The UMCOR Hotline
February 28, 2006
In Today's Hotline:
Mississippi: “Gutting It Out” in Pass Christian
JFON: Hospitality and Hope
Caucasus: Getting Medicine in the Right Hands
UMCOR: One Great Hour of Sharing
MISSISSIPPI: “GUTTING IT OUT” IN PASS CHRISTIAN
A visitor can shed many tears in the disaster zone where hurricanes Katrina and Rita tore away life as people knew it--especially when seeing evidence of survivors’ perseverance, courage, and dignity. Judy’s house, deluged when Hurricane Katrina caused a storm surge and overflowed water channels around her Pass Christian neighborhood on the Mississippi coastline, was gutted out and washed down with a bleach solution recently. Judy, an administrative assistant at the local high school, hopes to move back in soon. The phrase “gut out” is slang for what one does to prevail through a difficult time. “Gut out” also refers to the activity of removing the wet sheetrock, flooring, ceilings, and insulation from a home following a storm. A lot of both kinds of “gutting out” are going on in Judy’s town while householders like her work on their recovery plans with help from the Mississippi Annual Conference storm recovery center. UMCOR is supporting the conference to accompany Judy and other survivors until all their needs are met after the storm. You can assist with this crucial ministry through your contributions to UMCOR Advance #982523, Hurricanes 2005. Justice for Our Neighbors is a United Methodist ministry of hospitality. Through the JFON program United Methodist churches provide free, high-quality immigration services and a warm welcome to immigrants in our congregations and communities. Over the last month a young man who fled harsh circumstances in his homeland to the US on his own was saved from deportation through the assistance of the JFON program. He is now in a stable home environment in the US and is preparing to go to college. JFON changes lives. You can be a part of this important ministry by giving to UMCOR Advance #901285, Justice for Our Neighbors. CAUCASUS: GETTING MEDICINE IN THE RIGHT HANDS UMCOR field offices, located in the Caucasus area of Europe, specifically Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, distribute life-giving medicines through a network of clinics, institutions and other health care facilities. This program provides important vitamins, over the counter, and prescription medicines, donated largely by U.S. pharmaceutical companies, for free to hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people, such as the elderly, orphans and refugees. You can support this program and others like it by giving to UMCOR Advance #982353, Global Peace Building and Reconciliation. UMCOR: ONE GREAT HOUR OF SHARING Devastating tsunamis, monster hurricanes, life-altering earthquakes . . . your hearts and hands are there in the wake of these disasters and in others through UMCOR. Continue to be there by celebrating One Great Hour of Sharing Sunday on March 26.
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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