Emergency Response

Friday, February 20, 2009

A similar fire in 2006.
Photo by diongillard*. Used under permission of Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic Licence*.

In the second week of February a series of bush fires, intensified by high temperatures and winds, cut a broad swath through Australia's Victoria State. More than 200 people were killed, some 1,800 homes destroyed, and 7,500 people displaced by literally hundreds of fires that swept the region. Australian churches and other groups responded quickly with financial and material aid, special prayer services, and chaplaincies and counselling for affected and grieving people and communities.

The United Church of Canada offers its deepest condolences to all those individuals and families who have lost loves, livelihoods, and property. For more information on this disaster and how Australia's churches are responding, visit the websites of the Uniting Churches of Australia* and the National Council of Churches in Australia*.

How United Church Members Can Help

Pray: Pray for the victims of the bush fires and their families.

Donate: Designate a gift for "Emergency Response: Australian Bush Fires" and it will be sent to the Uniting Church of Australia for its relief efforts. Cheques and online donations should be made payable to The United Church of Canada and marked "Australian Bush Fires." The funds will be treated as "designated gifts."

Please note: Designated gifts cannot be counted as M&S Fund credits. However, they are eligible for tax receipts. Congregational treasurers may receive and receipt individual cheques and then forward one congregational cheque to the United Church.

As always with United Church emergency funds, 100 percent of all donations received will be committed to support relief and reconstruction work for people in need. There is no administration fee deducted. This is made possible thanks to the generous ongoing support of United Church members to the church's Mission and Service (M&S) Fund. Contributions to M&S allow the United Church to absorb the staffing and operating costs of processing donations for emergency appeals.

In the case of designated gifts for emergency appeals, the church does allocate 15 percent of your donation to replenish the Emergency Response Fund. These monies are used exclusively to enable the United Church to immediately respond to current and future emergency needs of people in crisis around the world.

For further information, please contact:

• Gary Kenny
  Program Coordinator for Emergency Response
  Justice, Global and Ecumenical Relations Unit (JGER)
  Tel: 416-231-5931 ext. 4051
  Toll-free: 1-800-268-3781 ext. 4051
  E-mail: Gary Kenny