November 27, 2002: This is the Thanksgiving edition of the UMCOR Hotline. We thank God for all of life's blessings and for opportunities to give and receive from one another. A purpose of the UMCOR Hotline's weekly litany of needs at home and around the world is to urge each of us to share, out of our material abundance, with our neighbors.
In southern Africa, the HIV/AIDS epidemic is fueling the famine. More than 14 million people are at risk of starvation in Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, which are predominantly agricultural societies. In these countries, more that 5 million adults and about 600,000 children have HIV/AIDS. With almost 20 percent of the adult population in southern Africa infected with the deadly virus, farming communities' capacity to grow crops has greatly decreased. Millions more people, of all ages and around the world, live with HIV/AIDS. You can help respond by giving to UMCOR's Global HIV/AIDS Program Development Advance #982345-7 and by observing World AIDS Day on December 1, 2002. Background material and worship resources are available at: http://gbgm-umc.org/health/wad02/.
Disaster looms in Ethiopia, which is facing another famine. The World Food Programme reports that a serious drought is worsening in many parts of that country. The number of people needing food aid is expected to rise sharply from the current six million to between 10 to 14 million people in 2003. UMCOR is responding to this crisis through its ecumenical partners. Please donate to Advance #101250-4. This number can be used for the famines in both Ethiopia and in southern Africa. You may designate a gift for either or both regions.
Cleanup continues from the storms that devastated parts of the southeastern and midwestern United States earlier this month. Six counties in Ohio have received a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) declaration. UMCOR has sent an initial grant of ten thousand dollars to the West Ohio Conference to help start the process of planning and recovery. Leaders assume the cleanup phase will last another two weeks. Another grant of ten thousand dollars has gone to the Alabama/West Florida Conference for initial cleanup and beginning the recovery process. On November 5, violent storms in southeastern Alabama triggered a tornado that struck Abbeville. Nina Martin, UMCOR disaster field staff, is in the conference for consultation, planning and training. In the North Alabama Conference UMCOR will also be doing case management training. Last week UMCOR sent a start-up grant to the Holston Conference* for its response in Tennessee. Case management training will take place after Thanksgiving. The November 5 tornadoes did a great deal of property damage in western Mississippi, more damage than in Tennessee or Alabama. Six hundred homes were destroyed in the storms which were centered in the community of Columbus, Mississippi, near the Alabama border. Please give to the Domestic Disaster Response Advance, #901670-1. You may designate the state or conference where you wish your gift to be used.
Gifts may be made through local United Methodist churches, or by calling 1-800-554-8583. Credit card donations are accepted. (Read more about how you can help UMCOR's emergency responses.)
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/ .
During this holiday time, as you give thanks to God for the blessings of the past year, please pray for those who suffer from hunger, poverty, natural and human-made disasters.
*Note: Holston Conference includes congregations in East Tennessee, Southwest Virginia and the area of Georgia surrounding Chattanooga.
