March 2023

Our mission offering in March will be directed to Church World Service. Church World Service (CWS) is a faith-based organization supporting communities around the globe through just and sustainable responses to hunger, poverty, displacement and disaster. CWS is active in more than 30 countries globally in Africa, Asia, Europe¸ and North and South America.

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CWS's work began in 1946, in the devastating aftermath of the Second World War, when a combination of seventeen denominations came together to form an agency with a mission to "feed the hungry, clothe the naked, heal the sick, comfort the aged, and shelter the homeless." CWS has worked ever since with a goal of building a world where there is enough for all. They have welcomed thousands of refugees into our communities, helped countless families put food on the table and lifted the voices of people who have been left out. Through their Immigration and Refugee Program CWS has helped to resettled over half a million refugees.

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CWS builds long-term programs into their disaster response work to make sure that families would not just recover but thrive. Today their food security, water, sanitation, hygiene, health and livelihood programs focus on everything from crop diversification in Honduras to renewable energy in Bosnia to water access at health posts in Myanmar.

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Examples of success stories abound. In Algeria, North Africa, volunteers worked for four years planting 20 million forest and fruit trees to anchor the soil against nature's persistent erosion. In India, CWS volunteers helped villages construct reservoirs, dig wells, and lay irrigations systems to combat drought and increase food production.

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“Blankets, Seeds, and Tools” is an example of programs where CWS works in partnership to assist people in the world's poorest countries to find effective ways of tackling poverty and injustice. Seeds and tools are an investment in a food supply that the needy can count on.

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In November 2020, hurricanes Eta and Iota hit Central America. One of the most affected countries was Honduras. Alongside their partners, CWS helped 102 families rebuild their lost homes through their Housing with Dignity program.

Whether it is a natural disaster, like the present earthquake in Syria and Turkey, where CWS is teaming up with other responders, or a humanitarian one like the situation in Haiti, CWS works with their partners around the world to meet the ever-present needs.

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More information about Church World Service and giving options are available at their website https://cwsglobal.org/

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