wfn.org | UMCOR-Europe establishes office in Vienna

[NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG]

Oct. 16, 2000	News media contact: Linda Bloom·(212) 870-3803·New York
10-71B{476}

NOTE: For related coverage of the United Methodist Board of Global
Ministries' meeting, see UMNS stories #473, #474 and #475.  

STAMFORD, Conn. (UMNS) - The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR)
has established a European office.

Directors of the Health and Relief unit, United Methodist Board of Global
Ministries, took action during the board's Oct. 9-13 annual meeting to
approve legal requirements for the office, which is in Vienna, Austria.

Martin Watson, who formerly worked for the British Methodist Church, is
executive director of the office, which represents UMCOR's work as a
nongovernmental organization (NGO).

The legal creation of an Austrian corporation for the office creates a
European identity that is important to some European donors, said the Rev.
Paul Dirdak, UMCOR's chief executive.

Vienna, where the Board of Global Ministries opened a branch office in 1999,
was chosen because of the space available and the fact that Austria is a
member of the European Union, Dirdak explained. The Rev. Sam Dixon, the
executive in charge of UMCOR's NGO program, added that Vienna has good
connections for travel and acts as a doorway to Eastern Europe.

UMCOR's presence in Europe will help facilitate partnership with United
Methodist bodies there, as well as ecumenical organizations involved in
humanitarian aid and development work. The agency also hopes to raise funds
from the institutions of the European Union, European governments and other
European sources.

In other action, Health and Relief directors voted to end the unofficial
practice of guaranteeing the full funding of all UMCOR Advance projects. In
the past, UMCOR has used undesignated monies to meet the financial goals of
projects that had not received enough donations, but that practice has grown
too burdensome. In 1999, for example, UMCOR had to cover $7 million in
guarantees, which resulted in expenses exceeding income by $1 million at the
end of the year. Many of the covered projects had received no donations
throughout the year.

Rather than guarantee funding, UMCOR staff now will bring proposals to
directors regarding added support for current projects once the full year's
financially activity can be reliably projected.

Directors also approved the disbursal of funds collected through recent
emergency appeals:

·	$1.3 million for the earthquake in Turkey, to build houses, promote
economic empowerment of vulnerable populations and build the capacity of
local organizations to respond to natural disasters.
·	$500,000 for regional disaster centers and training of personnel in
Puerto Rico, following hurricane devastation.
·	$200,000 to assist the Christian Commission on Development for
housing construction in Honduras to replace homes destroyed by Hurricane
Mitch.
·	$197,000 to construct 70 houses in Mozambique following cyclone
damage. The German United Methodist Church also is providing funding for
another 50 houses.

# # #

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