The UMCOR Hotline

August 24, 2001

Local United Methodist Churches in West Virginia continue to coordinate the response to the recent flooding. UMCOR has sent grants for emergency relief and recovery work in Virginia, West Virginia, Holston, and Kentucky annual conferences--all of which have suffered from flooding. Disaster response workers are currently assessing needs in Washington D.C. and Mississippi following flooding in those areas. Tornadoes and floods throughout the country in recent months have placed a high demand on UMCOR's Domestic Disaster Response funds and your gifts are urgently needed for this Advance, #901670.

There are several ongoing emergency situations that UMCOR continues to respond to. Although some of these situations receive little media coverage, please remember those who are struggling to recover in your prayers and in your giving. The following are critical situations which UMCOR is responding to on an ongoing basis:

• South Asia Emergency, Advance #274305; these funds will assist people recovering from floods in India and Pakistan.
• Africa Famine Relief, Advance 101250-4; these funds help provide food, seeds, shelter, and tools to people in Sudan, Kenya, Eritrea, and Ethiopia.
• Middle East Emergency, Advance #601740; these funds help Palestinians repair and rebuild their homes that have been damaged by shelling and help provide emergency relief for Palestinians who are suffering economic hardship because of the ongoing violence and closures.

Your support of UMCOR's International Disaster Response, Advance #982450 in recent weeks has made it possible for UMCOR to send grants to provide emergency relief for people affected by flooding in Chile, drought in Nicaragua, and famine in Afghanistan. These funds have also helped to dig wells for communities recovering from years of war in Sierra Leone. Because of your generous gifts to this Advance, UMCOR was able to supplement funds given for Africa Famine Relief to provide a significant grant for people recovering from famine and war in Eritrea. Please continue to support International Disaster Response.

The UMCOR Depot urgently needs health kits, flood buckets and other material resources. For further information and instructions on assembling and shipping kits, please call the UMCOR Depot at (800) 814-8765. Instructions are also available on the UMCOR web pages: http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor/kits.html

Volunteers are needed to help with flood recovery in West Virginia and Texas. Please call the Volunteer Line at (800) 918-3100 for further information.

Gifts may be made through local United Methodist churches, or by calling 1-800-554-8583.Credit card donations are accepted. (Read more about how you can help UMCOR's emergency responses.)

UMCOR is providing emergency relief in many areas of the world. To find out more about current UMCOR ministries, please visit http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor/.

Please pray for those who suffer from hunger, poverty, natural and human-made disasters.

Photo: Some of the damage to buildings in Beit Jala (near Bethlehem). Your gifts to UMCOR's Middle East Emergency will help repair homes. Click on the photo above to see a larger version. Credit: Walter Schenck, GBGM, UMC.