Emergency Response and UMCOR

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Table of Contents

1. UMCOR's Disaster Response Goals
2. UMCOR's Work in the United States
3. UMCOR'S Work Outside the United States
4. What UMCOR Provides
5. UMCOR Disaster Response
6. How You Can Be Involved

UMCOR's Disaster Response Goals

The immediate goal of UMCOR's international and domestic emergency response programs is to provide relief and rehabilitation for the entire person-physical, social, and psychological-- in a distress situation.

Both within and outside the United States, UMCOR works to enable those affected by disasters to take responsibility for relief and recovery work. Wherever possible, UMCOR forms partnerships with other religious and secular organizations in order to pool resources and avoid duplicating efforts.

UMCOR provides long-term recovery as well as immediate relief. Recognizing that disasters cause disruptions that can last for years and often create permanent changes in people's lives, UMCOR works within a community to address the long-term effects of a disaster and assist people in rebuilding and adjusting to change.

UMCOR's Work in the United States

United Methodist Churches are organized regionally into conferences. There are nearly 70 conferences within the United States. They vary in size depending on the density of a region's population. Each conference comprises hundreds or thousands of local United Methodist churches. When a disaster occurs within the United States, UMCOR works through the local conferences to provide relief and rehabilitation. UMCOR is a member of National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD) and works under a partnership agreement with the American Red Cross.

A nationwide Catastrophic Disaster Response Team (CDRT) works to train and advise conference teams. The CDRT is available to help conferences prepare for disasters and to assist during an actual crisis. CDRT members are experts in logistics, communications, distribution, and pastoral and psychological care. Regional teams have special areas of expertise: the Eastern team is trained to respond to hurricanes, the Midwestern to floods and tornadoes, and the Western to earthquakes.

UMCOR'S Work Outside the United States

Outside the United States, UMCOR serves as the primary channel for United Methodist disaster response, training disaster response specialists in their own countries, working in partnership with other international agencies, and implementing programs directly in several regions around the world.

UMCOR programs seek to utilize local leaders and develop partnerships with local institutions-- working toward the goal of establishing projects that are designed and implemented by the beneficiaries. To benefit the greatest possible number of people, UMCOR projects strive to maximize local and regional resources and systems.

For more information contact:

What UMCOR Provides

UMCOR's assistance may be in the form of financial grants and/or the provision of material and human resources to local UMCOR organizations doing relief and recovery work. Whether resourcing a conference or agency in a recovery operation or providing direct relief, UMCOR personnel can offer:

• Donated goods and distribution management
• Assessment of repair costs
• Housing repair and rebuilding, including architectural engineering
• Management of volunteers
• Public and press relations
• Spiritual and emotional care for victims and caregivers
• Trained personnel to help children recover from disaster trauma
• Casework and casework supervision

In over 80 countries, UMCOR provides a ministry of compassion to save lives and rebuild communities when disasters occur.

UMCOR Disaster Response

Formed in 1940 in response to the suffering of people during World War ll, The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) continues to provide a channel through which United Methodists may express their Christian compassion for people around the globe. UMCOR reaches out to those who are undergoing hard- ship and suffering as a result of natural catastrophes or civil disruption-- often to people who are already among the poorest in society.

UMCOR's mandate can be found in the United Methodist Book of Discipline:

"The United Methodist Committee on Relief shall have as its purpose assisting churches in direct ministry to persons in need, through programs of relief, rehabilitation, and service: to refugees, to those suffering from root causes of hunger and their consequences, and to those caught in other distress situations. These ministries shall be administered in the spirit of Jesus Christ, shall advance the dignity of persons without regard to religion, race, nationality, or sex, and shall seek to enhance the quality of life in the human community." (Book of Discipline, Paragraph 1459)

While its mandate has expanded to include working through all types of local partners and its own offices abroad, UMCOR's commission remains the same: to provide and maintain a ministry of assistance to meet human needs that grow out of natural or civil disasters.

How You Can Be Involved

Financial resources are a constant need and the most effective way to respond to a disaster.

Each disaster is unique and calls for a particular response-money allows UMCOR to respond in the most effective, timely manner. You can support UMCOR 's emergency response efforts and ensure that resources are on hand when needed, by giving to:

International Disaster Response Advance #982450
Domestic Disaster Response Advance #901670

If you are a member of a United Methodist Church, UMCOR encourages you to give through your local church. When gifts are forwarded from a church to an annual conference to UMCOR 's accounts, it is much easier to keep accurate records of mission giving. If you are not United Methodist, you may send your gift to:

To make a credit card donation, call (800) 554-8583.

Provide material resources.

A variety of kits, such as health, layettes and school kits, are often needed by people in emergency or critical situations. Depending on the emergency, other materials may be needed as well, such as tools, food, or building supplies.

For more information on material resources, visit UMCOR's emergency kits web site. You can also get a printable Material Resources booklet online.

To find out what the current material resource needs are, call UMCOR Sager Brown 1-800-814-8765. Resources are received, sorted, packed and shipped to many parts of the world from the UMCOR Depot in Baldwin, Louisiana. Donors are asked to pay the shipping costs to send their gifts to Sager Brown. UMCOR uses Contain Your Joy, Advance #982730, to pay the shipping costs to the final destination.

Volunteer.

Volunteers are needed after natural disasters to help with clean-up, debris removal, and rebuilding. Call the UMCOR Volunteer Line at 1-800-918-3100 to find out about current volunteer opportunities and to register your interest.

Participate in emergency response training.

UMCOR conducts Spring and Fall disaster response training academies every year. UMCOR staff and members of the Catastrophic Disaster Response Team also are available to conduct disaster response training sessions in annual conferences. Well trained and prepared local leaders can greatly alleviate the impact of a disaster. For more information on emergency response training, call 1-202-548-4002.

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