AKRON, Pa. – Mennonite Central Committee and Mennonite Partners in China, which is supported by four partner Mennonite agencies including Mennonite Mission Network, are jointly supporting relief efforts in China following the devastating May 12 earthquake.
With its epicenter in China’s Sichuan province, the earthquake killed more than 40,000 people and left more than 4 million people homeless, according to news reports.
MCC and MPC are providing $100,000 to churches in Sichuan and to the Amity Foundation, a Chinese humanitarian organization, to purchase and distribute food, medicine and temporary shelter materials to people affected by the quake.
MPC, based in Harrisonburg, Va., is a joint program of Mennonite Mission Network, MCC, Eastern Mennonite Missions and Mennonite Church Canada Witness. MPC supports Chinese churches and church institutions, and places Christian English teachers at Chinese universities, including in Sichuan and the neighboring Chongqing municipality.
There are about eight congregations and numerous house churches in the area devastated by the earthquake, according to Myrrl Byler, director of MPC. Some of these churches are providing water, milk and instant noodles to people whose homes have been destroyed, Byler said.
"Everybody is pretty much living outdoors," Byler said. "The church is trying to reach out to them."
MCC and MPC are providing $20,000 to the Amity Foundation to help distribute water, food, plastic sheeting and other supplies, and $80,000 to local Chinese churches for their relief efforts.
"We are being responsive to the churches’ call to support them at this time as they strengthen relationships with their communities," said Tom Wenger, MCC’s associate director of Asia programs.
On May 18, Peter Yuan, pastor of a church in Chengdu, Sichuan province, led eight minivans and sport utility vehicles full of church youth to a church in the earthquake-devastated city of Mianzhu, according to Byler. The group then divided and visited eight villages outside of Mianzhu, delivering food and supplies, including medicine purchased with support from MPC and MCC.
While most of the villagers were working in fields during the quakes, many of their homes were destroyed, burying their possessions, Byler said.
"One of the most urgent needs for these villagers is temporary shelter. While the government is providing tents for cities and the thousands who are coming there from the worst-hit areas, the villagers that Pastor Yuan visited are using scraps of cardboard and plastic to provide some shelter from the sun and rain," Byler wrote in an e-mail.
MCC and MPC are providing funds to purchase needed items such as antibiotics, cooking utensils and tents. MPC workers in China, including Jeanette and Todd Hanson in Nanchong, and James and Michelle Stabler-Havener in Chengdu, each supported by Mennonite Mission Network, are working closely with church leaders to help coordinate Chinese churches’ responses.
Besides the Hansons and Stabler-Haveners, Mennonite Mission Network also supports Julie and Phil Bender in Chongqing. The Hansons and Benders also are supported by Mennonite Church Canada Witness.
Financial contributions for this response may be made to MPC or any of its supporting agencies, either online or at the following addresses, and should be designated “China emergency assistance.”
• Mennonite Partners in China, 1251 Virginia Ave., Harrisonburg VA 22802
• Mennonite Mission Network (www.mennonitemission.net), PO Box 370, Elkhart IN 46515-0370
• Mennonite Central Committee (www.mcc.org), PO Box 500, Akron PA, 17501-0500
• Eastern Mennonite Missions (www.emm.org), PO Box 458, Salunga PA 17538-0458
• Mennonite Church Canada Witness (www.mennonitechurch.ca), 600 Shaftesbury Blvd., Winnipeg MB R3P 0M4.
Tim Shenk is a writer for Mennonite Central Committee. Ryan Miller, a writer for Mennonite Mission Network, contributed to this article.
