wfn.org | UMCOR Hunger Coordinator of Year

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"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 (583
notes).

Note 583 by UMNS on Jan. 30, 1998 at 15:04 Eastern (3210 characters).

 
CONTACT: Linda Bloom					55(10-71B)582 
		New York (212) 870-3803			Jan. 30, 1998 
 
 
^From modest goal, entire shipment 
Of North Korea relief boxes grows 
	 
	by United Methodist News Service 
 
	When the Rev. Richard Work first decided to encourage his 600-member church
in Charleston, W. Va., to contribute to North Korea famine relief, his goal
was modest. 
	Fill 25 boxes for the United Methodist Committee on Relief’s (UMCOR) special
project for North Korea, he proposed to members of  St. Mark’s United
Methodist Church. 
Work also is hunger coordinator for the West Virginia Annual Conference, which
each year designates about $180,000 to hunger projects, from the international
to state level.  
	But one family in the congregation pushed him to think bigger. "You’re so
passionate about this. Why is your passion so limited?" they asked him. Then
the family purchased 1,000 empty boxes and said, "If you have the boxes,
people will fill them." 
	In the end, Work’s North Korea project resulted in 835 boxes being filled by
churches, groups and individuals across the conference. Seven hundred have
filled a container and are being shipped directly to North Korea, he said. The
other 135 are being shipped to the UMCOR Depot in Baldwin, La., to join a
future transport. 
	In January, UMCOR named Work as its 1997 Hunger Coordinator of the Year,
recognizing his  "commitment to mission in his community and conference as
shown in his exemplary and effective efforts in supplying food relief to North
Korea." 
	Each annual conference has a hunger coordinator who is responsible for
raising awareness of hunger issues and inspiring action. But Work "has gone
above and beyond the call of duty," according to Wendy Whiteside, UMCOR’s
executive secretary of program management. 
	Work said he fully became aware of the famine situation in North Korea while
attending the United Methodist Global Gathering  in April, 1997, in Kansas
City, Mo. The issue had come across his desk before then, but he hadn’t really
paid attention, he recalled. 
	After the gathering, he was determined to educate West Virginia United
Methodists about the tremendous need in North Korea. A challenge was made to
the conference last June and boxes and donations were collected through Dec.
13.  
	Work said his surprise at how the project snowballed finally left him "and I
started to believe the things that I preach. You don’t know what’s possible
with God. It really started to become, in our United Methodist lingo, a real
connection." 
	He pointed out that 85 percent of the churches in West Virginia have a
membership of 200 or less and said those were the congregations which were
most actively involved. He received $500 from one church of about 40 members.
"To hear them speak, they were truly responding to the call to be Christlike,"
he added. "They didn’t have to figure out whether they liked these people
(North Koreans) or not." 
	St. Mark’s, where Work is associate pastor, far exceeded the original goal of
25 boxes by filling 140 instead. 
	Besides all the boxes, the West Virginia Conference also collected $12,500 –
enough to buy about 25 tons of rice. 
#  #  # 
 
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