Diocesan Youth Take On Hurricane Relief Outreach Project
JOHNSTOWN, PA [National ACRY] --- With the blessing and enthusiastic support of His Eminence, Metropolitan Gregory of Nyssa, the National Junior and Senior ACRY has taken on the coordination of a Diocesan-wide outreach initiative to assist the International Orthodox Christian Charities in responding to the catastrophic devastation wrought by Hurricane Dorian which brought destruction to the Bahama’s and the south eastern coast of the United States. Hurricane Dorian caused over 7 billion dollars in damage and left thousands homeless.
In times of natural disaster, the International Orthodox Christian Charities has boots on the ground distributing hygiene kits which provide basic hygiene supplies that more than likely were washed away in the torrential downpour. Due to the multiple, intense storms that have hit during the peak of this hurricane season, IOCC’s supply of hygiene kits have been depleted.
In keeping with the mission of the ACRY to enable its membership to experience the spiritual joy and fulfillment of participating in the work of Christ on a local, national and global levels through its many charitable outreach and philantropic initiatives, in conjunction with the Annual Fall Youth Encounter at Camp Nazareth, the National Jr. and Sr. ACRY are working together to collect the necessary items required to assemble Hygiene Kits at the event for the IOCC to distribute to those effected by the Hurricane. In order for this project to be a success, our youth need the assistance of all of the parishes of the Diocese.
Here's how our parishes can help:
- Parishes are asked through the collaborative efforts of their local ACRY Chapter, Church School Program, Youth Groups and Outreach Ministries to provide complete sets of items needed to make up Hygiene kits .
- Those parishes with youth attending the Fall Youth Encounter are kindly asked to send these items with them.
- Those parishes who do not have youth attending the Encounter have the option of bringing these items (complete sets of needed items to make up the kits) with them to the Diocesan Sobor to have the youth assemble at the Encounter or if they prefer to have their own youth/parishioners assemble them, the completed kits can also be brought to the Sobor where they will be hand delivered to the appropriate Church World Service Warehouse by Archon Daniel Breno.
- Parishes needing more time may also send the completed kits directly to IOCC/CWS here:
| USPS | UPS or FedEx |
| IOCC/Church World Service Brethren Service Center Annex 601 Main Street PO Box 188 New Windsor, MD 21776 |
IOCC/Church World Service Brethren Service Center Annex 601 Main Street New Windsor, MD 21776 |
Please do not send assembled kits to the IOCC Baltimore HQ office. To avoid shipping costs CLICK HERE to see if there is a local drop off center for Church World Services who partners with IOCC in warehousing and distributing the kits.
Diocesan priests have already received via email, detailed instructions and promotional materials to coordinate their parish's response which are also posted below.
In this time of need, any and all help is greatly appreciated. Please keep all of those impacted by natural disaster in your prayers, and then organize a coffee hour at your church to help put together kits so they can recover from the storm.
As the need is great, the immediate response and expeditious completion and delivery of the Hygiene Kits would be greatly appreciated.
If you are unable to assemble disaster relief kits on your own, but would still like to contribute, you can send donations to the National Jr. ACRY. With those donations, the ACRY will buy the supplies for the kits and will bring them to the ACRY Encounter.
You can send your donations to:
Jr. ACRY financial secretary
Katren Lavra
122 R Pope Rd.
Stroudsburg, PA 18360
For more information, please contact Jordan Polanichka, ACRY Ambassador and Hurricane Outreach Project Coordinator at jpolanichka@gmail.com.
Forms and Information
Hurricane Relief - Outreach Project Promotional Flier (PDF Format)
Packing Lists and Shipping Instructions (PDF Format)