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United Methodist Giving to Tsunami Relief Exceeds Four Million Dollars on January 19 |
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NEW YORK, NY, January 19, 2005—Contributions to the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) for Asian tsunami relief passed the $4 million mark during the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend. “We are still opening checks,” said Roland Fernandes, treasurer of the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries, the parent organization of UMCOR. The death toll from the tidal waves that swept the Indian Ocean the day after Christmas reached 220,000 on January 19. “The outpouring of love and concern in the form of dollars is deeply touching,” said the Rev. R. Randy Day, chief executive of the mission board, who two days earlier returned from Indonesia, the hardest hit of the ten countries swept by the gigantic waves. Contributions included in the $4 million figure are primarily from telephone and online credit card donations and checks sent directly to UMCOR. Fernandes said this included some but by no means all of the money given through local church collections and forwarded through denominational channels. He noted a significant slowdown in online contributions in recent days. “This is quite natural as we move away from the immediate emotional impact of the tragedy,” he said. Day and a delegation of United Methodist mission and communications leaders visited the island of Sumatra, near the epicenter of the earthquake that caused the tsunamis, on January 11-16. The group took more than 100,000 doses of medicine with it. UMCOR is engaged in both immediate and long-term relief and rehabilitation
in the affected area. Its work is coordinated with that of other Methodist
and humanitarian agencies and it puts a high priority on collaboration with
local efforts and personnel.
Date posted: Jan 19, 2005 |
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