Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Gardening

If you don't want your garden to grow weeds, one of the best ways is to keep it well stocked with strong, sturdy flowers and shrubs. If you don't want your mind and heart to go wandering off into the realms of darkness, one of the best ways is to keep them well stocked with wise and thankful themes, so that words of comfort, guidance and good judgment come bubbling up unbidden from the memory and subconscious. 

N.T. Wright
Paul for Everyone | The Prison Letters

Tuesday, August 09, 2016

Cross International Church Connect: Hurricane Earl Disaster Relief in Belize


This is something we posted at CrossInternational.City Church Connect. As we've watched Hurricane Earl sweep through the Caribbean,  Central America, and southern Mexico, colleagues from Cross International have been on the ground in Belize connecting with ministry partners and coordinating relief efforts. Keep up to date here.
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Since we first asked for your prayers, Cross mobilized a team to connect with our long-term partners in Belize to survey Hurricane Earl disaster relief needs. In advance of this trip, we’ve ordered 15 pallets of prepositioned Vitafood and 19 Medical Missions Packs that will be airlifted later this week.
As our team drives around Belize City, the hired cab had to avoid the tin sheets and thatched roofs - the items that many houses are constructed from - that were scattered everywhere. All visible evidence of damage point to winds in excess of 100 MPH rather than the 80 MPH wind gusts reported in the news. Belize City is situated at and below sea level (in some places) where storm surge was well over six feet.

In addition to the visible evidence of wind damage, the odor of sewage in hurricane-borne water was overwhelming. Sanitation problems are everywhere including at a Cross International partner school that has been commandeered by local authorities as an evacuation center. Even the hotel our team is staying in has no water due to post-hurricane disruption.

We are very thankful that our ministry partners in Belize are collaborating with us to distribute emergency food and medical supplies in coming days. As stated above, 15 Medical Missions packs containing 5,700 treatments are being airlifted this week. Pray that the Lord goes before us as we plan through the logistics of emergency food and medical distributions.

What follows is the general composition of a Medical Missions pack:
  • Aspirin 325mg 500tab
  • Oral Rehydration Salts 1scht
  • Multi-Vitamins + Iron, Children's Chewable, Animal Shapes 250tab
  • Cephalexin 250mg 500cap
  • Acetaminophen 500mg,  1,000cap
  • Amoxicillin 250mg 100cap
  • Amoxicillin Powder for Oral Suspension 125mg/5ml 80ml
  • Acetaminophen 160mg/5ml, Children's 118ml
  • Silver Sulfadiazine Cream 1% 85gm
  • Hydrocortisone 1% Cream, Maximum Strength Anti-Itch with Aloe 28gm
  • Triamcinolone Acetonide 0.025% Cream 15gm
  • Cefuroxime Axetil 125mg/5ml Oral Suspension
  • Ceftin 100ml Multivitamin, Performance Multi Energy Formula 300tab
  • Vitamin D3 Baby Drops 400iu 15ml
  • Imodium A-D Loperamide HCI 2mg, Anti-Diarrheal 24cap
  • Dextromethorphan HBr 15mg
  • Robitussin Adult Cold Cough Liqui-Gels Ibuprofen 200mg
  • Advil 200mg 50tab
  • Ibuprofen 50mg/1.25ml
  • Infant's Advil Concentrated Drops 15ml
  • Multivitamin, Women's Prenatal 180cap

Causes That Get the Most Love

When international charitable giving is discussed in local circles, inevitably someone will say, "What about the needy and hungry right here in our city? Shouldn't we help them too?" That's not a question I disagree with or have a strong opinion about other than the poor here in the U.S. have much more access and infrastructure for responding for needs.
For international giving, infrastructure for aid also exists, but it is not nearly as stable as domestic charitable outreach. That said,  I found this article interesting. I rather than provided a link back because it's a report that requires a sign in. Click here if you're interested in signing up for a subscription to reports from philanthropy.com

International Aid Groups Get Most Media Attention of Nonprofit Causes, Study Says

Organization: Marketing firm M+R
Summary: The median number of media mentions in 2015 for large U.S.-based nonprofits was 93, according to the study. International aid groups led the way with a median of 261 mentions by news organizations, driven by major events including the deadly earthquake in Nepal and the Syrian civil war and refugee crisis.
Groups that battle poverty in the United States saw the least coverage, with a median of 42 media hits in 2015.
The weakest month for news coverage: January, for groups in all categories. This may be because nonprofits ease up on outreach to journalists following their all-absorbing year-end fundraising work, the study says.
The study was based on a sample of 40 nonprofits from the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s list of the 400 biggest charities. Researchers studied how many times those 40 groups were named or cited by 50 major news outlets including the Associated Press, NPR, and Fox News.

Analyzing Media Coverage

When groups assess their media strategies, leaders should look at what types of media are providing the most hits and if there are specific times of year when there are gaps in coverage, among other things, the study concludes.
Among other findings:
  • Poverty groups saw their media hits peak in November, including a slew of national feature stories on holiday bell-ringers.
  • Daily newspapers gave nonprofits the most coverage: They published stories mentioning nonprofits at a rate six times that of major broadcast-news shows and 16 times the rate of national magazines.
  • Nonprofit have a harder time scoring feature stories. Fewer than one in 10 media hits were features, while the balance were just mentions.
Send an email to Megan O’Neil.