Presbyterian Mission Agency national response team Archives

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is recruiting National Response Team members to help communities following disasters

Posted March 28th, 2024

Lisa Baker has a promise for those pondering the idea of becoming a member of the National Response Team (NRT) of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance. “It might seem daunting, but the reality is, you’ll get more than you give in this ministry,” said Baker, who’s part of the team. “Your heart becomes larger with every deployment.”

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance and the Presbytery of the Pacific respond to deadly fires on Maui

Posted August 11th, 2023

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is working with the Presbytery of the Pacific following this week’s fires that killed at least 55 people in Lahaina on the Hawaiian island of Maui. Earlier this week fires also burned brush on the Big Island of Hawaii, but those fires have been largely controlled.

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance hears from the communities it has served

Posted May 22nd, 2023

Members of the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) National Response Team took a few hours out of their recent annual meeting to hear from representatives of two Colorado presbyteries that the team has served over the past few decades.

Determined to rebuild, First Presbyterian Church of Mayfield reflects on a year of lessons from a December 2021 tornado

Posted December 16th, 2022

A year after a tornado destroyed First Presbyterian Church of Mayfield, Kentucky, and much of the community, the disaster has left the church grounds virtually bare. But a sign gives a hint of a promising future.

Jackson water crisis brings frustration

Posted September 13th, 2022

If you live in an area with safe, clean drinking water, it’s easy to forget how integral that water is to daily life — until you hear about a place like Jackson, Mississippi, where residents are in the grips of an intractable water crisis that has captured international attention and left them under a boil water advisory for weeks.

Flooding in Eastern Kentucky: ‘What I have seen has broken my heart’

Posted August 9th, 2022

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance National Response Team (NRT) members visited areas of Eastern Kentucky impacted by devastating late July floods late last week and early this week to offer support and help plan long-term recovery efforts.

‘A mixed bag of destruction’

Posted August 5th, 2022

Days and weeks after summer flooding ravaged various presbyteries this summer, the extent of the damage continues to be assessed. But the known effects have been significant, from displacing school children and pastors to damaging church basements and parishioners’ homes.

PDA responds to destructive flooding in multiple areas

Posted August 2nd, 2022

The devastating flooding in eastern Kentucky that took the lives of at least 37 people is part of a series of flooding events that Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is offering support and prayers for.

‘Heartened and hopeful’ to be part of the conversation in Uvalde, Texas

Posted July 28th, 2022

The Rev. Katherine Culpepper, who goes by “Cully,” and the Rev. John Cheek, both members of the National Response Team for Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, continued to minister to the Uvalde, Texas community this week, capped by a lunch-n-learn event Monday at First Presbyterian Church.

Buffalo pastors say community connections key to responding to mass shooting

Posted May 27th, 2022

In the hours after a gunman killed 10 people and injured three others in a racist attack on a Buffalo, New York grocery store, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) contacted the Presbytery of Western New York to offer support to the community.