The next public PNMHS will be April 19, 2015 at Lebanon Mennonite Church (2100 S. 2nd St.) at 2:30 pm. The gathering will celebrate thirty years of faithfulness in raising funds for Mennonite Central Committee through the Oregon Festival for World Relief. Long-time West Coast MCC board member, Bill Braun, will be the speaker. Bill was part of the original team that started the OR sale and he served with MCC in Kentucky. Visit www.pnmhs.org, or email pnwmennonite@canby.com for more information.

This year’s Oregon Mennonite Festival for World Relief is focused on raising support for MCC water projects around the world. A Penny Power poster with this theme is now available and a story card for use during the children’s time in worship services is coming soon. Find them at  oregonfestivalforworldrelief.com  under "Kids.”

Gifts collected through Penny Power or at the summer concerts make difference worldwide through projects like this:

• $100 provides material to install systems for clean drinking water in Nepal
  
• $300 covers the cost of a well or a water filter system in Vietnam
  
• $3,000 buys the cement for a sand dam in Kenya
  

In the Philippines Mennonite Central Committee is responding to Typhoon Haiyan, providing funding for relief, supporting an initial assessment team of an MCC partner organization, and working with partners to determine needs for longer-term recovery.

With help from supporters like you, MCC is providing an initial $50,000 to Church World Service, which is working with the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction Network, to respond with urgent food and non-food items. Initially this assistance is focusing on Surigao del Norte and Dinagat Island (both in Mindanao) and on Bohol and Samar (both in Visayas), areas where MCC’s partners have access to be able to help.

MCC also is providing funding to Peacebuilders Community, a Mennonite-related agency, to send a 10-member team from Cebu and Mindanao, trained in disaster preparedness, to Leyte Island, an area where thousands of people are believed to have perished.  ■

For the latest information, go to mcc.org.