PDA isn’t just an “entity out there but rather people who are concerned and care for them and that we could talk with them about the possibilities that PDA has for working with them long-term,” Ashley said.

Among the local people the team met with during the deployment were the Rev. Jasiel Hernandez Garcia, senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Kerrville, the Rev. Bobby Musengwa, transitional general presbyter for Mission Presbytery, and Mission Presbytery’s stated clerk, the Rev. Laurie Palmer, as well as the Rev. Dr. Dongwoo Lee, a minister at Schreiner University, and Fred Gamble, chief financial officer of Presbyterian Mo-Ranch Assembly.

“I think it was a good starting point with PDA, and my hope is that we'll continue to have more enriching conversations and more direct kind of involvement from them,” Garcia said.

Garcia took the team out to see some of the flood damage and the progress that’s been made, such as the clearing of some of the many uprooted trees, Ashley said. The time with him also gave a clearer picture of the scope of the disaster, she said, since you could see “where the river is now and where the damaged places were that were very far removed from where the river is now.”

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is one of the Compassion, Peace & Justice ministries of the Interim Unified Agency of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). For more information about the recovery and to see a series of useful videos, go here. To support PDA’s response through your generous giving, go here.

Darla Carter, Communications Strategist, Mission Communications Click here to read original PNS Story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Edward Thompson, Senior Church Consultant and Director of Inter Agency Relations, Board of Pensions
Julie Tonini, Director of Production, Publishing & Editorial, Presbyterian Publishing Corporation

Let us pray:

Gracious God, there is no pain you don’t understand, no heart you can’t examine. Hear the voices from the most obscure corners of the world. Just as you were lifted high, may our lives also be lifted. In your precious name we pray. Amen.

Mission Yearbook: ‘Mosaic’ report highlights power of going together in disaster response

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PDA's annual report for 2024 has been released.

In the latest annual report from Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, the Rev. Edwin González-Castillo explains how a time-honored proverb, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together,” captures the heart of PDA.

“In every disaster we respond to, we do not go alone,” the PDA director notes in a letter of gratitude that opens the report. “We go together — with communities, congregations, mid councils and partners — as we respond to disasters.”

The 2024 “Mosaic: Year in Review” highlights that collaborative work, which has included supporting “communities throughout their recovery journeys, from war zones to towns devastated by wildfire and storms to the paths of asylum seekers.”

With a plethora of maps and photos, partner stories, eye-opening statistics and a sleek new format, Mosaic reveals “how our presence transforms us when we choose collective journeys,” González-Castillo said. “Through these pages, we celebrate God’s grace expressed in the generosity of donors, the commitment of the staff and volunteers, and the resilience of our communities."

The report, now available online, is designed not only to introduce PDA to long-time supporters but also to share the breadth of the ministry’s work to church and community members who might not know much about what PDA does and how it operates. The impact is told through PDA partners, whose voices are reflected in greater number this year.

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The Rev. Edwin González-Castillo, director of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (Courtesy of PDA)

“The report presents narratives that highlight resilience together with transformation and sacred accompaniment and illustrates how dignity becomes affirmed while grief is honored and hope experiences rebuilding,” González-Castillo said.

For those who read the report and are inspired to join forces with PDA, here are some ways to come alongside the ministry:

• Stay informed and make sure your congregation knows what PDA is up to by following PDA on social media.
• Volunteer to rebuild after disasters.
• Host a screening of one of the documentary resources from PDA’s story ministry, Counter Stories Productions.
• Assemble Gift of the Heart Kits.
• Apply to serve on the National Response Team.
• Participate in the 2026 Blue Shirt Sunday, the first Sunday in Lent.
• Make recurring or one-time donations.

A few printed copies of Mosaic will be available later this year, but it is primarily an online product. To learn more about the resource and PDA, go here.

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is one of the Compassion, Peace & Justice ministries of the Interim Unified Agency of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

Darla Carter, Communications Strategist, Interim Unified Agency (Click here to read original PNS Story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Rebecca Barnes, Manager, Presbyterian Hunger Program, Interim Unified Agency 
Cheryl Barnes, Manager, US Global Ecumenical Liaisons, Interim Unified Agency

Let us pray:

Gracious God, giver of every good and perfect gift, thank you for calling us to your service. Help us to be cheerful in using your gifts to us for the common good of others — to your glory. Amen.

Mission Yearbook: PDA grants help people affected by earthquake in Myanmar

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance has issued grants to Community World Service Asia and the Presbyterian Church of Myanmar to help people in earthquake-stricken Myanmar, where at least 3,600 people have lost their lives since disaster struck in late March. 

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An earthquake-damaged building in Mandalay, one of the affected communities (Photo by Feiza via Wikimedia Commons, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Community World Service Asia, a PDA partner and member of ACT Alliance, will use the grant to address acute needs, including food, first-aid supplies and hygiene kits, in the area, which was rocked by a 7.7-magnitude earthquake on March 28 and a subsequent 6.6 magnitude-tremor.

“For decades, the peace-loving people of Myanmar have been suffering from natural disasters, poverty and conflict,” said Marvin Parvez, regional director of Community World Service Asia, in a statement to PDA. “The recent powerful earthquake took away what little they had to survive on the margins. Infrastructure is destroyed and fields have been devastated; this will cause food security challenges for years to come. Thousands of families are still sleeping in the open, without clean drinking water, food and shelter.”

The disaster was felt nationwide and in other areas, such as Bangkok, where a skyscraper collapsed. In addition to the fatalities, almost 5,000 people have been injured and more than 140 remain missing, according to an April 14 report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

“During this current emergency, Community World Service Asia is assessing the needs and urgently sending emergency staff to provide support,” Program Coordinator Hina Gul Roy said in correspondence with PDA. “Our intervention is focused on lifesaving actions, ensuring that immediate help is provided to the affected communities to help them recover from the devastating effects of the earthquake.”

Emergency assistance from Community World Service Asia includes the distribution of necessities including tents, tarpaulins, sleeping bags and blankets, as well as nonperishable food items and ready-to-eat meals.

Other needs to be addressed by the group include hygiene kits, bottled water and water purification tablets, and psycho-social and community support.

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(Image showing the March 28 earthquake intensity is courtesy of the United States Geological Survey)

“As the harsh summer season approaches, extended displacement stands to heighten health hazards for communities already facing vulnerability,” the program coordinator said. “The impoverished conditions, coupled with restricted availability of essential food items and clean water, are likely to result in a surge in both the frequency and gravity of infectious diseases. Affected people are in dire need of immediate humanitarian and emergency assistance in the aftermath of the earthquake and continuing aftershocks.”

To help, PDA also is partnering with the Presbyterian Church of Myanmar, which is working alongside local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and volunteers to assist internally displaced people. PCM’s efforts include providing housing, offering psychosocial support to those affected, delivering water and sanitation services, and supplying food and other essential necessities.

“We are planning to focus on two high-urgency categories such as providing lifesaving aids to earthquake-affected people in the remote villages through partner NGOs and reinforcing earthquake weakened structures of PCM’s Centre in Mandalay to be used as shelter for displaced people,” the Rev. Pek Muan Cuang, PCM’s general secretary, stated to PDA.

Humanitarian efforts are complicated by fighting in the region that has continued despite temporary ceasefires, making it difficult to reach some severely impacted communities, according to the U.N. Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner.

“I urge a halt to all military operations, and for the focus to be on assisting those impacted by the quake, as well as ensuring unhindered access to humanitarian organizations that are ready to support,” U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said recently. “I hope this terrible tragedy can be a turning point for the country towards an inclusive political solution.”

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is one of the Compassion, Peace & Justice ministries of the Interim Unified Agency of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). To assist with recovery efforts in Myanmar, you can make a donation here, using code DR000198.

Darla Carter, Communications Strategist, Interim Unified Agency, PC(USA) (Click here to read original PNS Story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Dalma Rodriguez, Kitchen Assistant, Stony Point Center, Interim Unified Agency (term)
Jermaine Ross-Allam, Director, Center for Repair of Historical Harms Visioning, Rebuilding, and Innovation, Interim Unified Agency 

Let us pray:

Protect us, O God, and give us compassion to help one another when life becomes overwhelming. Inspire us to always look to you for grace, hope and love, and may we always share these gifts with those around us. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.

Mission Yearbook: How Presbyterian Disaster Assistance supports communities in Puerto Rico

During its recent annual in-person meeting, the Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment (MRTI) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) met with community partners in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

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Estrella Santiago Pérez speaks to MRTI committee about Project ENLACE del Caño Martín Peña in San Juan, Puerto Rico. (Photo by Gregg Brekke)

The site visits allowed committee members to hear firsthand from people who have suffered from environmental disasters and people-made problems. MRTI staff and committee members listen and learn at these engagements and seek ways to advocate for communities as they work with companies on environmental and human rights issues.

Following its business session at the PC(USA) affiliated Seminario Evangélico de Puerto Rico, and presentations on the social, political, economic and theological environment by Emilio Pantojas, a sociology professor at the University of Puerto Rico, and Dr. Gonzalo Alers, a New Testament professor at the seminary, committee members met with two PC(USA)-supported community groups.

Beginning with Fideicomiso del Caño Martín Peña (Martín Peña Canal Land Trust) and Proyecto ENLACE, a Presbyterian Disaster Assistance partner project, committee members saw the effort that is restoring the canal connecting the harbor lagoons around San Juan. Environmental Affairs Manager Estrella Santiago Pérez described the dramatic turnaround that has happened because of the cleanup and restoration effort, and toured portions of the canal and surrounding communities with MRTI committee members.

“We have eight communities that are basically dissected by a T-channel called the Caño Martín Peña,” Santiago Pérez said of the area that has been home to San Juan’s working poor and had suffered a century of environmental neglect. “This project seeks to restore the environmental ecosystem of the Caño Martín Peña, which is also part of the San Juan based ecosystem through its dredging and channelization, but it also seeks to provide infrastructure housing and also promote socioeconomic development within the communities of the Caño Martín Peña.”

The project’s comprehensive development plan began in 2002 and encompasses infrastructure, sanitary, power, transportation, and stormwater improvements, as well as socioeconomic development and ecosystem restoration initiatives. Santiago Pérez says its goals are to restore the ecology of the Caño Martín Peña, reconnect the communities with the water, provide resilient and decent housing, and foster economic development opportunities for the residents.

Three primary project partners, including the “G8” governing boards from each of the affected communities, and 12 grassroot organizations expect the project to be completed by 2032.

“A beautiful element of this type of community planning tool is that it is a visualization of what the communities want for themselves,” Santiago Pérez said. “What these communities look like once the priorities are implemented will be a restored canal with mangroves surrounding it, similar to what it used to look like originally, because this is a wetland with recreation components. There are some proposed water plazas and recreation areas where the communities can enter the canal. Just imagine people taking a kayak from these communities all the way to San Juan or to Carolina.”

The land trust component of the project has purchased properties and resolved title issues that has allowed residents to remain in the community without fear of relocation. A surge in outside investment in response to a favorable tax shelter environment following Hurricane Maria has resulted in inflated land and housing prices. Through the land trust, residents individually own their houses and the right to use the plot of land where it is located. The trust also collectively owns 200 acres of land that was previously government property.

“The Presbyterian Church came at a very vulnerable time for the communities after Hurricane Maria. We were facing multiple challenges,” Santiago Pérez said. “We already had challenges before the hurricane, but definitely Maria exacerbated the vulnerability of the communities in terms of access to water and electricity.

“PDA came in when we needed them. … We deeply appreciate the commitment that PDA has shown the communities and that we know shows other communities throughout the U.S. and the world.”

MRTI was created in recognition of the PC(USA)'s unique opportunity to advance its mission faithfully and creatively through the financial resources entrusted it. MRTI implements the General Assembly’s policies on socially responsible investing — also called faith-based investing — by engaging corporations in which the church owns stock.

Gregg Brekke for the Presbyterian Foundation (Click here to read original PNS Story)
 

Let us join in prayer for:

Sunkyoo Park, Associate, Adult Curriculum, Korean Language, Presbyterian Publishing Corporation 
Brent Paschal, IS Specialist, Presbyterian Foundation 

Let us pray:

Lord of Creation, help us to live in Job’s words: “Ask the animals, and they will teach you … and the fish of the sea will declare to you. … In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of every human being” (12:7–8, 10). Amen.

Mission Yearbook: Presbyterian Disaster Assistance staff visit several partners in San Fernando Presbytery

In halting words, a woman recounted being awakened at 4 a.m. to evacuate her home as her neighborhood was engulfed in an inferno propelled by 90 miles-per-hour winds, explosions happening all around her.

La Cañada Presbyterian Church in La Cañada Flintridge, California. (Photo by
Rich Copley)

She and her family went to a 24-hour Denny’s to wait, and when they tried to return a few hours later, they were told by the fire department, “‘It’s too dangerous. Let it burn,’ which is a hard thing to hear about your own neighborhood.”

Another speaker recalled a neighbor returning to their neighborhood the next day. When the neighbor’s husband made a turn, she asked why, and he said, “We’re on our street.”

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) personnel ended their solidarity visit to Southern California following the January wildfires the way they began: hearing from people directly impacted by the fires and talking about the path forward and how PDA might be involved.

At La Cañada Presbyterian Church in La Cañada Flintridge, they also heard about a church that immediately went into action as the fires blazed, providing financial and material support and care for people impacted, and that has continued to evolve its response.

“Before disaster recovery was set up, this church was taking care of us,” one person said.

The Rev. Dr. Ross Purdy, pastor of La Cañada Presbyterian Church in La Cañada
Flintridge, California, talks to visitors from Presbyterian Disaster Assistance during
a visit on March 11. (Photo by Rich Copley)

The Rev. Dr. Ross Purdy, the church’s pastor, and the Rev. Dr. Cindy Frost, associate pastor of Outreach and Spiritual Formation, talked about programs the church has put in place including time the church is open so people can come hang out in a safe and comfortable space to teams leveraging professional expertise in the church to help people navigate their path forward.

Earlier in the final day of their solidarity journey, PDA leadership heard from communities impacted in different ways by the fires. Though the North San Fernando Valley did not experience the fires, many residents worked in the communities that were burned and have lost those jobs from full-time to per-service occupations.

PDA leadership visited the Refugee Children Center and North Valley Caring Services, which have responded to immediate needs presented by the wildfires through its status as a donation hub and programs like its weekly drive-thru food pantry. They are separate groups and serve different needs, though they share several things in common, including a campus in the San Fernando Valley.

Both organizations are also led by people who come from the communities they serve.

Mayra Medina-Núñez, Executive Director of the Children's Refugee Center, talks
to members of the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance delegation about the Center's work.
(Photo by Rich Copley)

Refugee Children Center Executive Director Mayra Medina-Núñez is a native of Oaxaca, Mexico who came to the United States as an unaccompanied minor and “went through everything,” people with that status endure, she said. Now a naturalized citizen, she found faith through a Bible study, attended UCLA and went to work in legal, social and humanitarian services.

“I see this as God’s plan,” she said of the work she now does, serving families who are refugees, particularly children, at the center. “What would have happened if I had a support system when I first arrived.”

North Valley Caring Services Executive Director Manny Flores grew up in the area he says is regarded as the worst place in the country for an adolescent to grow up. Though he was raised in a family of faith, he said as a teenager, “I became a stereotype,” his interest in the gang life surrounding him piqued.

After a long-term prison sentence, he applied at the community center, and “despite my background, got a job.” Now he focuses on giving children in the area options he didn’t have, including the Teen Tech Center, a creative hub that includes a variety of endeavors from screen printing to a recording studio and video lab.

“This is not an academic program. It’s an entrepreneurial program,” Flores says. “But it turns back to academics because you can’t run a business if you don’t know how to review the financials or read a contract.”

Previously, North Valley Caring Services has been the recipient of a grant from the Presbyterian Committee on the Self Development of People as well as the Presbytery of San Fernando. Flores was open about the desire to forge new partnerships to help grow its work, as is the Refugee Children’s Center.

Rich Copley, Multimedia Producer, Interim Unified Agency (Click here to read original PNS Story)

Let us join in prayer for:

• Kyle Nolan, Associate Ministry Relations Officer, Presbyterian Foundation
• Clara Nunéz, Associate, Program Administration, Self-Development of People, Interim Unified Agency 

Let us pray:

Loving God, open our eyes to those in need in our community. Give us courage to address their needs and show your love to all­ — today and every day. Amen.