PDA at a Glance - 2015

SC Flooding, Katrina 10-yr, European refugees — AP/JasonLee, Roberta Updegraff, ACT/Paul Jeffrey

Thank You to the many congregations, individuals and volunteers who chose to be part of disaster recovery ministry in 2015. Your support of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) enables us to witness the healing love of Christ to families affected by disasters. Through your gifts, action and prayers, you stand in the GAP for disaster survivors and help the Church with responses around the world.

Your financial gifts of love enabled us to program approximately $2.8 million to meet immediate and long-term recovery needs of disaster survivors and to provide a witness of caring around the world.

Internationally, your gifts enabled response to major disasters and civil conflicts in 14 countries and, through support of the global rapid response fund, enabled a low-level response in an additional 25 countries.  Your gifts helped support:

• Assistance for Christians returning and reestablishing their lives in Homs, Syria
• Immediate and ongoing disaster response to earthquakes  in Nepal,
• Humanitarian assistance to migrants and displaced persons seeking safety and refuge in Europe,
• Food security for families in Malawi where flooding and drought impacted the planting and harvest seasons
• Ongoing response to refugee crises in Syria and South Sudan, and ongoing response and rebuilding in Philippines, Haiti and other long-term disasters around the globe.

Nationally, your gifts supported the response of 31 mid councils in 21 states to storms, floods, and other disasters within their bounds as well as long term recovery efforts.  Your gifts supported:

• Response to severe flooding in multiple states especially in Texas and South Carolina,
• Response to massive snowfall and winter storms in the Northeast,
• Wildfires response in Alaska, California, Oregon, and Washington
• Ongoing compassionate response to the unaccompanied children and border crisis
• Ongoing response and long-term recovery to Hurricane Sandy
• Multiple responses to human-caused disasters and public violence including Charlestown, Ferguson, Oregon, San Bernardino, and various incidents of church arson

PDA National Response Team (NRT) members served following 23 disasters in 37 states, helping mid councils respond to disasters in their communities. NRT members also conducted disaster preparedness, compassion fatigue, emotional and spiritual care, care for caregivers, long-term recovery, and other trainings to help mid councils build their capacity to respond.

Your gifts of time and talent in walking with disaster survivors provided hope and encouragement on the journey to recovery.

• More than 22,800 volunteers served through 42 PDA-related volunteer hosting sites in 17 states, donating more than 223,000 hours of labor for disaster recovery.  The monetary equivalence of this labor is valued at over $5 million; however, as the church we know the value of our service is not limited to financial support—by bearing the witness of Christ’s love, our gifts of service are multiplied.
• Many assembled and packed Gift of the Heart Kits. 176,450 kits with an in-kind value of more than $2.2 million were distributed to partner agencies in the U.S. and around the world.
• Presbyterians helped refugees and asylum seekers resettle in the United States through our collaborative work with Church World Service. More than 7,100 refugees comprising 38 different nationalities experienced the ministry of pastoral accompaniment and the welcoming of strangers seeking a new life.

We are thankful for the many ways Presbyterians continue to bear the hope of Christ to those recovering from disasters, and we celebrate the involvement of so many servants in the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance ministry.