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The UMCOR Hotline

January 03, 2006

In Today's Hotline:
Pakistan/Kashmir: Medical Outreach
US: Wildfires
Armenia: Small Loans Make a Big Difference
UMCOR: Make 2006 a Year of Hope

PAKISTAN/KASHMIR: MEDICAL OUTREACH

Ludhiana Christian Medical College (CMC) sent a medical relief team that provided assistance to eight remote villages in 10 days. Traveling to these villages was challenging and treacherous. In one case, they drove as close as possible and then hiked an additional five hours to reach the village. Once there, they found that 90% of the homes were destroyed and no outside assistance had reached the people for two weeks. The team was supported in part by UMCOR.

CMC has further plans to provide medical assistance to survivors. They have recruited experienced mountain climbers to help them with their trek to outlying villages. Your gifts UMCOR Advance #232000, Pakistan/Kashmir Earthquake, will help support their efforts.

US: WILDFIRES

Wildfires in Central Texas and Oklahoma moved rapidly across the windswept plains. Cross Plains, TX, was particularly hard hit where two elderly women were killed and 116 homes were burned along with the First United Methodist Church, Cross Plains. The church was to celebrate its 120th anniversary on New Year’s Day. Worship was still held this Sunday with 165 people gathering in the church parking lot. The local church members are coming together to assist not only its members affected by the fires, but the community as a whole.

Fires in Southern Oklahoma are destroying homesteads in the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference. Phillis McCarty, disaster coordinator for the conference told Disaster News Network, “A lot of our Indian people live on homesteads they’ve had for 100 years. They don’t want to see it go. They’re trying to do everything they can to keep it from burning.” The fires are robbing many of their livelihoods for the rest of the winter destroying fields, cattle, and feed.

UMCOR has issued emergency grants of $10,000 to assist in the immediate response to the fires. Gifts to UMCOR Advance # 901670, Domestic Disaster Response, enable UMCOR to provide immediate support in response to disasters such as these.

ARMENIA: SMALL LOANS MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE

UMCOR Armenia’s AREGAK program is a micro-lending program that supports women in small business enterprises, allowing them to better provide for their families. The majority of AREGAK’s clients are poor, rural women. The loans help women and their families increase their income. In many cases the family has more funds available for medical and educational expenses.

Today, 10 service centers providing financial services to over 450 rural and urban communities across Armenia have extended more than 90,000 loans for a total value of over $45 million. The repayment rate of these loans is a noteworthy 98 percent.

Support the good work UMCOR Armenia is doing by giving to UMCOR Advance #250225, Armenia Emergency.

UMCOR: MAKE 2006 A YEAR OF HOPE

Start your year off right with the new UMCOR 2006 calendar, Harvest of Hope. Calendars are still available. You can order this inspirational collection of rich images from around the world along with vignettes about UMCOR programs in each location from the GBGM Service Center or E-Store. It comes with a CD containing a screensaver and additional resources.

Call the GBGM Service Center to order at 1-800-305-9857 or order online at the GBGM E-Store.

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

Children living in a tent village in Pakistan that was established after the October 8 earthquake.

Children living in a tent village in Pakistan that was established after the October 8 earthquake.
Credit: CWS-ACT

The Rev. James Senkel (holding chalice), pastor of First United Methodist Church in Cross Plains, Texas, and the Rev. Shelly Brooks, a district superintendent in the Central Texas Annual Conference, give Holy Communion to the 165 people who attended a worship service New Year's Day next to the church's sanctuary. A wildfire destroyed the building Dec. 27. Parishoners gathered to worship and celebrate the church's 120th anniversary.

The Rev. James Senkel (holding chalice), pastor of First United Methodist Church in Cross Plains, Texas, and the Rev. Shelly Brooks, a district superintendent in the Central Texas Annual Conference, give Holy Communion to the 165 people who attended a worship service New Year's Day next to the church's sanctuary. A wildfire destroyed the building Dec. 27. Parishoners gathered to worship and celebrate the church's 120th anniversary. Credit: Credit: Steve Smith/UMNS

A girl stands with smoked fish - part of her family's business helped in part by an AREGAK loan.

A girl stands with smoked fish - part of hermother's business started by an AREGAK loan. Credit: Zaven Kachikian

Order your UMCOR Calendar today!

Order your UMCOR Calendar today!

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