North Carolina, Virginia seek volunteers for relief work

United Methodist disaster coordinators will be booking volunteer teams into the foreseeable future to help rebuild homes for flood victims in North Carolina and Virginia.

The Rev. Butch Huffman, director of volunteers in mission for the North Carolina Annual Conference, said teams have been booked months in advance, but groups can also be sent out on short notice. He tries to accommodate requests to work in certain areas, he said, but "we cannot tell them exactly where they will be going."

Huffman can be reached by calling the conference office at (800) 849-4433, Ext. 312, or by sending an e-mail to ral-disaster@nccumc.org.

Teams wishing to volunteer in the Tarboro-Princeville-Rocky Mount area, coordinated through the Western North Carolina Annual Conference, can call (800) 790-7773.

In the Virginia Annual Conference, the Rev. Frank Jennings is booking teams into August and said he can accommodate just about any time period. Volunteers should call the Virginia Conference Disaster Response Team at (888) 862-8488 or send an e-mail to umdp@cs.com.

General information also is available through the Volunteer Line of the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) at (800) 918-3100.

Donations for Hurricane Floyd relief can be made through UMCOR, designated to Advance No. 982460-1. Checks can be dropped into church collection plates or mailed to UMCOR at 475 Riverside Dr., Room 330, New York, NY 10115. Credit-card donations can be made by calling (800) 554-8583.

See also: United Methodists help with recovery from Hurricane Floyd