UMCOR Responds in Hurricane Charley Relief Efforts

Posted: August 17, 2004 Print-friendly

As Floridians begin to recover from the effects of Hurricane Charley, United Methodists are responding to relief needs.

The hurricane, described by the United Methodist Committee on Relief as the worst storm to hit western Florida in 100 years, struck Aug. 13 before surging up the East Coast to the Carolinas and Virginia. The hurricane, with its sustained winds of 131 mph to 155 mph, was responsible for at least 16 deaths and billions of dollars in damage to Florida alone.

Anticipating Hurricane Charley's arrival, UMCOR had shipped all available flood buckets to Florida from its Sager Brown Depot in Louisiana. Partnering with the agency on providing flood cleanup supplies were Mercy Center in North Carolina; Midwest Distribution Center, Illinois, and Mission Central, Pennsylvania.

F. Thomas Hazelwood, UMCOR's director of emergency services, arrived Monday, Aug. 16 in Florida to meet with Annual Conference disaster coordinators and assist with assessment of relief needs. "We're in the phase of trying to assess communities," said the Rev. David Harris, the Florida Conference's disaster response coordinator and pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church, Arcadia, Fla. The members of the conference disaster response team will be meeting people's needs from Fort Myers to Daytona Beach and along the state's I-4 corridor, according to the e-Review.

Harris said that local congregations have been assisting in relief efforts by delivering food house-to-house and by arranging crews to help cover damaged roofs so that people will be dry. "At Trinity, we opened our church up and delivered more than 1,000 meals to people on Aug. 15," he said.

The damage to the Arcadia area compelled Harris to relinquish his disaster response coordinator position to Larry Rankin, director of the conference's Equipping Network's Missions ministry and disaster response efforts. "My area was hit so hard that I had to step out of the role. There are make-shift strategies going on all over," Harris said.

Hampering initial efforts is uncertainty about the scope of damage. "Many communities still do not have electricity or ways to communicate their needs," Rankin said. He expects that churches along the storm's path will become centers of relief coordination.

The Arcadia area received significant damage from the hurricane, Harris said. "Most of the homes here are sticks, and lots of trailer parks look like war zones. The devastation is horrible. There is tremendous damage to downtown. Buildings have been cordoned off." The extent of the damage in Arcadia is similar to the devastation in the retirement communities of Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda.

Prior to giving up the reins, Harris told e-Review that there is one certain thing about relief efforts. "This may take quite some time to finish working with those who are affected by this disaster. We [The United Methodist Church] are here for the long haul," he said. "When the news has stopped reporting the impact of Charley, when the agencies have all left Florida, we will still be here, and we will need to continue our focus on helping people."

Post-Hurricane Charley in Arcadia, Florida: "Homes look like sticks," said David Harris, Florida Annual Conference's disaster response coordinator. Photo courtesy of Florida Annual Conference.

How to Participate in This Response

Volunteers wanting to assist in recovery efforts may call UMCOR's toll-free volunteer hotline at (800) 918-3100.

UMCOR urges United Methodists to help replenish supplies of flood buckets in what is now the beginning of hurricane season. The buckets include such items as sponges, brushes, trash bags and various types of cleaning materials. Specifications can be found online at http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor/print/kits/ . Completed flood buckets--and $1.50 per bucket to cover reshipping--should be sent to UMCOR Sager Brown, 101 Sager Brown Rd., Baldwin, LA 70514.

UMCOR is also requesting donations for its Material Resource Ministry, Advance #901440 for cleaning supplies that the staff and volunteers at the Sager Brown Depot will use to assemble flood buckets.

Donations for the denomination's response to Charley and other hurricanes should be earmarked for Hurricanes 2004, UMCOR Advance #982410. Checks written to UMCOR can be placed in church offering plates or mailed directly to UMCOR, 475 Riverside Dr., Room 330, New York, N.Y. 10115. Credit card donations can be made by calling toll free, (800) 554-8583.