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The UMCOR Hotline

December 20, 2005

In Today's Hotline:
Katrina Aid Today: UMCOR Announces Partners
Indonesia: Tsunami Recovery One Year Later
Pakistan: Relief Efforts Continue in the Snow
Christmas with UMCOR

KATRINA AID TODAY: UMCOR ANNOUNCES PARTNERS

A grants review board announced 10 social service and voluntary organizations that will become part of its $66 million Katrina Aid Today initiative, sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The 10 organizations will oversee 3,000 professional staff and volunteers who will assist 100,000 families displaced by Hurricane Katrina to rebuild their lives. Trained by UMCOR, the staff and volunteers will help survivors identify sources of support, develop personal recovery plans, acquire access to services and take appropriate actions to promote healing after the disaster and bring them to self-sufficiency.

The 10 grantees selected are (in alphabetical order):

  • Boat People SOS, Falls Church, VA
  • Catholic Charities USA, Alexandria, VA
  • Episcopal Relief and Development, New York
  • Lutheran Disaster Response, Chicago
  • The National Disability Rights Network, Washington, DC
  • The Odyssey House of Louisiana, New Orleans
  • The Salvation Army, Atlanta
  • The Society of St. Vincent De Paul, St. Louis, MO
  • United Methodist Foundation of Louisiana, Baton Rouge, LA
  • Volunteers of America, Alexandria, VA

UMCOR is currently in final contract negotiations with the grantees.

“The partner organizations have a track record of responding to the needs of disaster survivors in a recovery effort. Katrina Aid Today brings them together to create a network of volunteer assistance organizations with nationwide reach,” said Paul Dirdak, deputy general secretary of UMCOR. You can see more details at www.KatrinaAidToday.org. In addition to administering the FEMA grant, the agency continues the work of the United Methodist Church in long-term recovery work throughout the Gulf Coast. For more details on how your gifts to UMCOR Advance # 982523, Hurricanes 2005, are supporting long-term recovery, click here to visit UMCOR online.

INDONESIA: TSUNAMI RECOVERY ONE YEAR LATER

The poorest families in four tsunami-affected villages of Aceh Province have moved into their new UMCOR-built homes and are making a fresh start. Construction on fifty more houses is nearing completion and an additional 372 houses will begin early next year. Another 90 families will benefit from repairs to their damaged homes. The powerful Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami devastated villages across Aceh and many other countries, killing loved ones and sweeping away homes and businesses in 2004. UMCOR is not only rebuilding homes in Aceh Province but also working with communities to select public infrastructure projects and to identify new sources of income. UMCOR’s community-centered programming integrates jobs, housing, and public works in many countries around the world. You can support work like this through generous contributions to UMCOR Advance #982450, International Disaster Response.

PAKISTAN: RELIEF EFFORTS CONTINUE IN THE SNOW

Snow and security threats in remote villages have hampered, but not halted, relief efforts by UMCOR partner Churches Auxiliary for Social Action (CASA) in the Kashmiri region of Pakistan. The Oct. 8 earthquake that killed thousands also caused landslides, cracked dams, and blocked roads to many high-altitude villages. CASA provided emergency supplies such as tents, blankets, wool clothing material, and cooking utensils to some 6,575 vulnerable families whose towns were damaged or destroyed. In a second phase of relief, aid workers delivered bukharis—coal and wood-burning heaters—and additional blankets before harsh weather set in. You can assist further recovery efforts such as rehabilitation activities through your gifts to UMCOR Advance #232000, Pakistan Earthquake.

CHRISTMAS WITH UMCOR

Here are two ways UMCOR can help you with your Christmas shopping
this year:

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.

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Featured Photos
United Methodist Committee on Relief

Curtis Lopez displays family photos found in the debris where their home once stood.

Curtis Lopez displays family photos found in the debris where their home once stood.
Credit: Credit: George Armstrong/FEMA

One of the first UMCOR-built homes in Pineung Siri Bee, a tsunami-affected village in Aceh Province, Indonesia

One of the first UMCOR-built homes in Pineung Siri Bee, a tsunami-affected village in Aceh Province, Indonesia. Credit: Katie Henneman/UMCOR

UMCOR partner CASA provided tents, blankets, and special tent heaters to remote villagers in the Kashmiri region of Pakistan.

UMCOR partner CASA provided tents, blankets, and special tent heaters to remote villagers in the Kashmiri region of Pakistan.Credit: Paul Jeffrey

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