wfn.org | Texas churches pack shipload of supplies for North Korea

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

July 24, 1998	Contact: Linda Bloom*(212) 870-3803*New York
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By United Methodist News Service

Sunday School classes, youth groups and others in local churches across
the United Methodist Texas Annual Conference are learning about mission
as they pack two- and five-pound plastic bags full of rice.

It's part of a famine relief project for North Korea that has drawn in
other denominations and will result in a shipload full of supplies. An
agreement reached July 22 secured the free use of a ship and crew from
Friend Ships, an ecumenical organization based in Los Angeles.

The project's driving force has been Jesse Stokely, a member of First
United Methodist Church in Houston and former owner of Stokely Foods.

"I'm focusing the next four months of my life night and day on this," he
said in a telephone interview.

Since 1993, he's been involved in organizing conference shipments of
food to Russia, Armenia, Latin America and Haiti. Last November, Stokely
said, he was approached by F. Lloyd Rollins, an assistant general
secretary at the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), about
focusing on relief to North Korea and about the possibility of creating
a grain bank in south Texas.

"We went out and started to talk to rice farmers and rice mills and seed
growers," he added.

Stokely received commitments for 250 metric tons of rice, which is
currently being bagged.

The project has expanded so much that it has spawned its own group, the
Christian Alliance for Humanitarian Aid Inc. Although United Methodists
have taken the lead, the alliance includes Episcopalians, Catholics and
Southern Baptists, and other denominational partners are expected to
join later. 

Stokely called it "a great ecumenical thrust of love and cooperation."

The ship can hold 8 to 10 million pounds, and loading will begin once it
has docked in Houston in September. The estimated cargo will be about
150,000 food boxes, including the bagged 250 tons of rice, and as much
as 4 million pounds of fertilizer, along with medical supplies and
seeds.

The ship will leave port in November or December, bound for North Korea.

"We know that the food volume in that country, until winter hits again,
is OK," Rollins said. But, he explained, there is not enough fresh food
in North Korea to store for the winter months. "These foods are going to
get there when they most desperately need them."

Although the famine has eased, the continuing widespread food shortage
has left North Korea's population weak and vulnerable to disease,
according to Erich Weingartner, who serves with the U.N. World Food
Programme in Pyongyang, North Korea.

Weingartner, who tracks humanitarian aid arriving from nongovernmental
organizations, reported on North Korea's situation during a visit to the
United States in early July. He noted that the World Food Programme had
made a particular effort to feed children up to age 6, with the result
that "we are not seeing the same extent of malnutrition this year."

In addition to the shipload of supplies, the Christian Alliance for
Humanitarian Aid is collecting money to buy another 3 million pounds of
rice, which would be shipped from a nearby Asian country. That purchase
is planned in October, Rollins said.

Stokely is seeking long-term volunteers to assist with the project and
sail with the ship.

"They don't have to work too hard on board, but we need some help
loading and delivering," he explained.

Anyone interested in making a six- to seven-month commitment can get
more information by calling the UMCOR Volunteer Line at (800) 918-3100. 

Donations can be made through the UMCOR North Korea Emergency, Advance
No. 226435-0, and left in church collection plates or mailed to 475
Riverside Drive, Room 330, New York, NY 10115.
# # #

United Methodist News Service
(615)742-5470
Releases and photos also available at
http://www.umc.org/umns/