December 14, 2004
United States and Caribbean: Storm Recovery Focuses on Home Repair, Gaps in Cocoa Production
Severe flooding and high winds from this year's hurricanes reached far beyond the southern states. UMCOR has provided long-term recovery grants to both Central and Western Pennsylvania Annual Conferences to assist with unmet needs including tools, roofing, flooring, drywall, and paint. Some 7,000 homes sustained damage-- affecting low-income, elderly, and single-parent families. The grants will also assist with training disaster workers to provide the comfort of "a shoulder to lean on" for people who are having a hard time coping.
For Dominican Republic cocoa farmers, meeting basic survival needs has been a challenge since Hurricane Jeanne thrashed areas of the island nation last September. UMCOR has provided an emergency grant to help stabilize CONACADO, its partner in fair trade cocoa production. The grant will provide this farmers' cooperative with emergency food, tools, clothing, and medicines so that the families can continue to farm. The grant will also address reconstruction of fields. In the meantime, farmers expect as much as a 30 percent decrease in their cocoa harvest over the next few years.
UMCOR can provide ongoing assistance to these neighbors only because of your generous donations. Please give to UMCOR Advance #982410, Hurricanes 2004.
United States: UMCOR Responds to Series of Small but Disastrous Texas Storms
Thanks to UMCOR, some 235 Texas families
who need home repairs will receive assistance. Disabling storms, beginning in 2002 and continuing through April of 2004, caused localized damage in five areas of the state. Disastrous-- yet they were not large enough to qualify for federal aid. UMCOR has provided emergency grants to sustain ongoing recovery operations for these families. Your contributions to UMCOR Advance #901670, Domestic Disaster Response, will help in a meaningful way.
Iran: Bam Rebuilding Continues After Deadly Earthquake
Safer buildings and healthier children will be one outcome of work in Bam, Iran. On December 26, 2003, the 2000-year-old city sustained a deadly earthquake that leveled historic structures and homes and killed tens of thousands. Children there continue to face challenges to survival. UMCOR has provided another emergency grant to its partner in Bam, the International Blue Crescent, for ongoing relief efforts. Some 380 children are receiving psycho-social care in one IBC program. In another, workers have rehabilitated four neighborhoods using construction methods that help to earthquake-proof the new buildings. As IBC builds the capacity of local organizations to carry on the post-earthquake recovery, more work is needed. Please give to UMCOR Advance #982450, International Disaster Response, to ensure that UMCOR can respond rapidly to disasters like the Bam earthquake.
For a Spirit-Filled Christmas: UMCOR's Wish List
UMCOR has made a list and checked it twice-- and made sure there is a gift size for everyone! With our Christmas Wish List, we want to take the "ka-ching" of the cash register out of the holiday. For example, for a $5.00 donation you can immunize a child against tuberculosis, measles, polio, tetanus and other diseases (UMCOR Advance #982400). Your $15.00 gift will teach a woman in Nepal to read and write (UMCOR Advance #229500). A generous church school class could "go together" and provide materials to build a barn and supply a milk cow for a rural family in Bosnia for $2,500.00 (UMCOR Advance #333350). Or your gift of $250.00 will help an immigrant family in the United States receive professional legal advice on how to navigate in post-9/11 immigration rules (UMCOR Advance #901285). Please check your list-- give someone you love a gift that embodies the true spirit of Christmas. Thank you for your generosity!
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.