wfn.org | UMCOR continues response to Sept. 11 tragedy

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Nov. 1, 2001      News media contact: Linda Bloom7(212) 870-38037New York
10-21-71B{506}

NOTE: This report is accompanied by a sidebar, UMNS story #507.

By Linda Bloom*

NEW YORK (UMNS) - As the second-month "anniversary" of the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks approaches, the United Methodist Committee on Relief
(UMCOR) is continuing its efforts to respond to the crisis on local,
national and international levels.

On Oct. 31, for example, 17 volunteers were engaged in activities around
Manhattan, according to Don Falvey, an UMCOR volunteer from Utah. At the
Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew, United Methodist, on the Upper West Side,
volunteers were helping out at the long-established food pantry and offering
counseling in English and Spanish. Volunteers from the Oklahoma Indian
Missionary Conference also were providing child care at the church.

Downtown at Metropolitan-Duane United Methodist Church, counseling was
available, with the sanctuary open for prayer and meditation. John Street
Church, a few blocks from the World Trade Center site, provided a "listening
post" as well as a staging area for volunteers to reach out to rescue
workers.

Falvey said that UMCOR volunteers do not go into "ground zero" except with
special permission. He explained that they have found it more productive to
be available at the perimeter as rescue workers stop for a break, take a
meal or leave their shift.

He has spent a good deal of time in New York recently, arriving on Sept. 19
for a four-week tour of duty and then returning again soon afterward. "It's
been sort of a continual change," Falvey said. The "extremely subdued"
atmosphere of the city soon after the attacks had slowly transformed back to
the more normal day-to-day doings, he noted.

"Some of the police are even starting to smile a bit," he added.

Besides Falvey, volunteers who have spent considerable time coordinating
UMCOR activities in New York include his wife, Carol, Brian Lewis and Jonna
Marie of Colorado, Bob Huie of Arkansas, Frank Ridgeforth of Virginia, Bob
Chamberlain of Washington, Lee Bines of South Carolina and Jody Burgum. Nina
Martin, UMCOR field staff from North Dakota, also has been involved.

The Rev. F. Thomas Hazelwood, UMCOR's national disaster coordinator, said
that even though the number of people taking advantage of "listening posts"
at the city's United Methodist churches has diminished lately, the concept
was likely to continue in some form.

"I firmly believe that in the next two weeks, as we move closer to
Thanksgiving, the need is going to escalate again," he explained. "We're
going to try to continue to find ways to reach people to give them the
opportunity to talk."

One volunteer, Camille Yorkey, a pastoral counselor from North Carolina, has
chronicled her experiences in New York at www.hopeinthewilderness.org
online.

UMCOR also is cooperating with Tepeyac, a local Hispanic organization that
is assisting the families from five Central American countries whose loved
ones were in the midst of U.S. immigration proceedings and were killed in
the terrorist attacks. In many cases, these individuals had been sending
money regularly to family in their home country and had not been heard from
since Sept. 11.

In terms of pastoral care, Hazelwood is hoping to devise some long-term
strategies to help pastors and congregations in the New York area cope with
the aftermath of Sept. 11. One possibility is gathering two or three
congregations together to provide support for each other in dealing with
fears and safety issues. UMCOR found that after the Oklahoma City bombing
"these group sessions were very helpful," he said.

On a national level, UMCOR is providing workshops to train leaders who work
with children in post-disaster trauma response and is instituting a grant
program to promote interfaith contact and dialogue.

The "Honoring Differences in the Midst of Hate and Violence" grant program
encourages congregations and annual conferences to design creative joint
projects with Islamic groups, Arab-American organizations and others who
have experienced stereotyping and hostility in response to the Sept. 11
attacks. Program goals should include increasing understanding, building
trust and establishing an inclusive community that honors differences.

Marjorie Rudolph, volunteer coordinator for the grant program, said she had
received inquiries from as nearby as New Jersey and as far away as Hawaii
and had sent out 40 to 50 informational packets as of the end of October.
She can be contacted by e-mail at w-mrudolph@worldnet.att.net or by
telephone through UMCOR's Washington office at (202) 548-4002.

The child-related workshops, called "Tragic Times, Healing Moments," are
particularly aimed at parents, who "are our children's best advocates,"
according to Debra Ball-Kilbourne, UMCOR's volunteer coordinator for the
workshops. Pastors, Sunday school leaders and other community advocates for
children also would benefit, she said.

The four-hour training helps participants "be assured that they understand
normal reactions of children to national trauma," she explained, and learn
ways to deal with those reactions.

Aimed at the district or conference level, the training includes an updated
manual and training leader provided through UMCOR. Workshop hosts are
expected to provide overnight accommodations for the leader and cover
publicity and other site expenses. Four workshops had occurred by the end of
October, with 16 scheduled for November, mostly in the Northeastern and
Southeastern Jurisdictions.

Ball-Kilbourne, who serves as director of mission engagement for the Dakotas
Conference, noted that the United Methodist Publishing House had donated a
large amount of materials for the workshops. Donations of materials also
were received from the Upper Room and Chalice Press. Delia Halverson, a
United Methodist laywoman from Florida, provided overall design as a gift to
the denomination.

District or conference representatives interested in scheduling a workshop
can contact Ball-Kilbourne by e-mail at dbk01@juno.com or by calling (701)
234-1996.

Internationally, UMCOR was selected by Action By Churches Together to
provide basic assessment of the three major faith-based nongovernmental
organizations operating in Pakistan and how they might respond to the
increasing number of Afghan refugees in that country. 

UMCOR also is one of three nongovernmental organizations active in
Tajikistan, which borders Afghanistan, and had sent a planning team to
prepare for the arrival of up to 100,000 refugees.

Donations for UMCOR's work in response to the Sept. 11 attacks have come in
from around the world. Although the total currently processed through
UMCOR's offices is $550,000, much more is expected to arrive, according to
Wendy Whiteside, an UMCOR executive.

Donations can be designated to UMCOR Advance No. 901125-3, "Love in the
Midst of Tragedy." Checks can be placed in church collection plates or
mailed to UMCOR at 475 Riverside Dr., Room 330, New York, NY 10115.
Credit-card donations can be made by calling (800) 554-8583.

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*Bloom is news director of United Methodist News Service's New York office.

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United Methodist News Service
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