Ginghamsburg Partnership with Dayton South Sudanese Community

In 2006, Ginghamsburg Church in Tipp City, OH, and Catholic Social Services in Dayton, OH, partnered together to outfit a family home for Cirilo and Bronica Modi, two refugees from violence in the South Sudan and their children, who were being resettled in Dayton by the U.S. government. On January 8 and 9, these two faith-based organizations partnered together again to ensure Cirilo, Bronica and 52 other refugees from the Dayton South Sudanese community were able to vote in the history-changing referendum on Sunday, January 9, to make South Sudan an independent nation from North Sudan. At 10 p.m. this Saturday night, 37 refugees met at the Dayton-based Fort McKinley Campus of Ginghamsburg Church to take a chartered bus to Washington D.C. to be in line at the D.C.-based polling station when it opened at 9 a.m. Sunday morning. The Sudanese community raised the money for the bus via Dayton, faith-based organizations. Another 17 refugees left at midnight on two Ginghamsburg Church vans, driven by Ginghamsburg volunteers, to head to the Nashville-based polling station for the same purpose. While the adults traveled, Ginghamsburg hosted an overnight camp for 31 of their children from 8 p.m. on Saturday until midnight on Sunday when the adults returned. More than 100 volunteers hosted the camp via various shifts. A group from Catholic Social Services came as well late Saturday evening to help provide prayer support for the trip. Gary Crowell, a Ginghamsburg volunteer who rode along with the Washington D.C. group, shared that the group stayed awake throughout the length of the overnight drive to D.C. excitedly singing and dreaming of a better future for their homeland. Ginghamsburg Church has invested $4.4 million into sustainable humanitarian projects into Darfur, Sudan, since January 2005. Each year, the church holds a "Christmas Miracle Offering" to fund the work in Sudan (www.thesudanproject.org). The 2010 total to date is $600,000, and the offering will remain open through January. It will continue the work in Darfur as well as expand projects into South Sudan.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Ginghamsburg Church
• Mike Slaughter
• Sudan Vote