Compassion's USA Ministry Assists Victims of Terrorism

Compassion International
Friday, 16 November 2001

In response to the September 11 terrorist attacks, Compassion International's USA Ministry is supporting other ministries in New York that are providing housing, counseling, retreats, and spiritual guidance to relief workers and victims. The Manhattan Lamb's Church of the Nazarene, situated in the heart of New York City, is one such ministry partner that is offering housing to relief professionals who have been assisting in the community and at the disaster site.

"As soon as I saw the World Trade Center towers collapse, my mind immediately focused on Lamb's Church, where I served as a seminary intern," states Compassion's USA Ministry Director Rev. Dean Cowles. A portion of the church's six-story facility has been transformed into twenty short- and long-term housing units occupied by trauma-counseling specialists, consultants, and various ministry representatives serving in the area.

Compassion's Ministry in the U.S. is also helping fund the Ground Zero Clergy Task Force, a consortium of churches in New York, which will be hosting an upcoming retreat for local ministers, leaders of faith-based organizations, and representatives of victims' families. For many of the beneficiaries, this retreat will serve as their first break since the attacks. In addition, the clergy task force will facilitate weekend recreational camps for high school students who witnessed the events of September 11 and have since been displaced from their schools. "The greatest need now," says task force head Rev. Marcos Rivera of the Primitive Christian Church, "is not food and clothing, but mental health counseling from a Christian perspective."

Future grants have been approved by Compassion's USA Ministry to assist other faith-based partners in New York and at least one youth outreach ministry in Washington, D.C. Additionally, Compassion is aligning with Outreach of Hope, a Colorado-based ministry that is distributing Bibles to victims of the 9/11 attacks in NYC and DC. "Now, as the dust settles, the real work begins-to help counsel adults and youth in the aftermath of such a tragic event," says Cowles. "Compassion is committed to bringing healing, restoration, and hope to these darkened areas of our nation's greatest cities."

For more information, or to contact Compassion International, see their website at: www.compassion.com