UMCOR Receives Gifts to Support Stages of Response

Posted: August 19, 2004 Print-friendly

Faithful United Methodists have been asking how UMCOR is using all the donations to that have been flowing in through phone calls and letters since Hurricane Charley roared through last week. They know that a huge effort of organization and understanding of needs must be done in a very short time.

As of Wednesday, August 18, government and law enforcement officials are still completing the first phases of their search and rescue efforts. Electrical power and basic communications are still spotty. But there is plenty for UMCOR workers to do while awaiting restoration of services.

In the emergency phase of UMCOR's response-- the present phase-- donations pay for trained disaster workers from UMCOR's network as well as from the Florida Annual Conference of the church, to locate as many survivors as possible and talk with them one on one about their FEMA rights and their other needs. Workers will develop a long-term plan with each one. And often what's needed is comfort for those who are afraid, worried, or just having a hard time coping.

Once the needs are understood, then gifts to UMCOR pay for direct assistance to survivors-- rent payments, doctor bills, telephone bills, money for replacement clothing, and the like. This phase is important because in a big emergency like Hurricane Charley, employers may not be able to make their payrolls. It may take some time for the banking system to get back online. Small businesses may have been completely destroyed, leaving some with no work.

Finally in the rehab phase, donations will buy goods like tools, building supplies, roofing, flooring, drywall, paint-- whatever is needed to restore a family's home to be livable, dry, and back to normal. In this phase, direct assistance is continued. And specially-trained disaster workers also continue to provide the comfort of a personal presence--a shoulder to lean on-- for people who are having a hard time coping.

Monetary gifts assist with basic services. UMCOR will be making its response to Hurricane Charley from funds received for Advance #982410, Hurricanes 2004.

Photo: Specially trained workers provide comfort for those who are worried, afraid, or just having a hard time coping. Credit: FEMA/Andrea Booher, August 2004.

Hurricane Charley's 145 mph winds splintered houses and twisted trees and metal. Credit: FEMA/Andrea Booher, August 2004.

The Faithful Gather for Worship Amid Debris

The roof of Christ United Methodist Church in Punta Gorda is mostly gone. Tiles litter the floor of the sanctuary. Water has ruined walls, and the pews are wet.

But the small congregation's praise band was on hand Sunday morning for worship, according to district superintendent Sharon Patch. And the preacher, the Rev. Charles Carroll—a stand-in for the regular pastor—wore shorts and delivered the word from a waterlogged pulpit. Rev. Carroll's home was in splinters, yet he was on hand to lead prayers for unaccounted-for neighbors and those who had suffered losses to the storm.

How to pick out what is worth saving from the water-soaked debris is a question facing all the survivors, said Rev. Patch. Safety is another. On a visit to one church, she stepped over a tangle of tree limbs and startled a snake crawling through the branches.

She praised early response volunteers who have been cutting up fallen trees to open residential roads and others who have served meals, provided ice, and brought diapers for distribution. "People have been wonderful to respond," she said.