Note: This edition of the UMCOR Hotline is a special Hurricanes 2004 Update. For more information about UMCOR's current responses, read the UMCOR Hotline for September 7.
September 9, 2004
USA and Caribbean: Recovery Is Happening as Another Hurricane
Threatens
UMCOR damage assessments continue today. Tom Hazelwood, head of the Emergency Service Office, and Bishop Timothy W. Whitaker are touring parts of Florida's east coast, badly flooded by Hurricane Frances. Assessments are also arriving from Cuba and the Bahamas.
Populations of special focus for UMCOR and its annual conference partners in Florida will be the Haitian community in the Fort Pierce area and the farm worker community in Arcadia. UMCOR is currently exploring options for response in Caribbean regions affected by the storms.
The Florida Storm Recovery Center, set up within days of Hurricane Charley but shuttered while Hurricane Frances lashed the state, is operational again. Expressing appreciation for all the volunteers so far, call center personnel emphasized the need for additional volunteers to clear debris and make repairs to damaged homes.
Potential volunteers may call the center toll free-- 1-800-282-8011, ext. 149-- to receive up-to-date information on job sites, tools needed, and special skills.
As work teams cover damaged roofs with tarps and repair damaged windows and walls, UMCOR's specially trained disaster workers are training other volunteers in case management, the process for effective long-term recovery. In addition, United Methodist congregations in hard-hit areas are receiving spiritual care training from UMCOR, to assist them in responding to the needs of their communities.
Get Involved!
Donations for the denomination's response to Ivan, Frances, Charley and other hurricanes should be earmarked for Hurricanes 2004, UMCOR Advance #982410. Checks written to UMCOR can be placed in church offering plates or mailed directly to UMCOR, 475 Riverside Dr., Room 330, New York, N.Y. 10115. Credit card donations can be made by calling toll free, 1-800-554-8583.
UMCOR continues its urgent call for flood buckets so that volunteers can mop up water and mud following Hurricane Frances. The agency has supplied some 3,000 flood buckets to Florida-- but more are still needed! The agency urges United Methodists to help replenish this critical stock. The buckets include such items as sponges, brushes, trash bags and various types of cleaning materials. Specifications can be found online. Completed flood buckets-- and $1.50 per bucket to cover reshipping-- should be sent to UMCOR Sager Brown, 101 Sager Brown Rd., Baldwin, LA 70514.
UMCOR is also requesting donations for its Material Resource Ministry, Advance #901440 for cleaning supplies that staff and volunteers at the Sager Brown Depot will use to assemble flood buckets.
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.