wfn.org | Puerto Rican young adults to assist hurricane victims

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

Sept. 29, 1998	Contact: Linda Bloom*(212) 870-3803*New York      {555}

By United Methodist News Service

A group of Methodist young adults in Puerto Rico will travel to an
isolated area of the island on Oct. 3 to work with children traumatized
by Hurricane Georges.

The young adults had been trained earlier by the United Methodist
Committee on Relief (UMCOR) to deal with such a disaster, according to
Lettie LaFontaine, a United Methodist Communications staff person from
Nashville, Tenn. LaFontaine was in Puerto Rico to assist UMCOR in
gathering information.

They will journey to Mamewes, a small town in Jayuya, a region deep in
the mountains, which was hit by a tornado spawned by the hurricane. Two
hundred families - including 15 Methodist families - lost everything,
LaFontaine said.

Residents there were isolated for days. They suffered such trauma from
the disaster that when Methodist Bishop Juan Vera-Mendez arrived "the
pastor just embraced the bishop and started crying," she added.

Another area hit hard by Hurricane Georges, LaFontaine reported, was
Arecibo in the northeast, which has the highest concentration of
Methodists on the island. Fifteen families from one congregation there
also lost everything.

Preliminary reports show that 25 to 30 percent of the Methodist churches
in Puerto Rico suffered some sort of hurricane-related damage, with at
least 12 churches suffering major damage.

The Methodist Church of Puerto Rico is continuing to work with the
UMCOR, which has sent an initial $10,000 grant, and with the ecumenical
community there to organize relief efforts. The bishop is president of
Puerto Rico's Evangelical Council of Churches, which represents about
100,000 Protestants on the island.

As of Sept. 29, the Methodist Church was operating seven different
centers on the island where people could pick up food, water and other
relief-related supplies. Church officials also were in conversation with
the government on the possibility of opening three transitional housing
shelters for hurricane victims after the current temporary shelters in
the island's schools were closed.

Donations to assist the hurricane victims can be made to UMCOR Disaster
Response No. 982515-0, earmarked "Hurricanes '98,"  and placed in church
collection plates or mailed to 475 Riverside Dr., Room 330, New York, NY
10115.
  
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United Methodist News Service
(615)742-5470
Releases and photos also available at
http://www.umc.org/umns/