The UMCOR Hotline

Telephone:1-800-841-1235
Web: http://gbgm-umc.org/UMCOR-Hotline/

August 2, 2002: Your gifts to UMCOR's International Emergency Response, Advance #982450-8 are needed to join in the response to several international emergencies and critical situations:

In July, two typhoons hit the Central Luzon region of the Philippines. Thousands of families have been affected, and crops and fishery resources have been damaged. At the request of the Bishop of the Manila Episcopal Area, UMCOR has sent two emergency grants which will provide food and medicine.
UMCOR has helped to cover the costs for a shipment of donated pharmaceuticals that will go to hospitals and clinics in Argentina. With the economic crisis in Argentina, almost 50% of the population is living below the poverty line.
The people of Iraq continue to suffer from a humanitarian crisis caused by the economic and trade sanctions that began in 1990. Hundreds of thousands of children have died due to the sanctions, and almost one third of the children in south and central Iraq suffer from malnutrition. Disintegrating infrastructures such as poor water supplies and inadequate sanitation are contributing to chronic outbreaks of dysentery amongst children under the age of 5. Through Church World Service, UMCOR will support efforts to rehabilitate 50 health care centers, reduce preventable diseases in children, and improve water and sanitation in 20 locations. Should military action occur, the plight of vulnerable people will become even more critical.

Please give to International Emergency Response, Advance #982450-8 to support these and other response efforts. You may designate your gift for a specific country, or it will be used where it is most needed.

The response to people affected by September 11 continues in the New York City area and New Jersey. UMCOR case managers are currently working with 55 families in New York, with more referrals coming in every day. Forms of assistance include providing food vouchers and MetroCards for transportation, and helping people to pay rent and phone bills. In New Jersey, UMCOR consultants are currently training case managers. The economic and emotional impact of the disaster is still being felt by hundreds of thousands of people.

Please remember to take special offerings for the Churchwide Appeal for Southern Africa Famine Relief during August and September. Because food aid is arriving, famine may be averted for millions of people. But without continued assistance nearly 13 million people in Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe are at risk of starvation. Please give generously to Advance #101250-4, Southern Africa Famine.

Gifts may be made through local United Methodist churches, or by calling 1-800-554-8583. Credit card donations are accepted. You can also make a a secure online gift at http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor/ .

UMCOR is providing emergency relief in many areas of the world. To find out more about current UMCOR ministries, please visit the website: http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor/ .

And, please pray for those who are hungry, displaced, sick or in poverty because of these and other natural and human-made disasters, and for the workers who minister to them.