Stories

Access to clean water isn’t just an “over there” issue, and the community-led approach our programs are based on isn’t just an “over there” strategy. Just like when disasters happen internationally, when we began to address the situation in Flint, our first question was: what is the local Church doing and how can we support them?

Across the US, Episcopalians are gearing up for summer activities. But this summer, with concerns about the Zika virus moving north into the continental US, new questions are popping up. Responding to these concerns, Episcopal Relief & Development assembled a taskforce of experts to create a resource that would help Episcopal churches in the United States respond appropriately. Learn More-

In February 2016, our partners in Zambia received a visit from Heather Grady, Vice President at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. Through that visit she describes a new path for philanthropic giving that is more aware and connected, and that takes more advantage of converging around shared aims and goals. 

Mom showed me the meaning of compassion, what it is like to feel protected and nurtured. She taught me how to unleash my inner mother and make sure other moms around the world have the medicines and training they need to give their children and entire communities a head start in life and build a lifelong foundation in health.

This Mother’s Day I will be looking beyond the flowers and Sunday brunches, beyond the saccharine poetry of greeting card sentimentality. I will be looking at my wife and my mother, at the generations lined up behind these two women as well as those that stand beside them from around the world, and I will give heartfelt thanks for the grit and gumption that comprises the soul of motherhood.

As I write this blog rescue operations are underway in Japan and Ecuador following powerful earthquakes that caused massive damage to property and loss of life. These events remind us of our vulnerability and as the story unfolds they will underscore the critical importance of preparedness, response and long-term recovery. As it happens, over the last several weeks I have had occasion to travel to three countries, Nepal, Japanand Haiti, to observe and assess the long-term work being done to recover from similar events in the past.