December 12, 2003: Villages and towns in Lofa County, once the breadbasket of Liberia, are so completely devastated by fighting that there is little evidence they ever existed. Residents fled to displaced persons camps in neighboring countries or near Monrovia, where UMCOR works in food distribution and latrine clean-up. Your generous contribution to Liberia Emergency Advance #150300 will help provide basic necessities and assist with longer-term recovery efforts.
Ten percent of North Korean families face hunger and food shortages as winter grips their country, according to a New York Times report this week. About 41% of North Korea's children suffer from severe malnutrition. A contribution to North Korea Emergency Advance #226435 will assist with providing food security to the vulnerable citizens there. Thank you for your generosity.
Illiteracy puts women and children at risk. UMCOR workers have renovated a school in the Afghan village of Rokha and provided school kits, assembled by United Methodist volunteers, to a girls' school there. As mothers, educated women are more likely to have healthy children and to ensure that their children, both boys and girls, complete school. You can help assure an education to girls and boys in Afghanistan with your contribution to UMCOR's Global Peacebuilding and Reconciliation Advance #982353, designated "Afghanistan."
More than 500 storms across the US destroyed homes and lives this year. Along the Atlantic seaboard, well out of media attention, the long, unglamorous recovery continues from one of the worst storms-- Hurricane Isabel. Here are three ways to help: If your church group can donate flood buckets-- supplies volunteers use to clean flood-damaged sites-- you can find the specifications on UMCOR's website. Visit online at http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor/kits.cfm. If you can participate directly in cleanup efforts, please call the UMCOR Volunteer Hotline, 1-800-918-3100. UMCOR is also grateful for generous donations to Hurricanes 2003 Advance #982438 that will fund long-term assistance and rebuilding for the most vulnerable in the affected areas.
For as little as $5.00 you can assure that UMCOR can immunize a child against tuberculosis, measles, polio, tetanus and other diseases. Or for $20.00, you can help a refugee return home. These are two of UMCOR's wishes on our annual Christmas Wish List. Remember, 100 percent of your contribution goes directly to support projects. You can find these ideas and others online at http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor/whose.stm. Perfect for your holiday giving!
UMCOR provides emergency relief in many areas of the world. To find out more about UMCOR's ministries, please visit umcor.org. You can donate to any project by placing a contribution in the offering plate at a local United Methodist church; by sending a check to UMCOR, PO Box 9068, New York, NY 10087-9068; or by calling 1-800-554-8583, where credit card donations are accepted. UMCOR is exempt from tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of the United States and qualifies for the maximum charitable contribution deduction by donors.
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.
