The Grace Blog

On Friday, April 29, 2022, a tornado hit Andover, Kansas. The next Monday I reached out to the Presbytery of Southern Kansas to see how, or if, the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) might help.  In the last decade our congregation has given physical supplies and financial gifts to the PDA.  We’ve packed buckets and hygiene bags and given to the One Great Hour of Sharing offering.

I learned that for PDA to have actual “boots on the ground” we needed to have a PDA infrastructure of local presbytery volunteers already in place.  We did not have that, but fortunately other faith groups and non-profits did, and they jumped in with clean-up help.

The good news is that our presbytery applied for a grant from PDA, and we received $7500 that went to the United Way of the Plains to help people get back in homes.  While many people had insurance, some were under-insured, and there were uninsured or under-insured renters who lost everything, and the United Way is working with all of them.

We are grateful that through our connectional church we could help facilitate this gift.

-Catherine NB

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