wfn.org | UMNS# 04430-United Methodists begin Hurricane Ivan relief

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

United Methodists begin Hurricane Ivan relief efforts 

Sep. 22, 2004	 News media contact:   Linda  Bloom * (646) 3693759*  New
York {04430}

NOTE: Photos and related resources are available online at
http://www.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=2&mid=5700.

By United Methodist News Service*

Alabama and the Florida panhandle are in desperate need of work teams to
assist in the Hurricane Ivan cleanup, according to the area's United
Methodist bishop.

"We are thankful for the calls and offers of assistances from other annual
(regional) conferences and churches," said Bishop Larry M. Goodpaster, who is
based in Montgomery, Ala. "Even beyond the damage that the churches are
suffering is the total devastation of an entire area of our conference from
Gulf Shores, Ala., to Fort Walton Beach, Fla. Entire areas are simply wiped
out."

After ravaging the Caribbean, Hurricane Ivan made landfall near Mobile, Ala.,
early on Sept. 16 and then pushed its high winds, heavy rains and tornados
northward. Ivan and its related storms have been blamed for more than 50
deaths in the United States and 70 deaths in the Caribbean.

Initial damage assessments by the United Methodist Church's Alabama-West
Florida Annual (regional) Conference and United Methodist Committee on Relief
indicate that work teams are needed immediately for cleanup in Atmore and
Brewton in Alabama and Pensacola, Perdido Bay, Perdido Key and Gulf Breeze in
Florida.

Volunteer teams are asked to contact the Alabama-West Florida Conference
disaster center in Mobile, Ala., which was to be operational Sept. 22. The
Rev. Clyde Pressley is the center's coordinator. Volunteers can call, toll
free, (866) 340-1956 for work location assignments and housing information.

Work teams are expected to be self-sustaining and to bring work materials and
tools, along with food, water, towels, bedding and personal hygiene products.
The housing locations will provide sleeping quarters and bathroom and kitchen
facilities.

All United Methodist churches in the Pensacola area sustained damage from
Hurricane Ivan, according to conference officials. Several dozen church
families lost everything, including their homes.

Local congregations are responding to relief needs in their communities by
serving meals, providing pastoral care and child care for hurricane victims,
and supporting relief workers and utility crews. A number of churches are
serving as Red Cross shelters.

"I am extremely proud of how United Methodists are responding in the midst of
crisis," Goodpaster said. "Even when, many times, they have damage to their
own homes and are living under extreme anxiety, they are offering themselves
to the community."

A 119-member church in the Pensacola District, Elizabeth's Chapel, has fed
1,500 people a day. Gulf Breeze (Fla.) United Methodist Church, a Red Cross
shelter, is serving three hot meals a day to victims and recovery personnel,
and the Perdido Bay (Fla.) United Methodist Church has provided a number of
outreach ministries to the community while operating under an emergency
generator.

The United Methodist congregation in Excel, Ala., is feeding the community,
and the Atmore (Ala.) First United Methodist Church is distributing food,
water and other materials.

UMCOR, the denomination's relief agency, has provided an initial grant to
Alabama-West Florida to help it dispense food, water and ice and begin
recovery efforts. Distribution centers for materials such as flood buckets
and cleanup kits have been established at Blue Lake United Methodist Assembly
in Andalusia, Ala., First United Methodist Church in Pensacola and the Gulf
Breeze church.

Alabama-West Florida also is networking with the Florida Conference to
coordinate resources. Updated information on the relief work will be posted
at www.awfumc.org, the conference's Web site. 

In the Caribbean, UMCOR emergency field staff will assess damage from
Hurricane Ivan in Grenada and Jamaica as soon as commercial air traffic
resumes. In Cuba and the Bahamas, UMCOR has provided grants for relief
supplies, emergency shelter and building materials.

Methodist churches in St. George, St. Paul, Woburn and Grenville on the
island of Grenada received hurricane damage, and the church in Constantine
was destroyed, according to information from the Methodist Church in Britain.
Both the British church and Methodist Church in Ireland said they would make
a significant response for relief and reconstruction efforts in the
Caribbean.

UMCOR continues to need donations of flood buckets, used by volunteers to
clean up post-hurricane debris and water. Specifications are at
http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor online.

Donations to fund United Methodist assistance for hurricane relief can be
made by check, credit card or an online commitment.

Gifts to UMCOR Advance No. 982410, Hurricanes 2004, may be designated for
specific regions affected by this season's hurricanes or simply to "where
most needed." Contributions can be placed in church offering plates, mailed
directly to UMCOR, 475
Riverside Dr., Room 330, New York, NY 10115; or charged onto credit cards by
calling (800) 554-8583. Online donations can be made at MethodistRelief.org.

Jeanne, another tropical storm, has caused flooding and mudslides in Haiti,
resulting in more than 700 deaths as of Sept. 21. Most of the deaths occurred
in the coastal city of Gonaives. UMCOR expects to partner with Action by
Churches Together, the international alliance of humanitarian aid
organizations, to provide emergency food, tarpaulins and other relief
supplies in Haiti.

*Meredyth Earnest, director of communications for the Alabama-West Florida
Annual Conference, provided information for this report.

News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

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United Methodist News Service