EDITORS NOTE: This story may be a sidebar to UMNS 304 {116}.
United Methodist Bishop Melvin Talbert of the San Francisco Area -- who has seen evidence of the famine firsthand -- hopes members of local congregations "would hear the cry from our sisters and brothers in North Korea."
He asks United Methodists to take two actions in response to the famine:
The Rev. S. Michael Hahm, an executive with the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, is encouraging local congregations and annual (regional) conferences to take special offerings for famine relief. For informational materials, call Hahm at (212) 870-3685.
Some annual conferences also are considering resolutions regarding the famine. The Northern New Jersey Annual Conference, for example, was to vote on a resolution asking its churches to make "special efforts" during the next three months to send relief assistance through UMCOR.
The resolution also called upon New Jersey's bishop to send a message to President Clinton, Secretary of State Madeline Albright and the state's congressional leaders, "encouraging them to provide necessary large-scale food aid to North Korea in the spirit of our humanitarian principle."
May 23, 1997
Please give to UMCOR Advance #226435, North Korea Emergency. Give through your local United Methodist church or send financial contributions to: UMCOR, 475 Riverside Dr., Room 330, New York, NY 10115. Call 1-800-554-8583 to make a credit card donation. One hundred percent of your gift goes to relief efforts in North Korea. United Methodists' generous giving to the One Great Hour of Sharing, part of their ongoing contribution to mission around the world, supplements the cost of Advance gifts.
Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of the United Methodist Church.
United Methodist Committee on Relief
Room 330, 475 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10115
Voice Phone: 212-870-3816; FAX: 212-749-2641
Email: umcor@gbgm-umc.org
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