UMCOR is responding to a request from the Yellowstone Conference for technical and financial assistance to respond to those affected by the fires in Montana. UMCOR is sending an initial emergency grant and a disaster response worker with extensive experience in the area of fire recovery to help assess needs and develop recovery plans. You may join in this response by giving to UMCOR's Domestic Disaster Response, Advance #901670-1.

   UMCOR staff are conducting a disaster response training seminar for the California/Pacific conference. 25 United Methodists are expected to attend this first training for this conference. To find out more about disaster response training for your conference, call Tom Hazelwood at (202) 548-4002.

   Your gifts are urgently needed to assist flood victims in India and Brazil. Hundreds of thousands of people have been made homeless. Lives have been lost, and homes, crops and infrastructure have been destroyed. UMCOR funds will help provide emergency food aid, non-food relief packages and medical supplies. Please give to UMCOR's International Disaster Response, Advance #982450-8.

   UMCOR urges you to advocate on behalf of the world's refugees. This year, as refugee numbers have risen to 14 million worldwide, the U.S. is proposing to reduce its refugee admissions number by 14,000 and to also reduce funding for refugees in the U.S. and overseas. Please call your senators and representatives at the Capitol switchboard (202) 224-3121 and urge them to support an admission number of 100,000 and funding of $700 million and $20 million for the two Migration and Refugee accounts. For more information on this advocacy alert, see the UMCOR webpage: http://gbgm-umc.org/global/refugees/alertshortfall.stm Or call UMCOR at (800) 554-8583 to receive a faxed copy of the alert.

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.)

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

See Also

• And Yet More Floods, ACT International, August 25, 2000
• Homeless Villagers in India Face Diseases, ACT International, August 15, 2000
• UMCOR Alert: Hunger Relief Act
• UMCOR Alert: Shortfall in Refugee Program Funding