CRWRC’s Disaster Response Services (DRS) will be holding a celebration and worship service this week commemorating the organization’s 40th anniversary. The 40th anniverary celebration is set for Thursday, August 23rd, 7 p.m. at Friendship Christian Reformed Church in Byron Center, Mich.

CRWRC’s Disaster Response Services (DRS) will be holding a celebration and worship service this week commemorating the organization’s 40th anniversary.

The 40th anniverary celebration is set for Thursday, August 23rd, 7 p.m. at Friendship Christian Reformed Church in Byron Center, Mich.

David Myers, director of the US Department of Homeland Security’s Center for Faith-based & Neighborhood Partnerships, will speak.

But the worship service will be central.

“We will celebrate 40 years of DRS history by worshiping our God and thanking him for bringing us to this point,” says Bill Adams, DRS director, in a letter.

“Friends and partners will help us with the service as we look back at some highlights from the past, and as we look forward, trusting God for the good work that he has planned for us in the years to come.”

Some of the highlights of the relief work that DRS has done over the last four decades include responding, two years after DRS was established, when a tornado struck Xenia, Ohio, in 1974, writes Adams.

When an earthquake shook Whittier, Calif., in 1987, and Hurricane Andrew hit southern Florida in 1992, DRS volunteers were there, says Adams.

And in 2005, in the midst of the destruction of Hurricane Katrina, DRS volunteers “brought hope and help to those who lost everything.”

Thoughout this week, DRS managers will be attending workshops and hearing from speakers representing other disaster-relief organizations.

DRS managers will take what they learn and use it when they are deployed, along wih DRS volunteers, at the site of disasters.

Much of the work that DRS does comes, in fact, from the effort of the organization’s many volunteers, who are often referred to as “the green shirts” because ot the color of the shirts they wear.

“One of the most important ingredients needed for a successful volunteer program is volunteer leadership – volunteers who are willing to take on management responsibility for the day to day program in the field,” writes Adams.

“They are, in fact, the very backbone of our North American disaster response program.”

~ CRWRC-DRS Communications, CRC Communications