wfn.org | UMNS# 04435-United Methodists respond to storm damag

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United Methodists respond to storm damag 

Sep. 24, 2004	 News media contact:   Tim  Tanton * (615) 7425470* 
Nashville {04435}

NOTE: Photographs are available at http://umns.umc.org.

A UMNS Report
By Linda Beher*

As the Caribbean and parts of the United States reel from recent hurricanes,
the United Methodist Church is responding with relief on several fronts.

The United Methodist Committee on Relief is making an initial response to the
devastation wreaked on the island of Haiti by Tropical Storm Jeanne, being
blamed for more than 1,100 deaths. UMCOR already feeds 16,000 Haitian
schoolchildren a day and provides funds for health programs and clinics
there.

UMCOR will partner with Action by Churches Together, an international aid
alliance, in responding to the needs in Haiti. ACT is assessing response
options, according to UMCOR. An assessment team has reached Gonaives, where
urgent needs include fresh water, food, emergency shelter and medicine.

In addition, UMCOR's office for refugee ministries is calling on people to
advocate for granting temporary protected status to Haitian immigrants who
may be threatened with immediate return to Haiti. Designating Haiti for this
status would allow Haitians already in the United States to remain until
recovery from the recent storms has improved stability back home. Details are
available at http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor/04/haitiprotected.cfm.

Since hitting Haiti, Jeanne has headed toward Florida as a hurricane and is
expected to make landfall by Sept. 26. More than 350,000 Floridians have been
asked to evacuate. Jeanne would be the fourth hurricane to hit Florida since
mid-August, following Charley, Frances and Ivan. Meanwhile, remnants of Ivan
are threatening Texas and Louisiana.

In the Alabama-West Florida Annual (regional) Conference, workers have begun
the long cleanup. "United Methodists in this conference have been
inspirational in providing their expertise in cleaning and caring," said the
Rev. Kristin Sachen, program head of emergency services for UMCOR. The power
of Hurricane Ivan's storm surge ripped away beach areas a block deep, and
wind flattened many homes in the Pensacola, Fla., area.

UMCOR has already provided $10,000 in relief funding to the Alabama-West
Florida Conference, and the conference reported that it is working on
requests for additional money.

Alabama-West Florida has established a disaster line and an e-mail address
where volunteers can check job sites and learn about critical needs for
supplies. The telephone number for people in the conference is (866)
340-1956; the e-mail address is disaster@awfumc.org.

"The Florida Annual Conference has demonstrated their hearts' understanding
of how to be in mission," Sachen said. "Leadership there from the bishop,
conference leaders and local churches has been especially effective." Workers
in Arcadia, Punta Gorda, Fort Pierce and other areas, where a triple punch of
hurricanes devastated thousands of homes and commercial buildings, are
serving some of the most vulnerable populations. Farm workers, the elderly
and immigrants from Haiti have received aid.

Donations can be made online for UMCOR's appeal, "Hurricanes 2004," Advance
#982410. At www.MethodistRelief.org, a secure server allows donors to enter
credit-card information. Checks written to UMCOR can be placed in church
offering plates or mailed directly to UMCOR, 475 Riverside Drive, Room 330,
New York, N.Y. 10115. Donations by credit card can be made by calling, toll
free, (800) 554-8583.

Gifts to UMCOR may be designated for assistance to specific regions affected
by the storms or directed to "where most needed."

"The offering plate needs to go around many times" in a season of multiple
storms, Sachen said, "in order to ensure that we can offer hope and healing
to all who count on UMCOR."

Damage from the hurricanes ranged up the eastern side of the United States.
United Methodists in several states are responding to flooding caused by
Hurricane Ivan.

In the Western Pennsylvania Conference, Bishop Thomas Bickerton has urged
United Methodists to respond to flooding, which caused tens of millions of
dollars in damages. He also is asking his 900 churches to collect a special
offering for area flood victims.

In Western North Carolina, the Lake Junaluska (N.C.) Conference Center is
helping the Federal Emergency Management Agency with housing for 100 people
displaced by flooding or working on the cleanup effort. 

UMCOR continues to need flood buckets containing supplies that volunteers use
in post-hurricane cleanup. Specifications can be found online at
http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor/print/kits/. Completed flood buckets-with $1.50 per
bucket to cover reshipping-should be sent to UMCOR Sager Brown, 101 Sager
Brown Road, Baldwin, La. 70514.

*Beher is communications director for the United Methodist Committee on
Relief in New York. Information for this story was also provided by Meredyth
Earnest in the Alabama-West Florida Annual Conference, Mark Rehn in the
Western Pennsylvania Annual Conference, and Ken Howle at Lake Junaluska
Conference Center.

News media contact: Tim Tanton, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

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United Methodist News Service