wfn.org | Linda Bloom 537(10-21-33-71B){349}

[owner-umethnews@ecunet.org (United Methodist News list)]

Reply-to: owner-umethnews@ecunet.org (United Methodist News list)
"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
Eastern, about DAILY NEWS RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (350
notes).

Note 349 by UMNS on Sept. 25, 1997 at 16:40 Eastern (2806 characters).

		New York (212) 870-3803			Sept. 25, 1997

EDITORS NOTE: Photos available

Missouri group sends
boxes to North Korea

			by United Methodist News Service

	A container shipment of boxes for famine victims, gathered by an
interdenominational group in Missouri, is expected to arrive in North Korea by
mid-October.
	The 920 boxes meet specifications set by the United Methodist Committee on
Relief (UMCOR). Each contains enough food to feed a family of five for a week.
	International food aid still is needed to help prevent mass starvation in
North Korea. The U.N.'s World Food Programme is estimating that food prospects
for 1998 in North Korea "appear to be worse than in the previous two years."
	Last March, the Festival of Sharing -- an interdenominational organization
housed in and partly staffed by the United Methodist Office of Creative
Ministries in Columbia -- began its campaign for the North Korea appeal.
	"We broke the state up into some promotional areas," said Linda Brown,
associate director, Office of Creative Ministries. "Each area had a
promoter/coordinator who was a reference point and a contact."
	When the Festival of Sharing first made a small relief shipment to North
Korea a year ago, "there was a lot of skepticism and still a lot of anger and
hurt being expressed" about giving food to a nation with a rigid Communist
regime, according to Brown.
	"People came around," she said. "Over the six-month period of time we
promoted this, people began to get past that initial reaction."
	Frequent news reports about the food crisis in North Korea helped make the
need more legitimate, she added.
	When people have asked how they can be assured that the aid will really reach
those in need, Brown said she has explained the contacts UMCOR and Church
World Service, the relief agency of the National Council of Churches, have
established with Christians in North Korea. "Our best response is that those
people will try their best to get it to where it's most needed," she
explained.
	Eventually, according to Brown, people "began to understand that our call was
to be generous and God's going to take care of our generosity on the other
end."
	Between 50 and 60 volunteers gathered Sept. 17 at the Missouri State
Fairgrounds in Sedalia to go through each box and make sure they conformed to
UMCOR standards. About 71 extra boxes that did not make it into the shipment
will be sent to the UMCOR Depot in Baldwin, La., for consolidation with other
donations.
	Money also is continuing to come in from churches that collected funds for
purchase of bulk rice or grain, Brown said.
	Donations to the North Korea Emergency can be made to Advance No. 226435-0.
For more information on donations or how to prepare a box, call (800)
814-8765.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 To make suggestions or give your comments, send a note to 
 umns@ecunet.org or Susan_Peek@ecunet.org

 This article sent to both the umethnews list <umethnews-request@ecunet.org>
 and also to the Worldwide Faith News list wfn-news <majordomo@wfn.org>
 Look at the header files to figure out which this is.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------