wfn.org | [UMNS-ALL-NEWS] UMNS# 508-United Methodist cash gifts for Katrina

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

United Methodist cash gifts for Katrina exceed $2.6 million

Sep. 14, 2005

NOTE: Photographs and related coverage are available at
http://umns.umc.org.

By Elliott Wright*

NEW YORK (UMNS) - Cash contributions to the United Methodist Committee
on Relief for Hurricane Katrina relief and rehabilitation totaled $2.6
million as of Sept. 13.

That amount includes gifts made by Internet and telephone donors, and
two days of checks received by mail, according to Roland Fernandes,
treasurer of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries. UMCOR is
part of the international mission agency.

Fernandes said he has been asked to make comparisons between cash
contributions to Katrina relief and donation following the tsunami that
struck in South Asia at the end of last year.

He said he was hesitant to make any such comparisons because it is very
soon after Katrina and because the situations are different. UMCOR
received more than $40 million over a six-month period for tsunami
relief and rebuilding.

"Donating money was one of the few avenues open to people who wanted to
respond to the tsunami disaster," Fernandes explained. "Many responses
are possible to the ravages of Katrina. In addition to cash
contributions, church members in the U.S.A. are also providing great
amounts of material goods, volunteering for post-hurricane cleanup,
caring for displaced persons, and spending money to help people within
their own communities and regions.

"We are enormously grateful to United Methodists for the many ways in
which they are fulfilling their Christian responsibilities in the wake
of the hurricane," he added.

Donations to support the United Methodist response to the Hurricane
Katrina tragedy can be made online at www.methodistrelief.org and by
phone at (800) 554-8583. Checks can be written to UMCOR, designated for
"Hurricanes 2005 Global," Advance No. 982523, and left in church
offering plates or mailed directly to UMCOR, P.O. Box 9068, New York, NY
10087-9068.

*Wright is the communications officer for the United Methodist Board of
Global Ministries.

News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

********************

United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org

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