  |
|
|
January 18, 2005 Western and Midwestern United States: Mopping Up Continues
South and Southeast Asia: Rehabilitation Will Take Years In the meantime, more relief is on its way to South Asia. UMCOR last week shipped a second truckload of health kits that will augment a supply coming from other denominations. Value of the new shipment is set at around $120,000. You can get involved through giving to UMCOR Advance #274305, South Asia Emergency. UMCOR is also accepting online donations at MethodistRelief.org. Cash gifts continue to be most meaningful in the initial weeks of this response. Note that the Internal Revenue Service will allow donors to decide whether to apply their tsunami relief contributions to the 2004 or 2005 tax years, as long as the gift designated for 2004 is made by January 31. Sudan: Peace Accord Encourages Aid Groups One Great Hour of Sharing: Sunday, March 6-Essential to UMCOR Once a year, during One Great Hour of Sharing, you and your congregation can join other United Methodists worldwide by making a special offering to support this humanitarian aid from UMCOR. You can assure that when catastrophes cause suffering, your church, impelled by Jesus' love and compassion, will be in the lead to ease the pain. Gifts to this offering underwrite UMCOR's "costs of doing business," so that 100 percent of every other dollar you donate to a specific UMCOR project can be spent on that project, and not on administrative costs. Offering gifts over and above those used to cover administrative costs are channeled where they're most needed-to assist the most vulnerable people whose need is greatest. "The One Great Hour of Sharing offering on March 6, 2005, is absolutely essential to UMCOR," says the Rev. Paul Dirdak, the agency's chief executive. "UMCOR receives no World Service funds or any other apportionments. So United Methodists' gifts to this special offering not only keep UMCOR's lights on and UMCOR's delivery system in place at home and around the world- they also enable us to respond immediately to disasters." 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. Get the free UMCOR Hotline BE SURE TO RECEIVE OUR HOTLINE EMAILS. MAKE UMCOR YOUR BUDDY! Some Internet Service Providers like AOL, Yahoo!, Hotmail, and Juno use email filtering software that allows you to add email addresses to a "buddy," "trusted," "safe," or approved list. Please add umcor@gbgm-umc.org to your list so that our messages don't end up in "junk mail" or the "trash." |
 The Rev. Paul Dirdak, head of UMCOR, surveys the damage to the Methodist Church caused by the tsunami that struck Banda Aceh, Indonesia.Credit: Mike DuBose/UMNS, January 2005.  The Rev. K.M. Reginald Esparan, a Methodist pastor in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka, visits with people left homeless by the December 26 tsunami. He is on a local committee of church leaders coordinating the response on the northeast Sri Lankan coastline.Credit: Paul Jeffrey/ACT International, January 5, 2005.  Displaced women stand together in a transit camp in South Darfur, the area where UMCOR will begin work early in 2005. Credit: USAID 2004.  The theme for One Great Hour of Sharing for UMCOR, which will be on March 6, 2005 is "Be There." More Information About UMCOR's Work
|
