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 21.
September 23, 2004
USA and Caribbean: UMCOR Cares, Cleans After Multiple Storms
The besieged island nation of Haiti, where UMCOR feeds 16,000 school children a day and provides operational funds for health programs and clinics, has received another setback from lethal tropical storm Jeanne. In an initial response UMCOR will partner with Action by Churches Together, the international alliance of humanitarian aid organizations. ACT, currently assessing response options, reports that access to many of the affected areas is possible only by air, since roads are still under water. An assessment team has reached Gonaïves, where urgent needs include fresh water, food, emergency shelter, and medicines.
In addition UMCOR's office for refugee ministries has issued an urgent call for advocacy of temporary protected status for Haitian immigrants who may be threatened with immediate return to Haiti. Designating Haiti for this status would allow Haitians already in the United States to remain here until recovery from the recent storms has improved stability there. Addresses of the President and the Secretary of Homeland Security, plus a sample letter, are available online.
In the Alabama-West Florida Annual Conference, workers have begun the long cleanup. "United Methodists in this conference have been inspirational as they provide their expertise in caring and cleaning," said the Rev. Kristin Sachen, program head of Emergency Services for UMCOR. The power of Hurricane Ivan's storm surge ripped away beach areas a block deep, and wind flattened many homes out of range of beaches in the Pensacola area. The conference has established a disaster line and email where volunteers can check job sites and learn about critical needs for supplies. The telephone number for persons within this conference is 866-340-1956; email address is disaster@awfumc.org.
"The Florida Annual Conference has demonstrated their hearts' understanding of how to be in mission," said Ms. Sachen. "Leadership there from the Bishop, conference leaders, and local churches has been especially effective," she said. Workers in Arcadia, Punta Gordo, Fort Pierce, and other areas, where a triple punch of serial hurricanes devastated thousands of homes and commercial buildings, are serving some of the most vulnerable populations. Farmworkers, the elderly, and immigrants from Haiti have received aid.
UMCOR continues its urgent call for flood buckets, supplies volunteers use in post-hurricane cleanup. Specifications may be found online Ship your completed flood buckets--and $1.50 per bucket to cover reshipping--to UMCOR Sager Brown, 101 Sager Brown Rd., Baldwin, LA 70514.
New-- you can donate online for UMCOR's appeal, Hurricanes 2004, Advance #982410. Visit www.UnitedMethodistRelief.org, a secure server where you may safely enter your credit card information. 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. You can also call in your credit card donation toll free, 1-800-554-8583.
On September 23, the remnants of deadly Hurricane Ivan had reformed and threatened to thrash the Texas and Louisiana coasts and a renewed Hurricane Jeanne had turned toward Florida and the Carolinas. "The offering plate needs to go around many times" in a season of multiple storms, Ms. Sachen emphasized, "in order to ensure that we can offer hope and healing to all who count on UMCOR."
Please pray for all in the paths of these ferocious storms. Your gifts to may be designated for assistance to specific regions affected by the storms-- or simply directed "where most needed." Thank you for your generous hearts.