Hurricanes 2005
Where the Money Goes

More than $62 million was contributed in 2005 to UMCOR for hurricane relief and rehabilitation in the United States and wider Gulf of Mexico region. Your generosity has allowed UMCOR to support recovery in 13 states that have either been directly affected by this year’s hurricanes or are hosting hurricane evacuees.

“Year-end receipts from the annual conferences pushed the figure far, far beyond what we anticipated in the late fall,” said Roland Fernandes, treasurer of General Board of Global Ministries, the denominational agency of which UMCOR is a part.

The exact total for 2005 as of December 31, was $62,373,764.15. In addition $7.8 million worth of emergency supplies shipped to affected regions. All of this has already gone or will go for relief and rehabilitation, primarily through the annual (regional) conferences affected by the strong series of hurricanes striking the Gulf Coast from Florida to Texas. Also covered is post-hurricane work in Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico and Nicaragua. Still, more is required to support the long term response to this year’s horrific hurricanes, especially Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

UMCOR’s “specialty” is long term relief and recovery work. In the case of Hurricane Katrina, UMCOR estimates that long term will translate to upwards of six years, particularly in hard-hit areas of Louisiana and Mississippi.

Establishing a Long Term System of Response

In order for the long term recovery process to work, there needs to be a good establishment of the system. UMCOR works through annual conferences in each affected area which must have a contractor, a volunteer coordinator, local recovery stations, and a process to evaluate requests for assistance and to handle them in a fair and equitable way. They need to purchase supplies and set up material depots and coordinate the release of supplies. While UMCOR is providing training, consultant support, and funding to help each annual conference provide all of these services, it still takes time to set up an effective system to respond over the long term.

The magnitude of the damage wrought by Hurricane Katrina means that what would seem to be significant strides for recovery in other hurricanes appears to be only drops in the bucket in response to this one.

Initial Funding

The UMCOR board of directors voted to disperse funds to affected annual conferences for hurricane relief and recovery according to their expressed immediate needs at their fall board meeting. The funds released to Mississippi and Louisiana are for use in only the initial six months following the hurricane because the size of this disaster prevents us from foreseeing all of the possibilities for need. More funds will be sent to these annual conferences as these additional needs are made known.

This is in addition to $10,000 emergency grants that UMCOR sent to each of the following 18 United Methodist National Mission Institutions for immediate relief work. 

UMCOR also sent $10,000 emergency grants to each of the following 12 annual conferences serving evacuees. 

Alabama-West Florida            Florida
Kentucky                                   Mississippi
North Texas                               Missouri
North Alabama                         Oklahoma
Texas                                         Virginia
Wisconsin
Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference

Additional Areas of Support

Curtis Lopez displays family photos found in the debris where their home once stood. George Armstrong/FEMA

How You Can Help

If you would like to print and share this information with others, click here to download UMCOR’s latest Report to Donors.

Give to UMCOR Advance #982523, Hurricanes 2005

Resources

• UMCOR Emergency Kits: Health kits, school kits, flood buckets, and more
• Medicine Boxes: Contents and Instructions
• The UMCOR Hotline: Weekly Updates.

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