UMCOR to establish U.S. supply depot in Utah
United Methodist leaders tour the Sager Brown Depot
of the United Methodist Committee on Relief in Baldwin, La., following
Hurricane Gustav.
UMNS file photos by Mike DuBose. |
A UMNS Report
By Linda Bloom*
Nov. 5, 2008
A new supply depot in Salt Lake City will allow the United Methodist
Committee on Relief to better serve church members and communities in
the western United States.
The Rev. Rachel
Lieder Simeon
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The depot is scheduled to open Jan. 1 and will "respond to some of the
unique disasters of the West," in addition to providing a place for
United Methodists in the region to do mission work, according to the
Rev. Rachel Lieder Simeon, an executive with UMCOR and its parent
agency, the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.
A letter of intent for warehouse space is "in the process of being
signed," to be followed by negotiations on costs for the leased space,
Simeon told United Methodist News Service on Nov. 4. Two staff people
will be hired.
The Rev. Sam Dixon, UMCOR’s top executive, shared the Utah depot
plans in his Oct. 15 report to UCMOR directors, noting that one of the
agency’s biggest challenges "in serving the West is the timely provision
of material aid and supportive personnel in response to flooding,
mudslides, earthquakes and fires."
The Utah facility will be UMCOR's second major supply depot in the
United States. UMCOR Sager Brown, in Baldwin, La., will remain the
central depot for the relief agency, according to Simeon.
While some of the denomination’s annual conferences have relief
supply warehouses of varying sizes, no such facilities were available in
the West, said Kathy Kraiza, Sager Brown’s executive director. "Opening
the Utah depot is going to be an exciting new avenue," she said. "I
can’t wait to see how it grows."
Central location
Salt Lake City was considered a central location, according to Lisa
Jackson, an UMCOR consultant who worked with Simeon on the project. "It
has an international airport. It also is a key location for freight
trains," Jackson said.
Centrality to conference offices in the denomination’s Western
Jurisdiction was a major factor, said Simeon, who noted that all the
offices, except for those in Anchorage, Alaska, are "really almost
equidistant to Salt Lake." She also liked the idea "of a place where we
can be in witness and mission in a new way."
“It was so exciting to be able to share
with the people of Utah this opportunity to support the larger ministry
of The United Methodist Church.” –The Rev. Skip Strickland "Utah
is a strategic location," said the Rev. Skip Strickland, director of
mission and ministry for the denomination’s Rocky Mountain Annual
Conference. The location is a "crossroads" for the U.S. highway system
and a hub for government and corporate distribution centers.
Strickland considers the UMCOR outpost to be "a really neat witness
to a growing population that isn’t just one faith orientation." While in
the minority, United Methodist churches in Utah, which are part of the
Rocky Mountain Conference, are growing and have a committed membership,
he noted. "It was so exciting to be able to share with the people of
Utah this opportunity to support the larger ministry of The United
Methodist Church."
Simeon has been impressed with the "tremendous excitement" expressed
by United Methodists in the Salt Lake area and the conference in
general. "They’ve been incredibly helpful in terms of connecting us with
people," she added.
UMCOR will collaborate in Utah with Crossroads Urban Center, a
nonprofit grassroots organization that grew out of a United Methodist
program and is part of the church’s "strong ecumenical ministry" there,
according to Strickland. Crossroads helps to organize low-income,
disabled and minority citizens "to be advocates on their own behalf" and
also provides direct services, including a food pantry and thrift
store.
Simeon was enthusiastic about sharing resources with Crossroads. "The
excitement that was generated from that connection was really
powerful," she said.
Philippines office
The Utah depot is one of three new field offices approved by UMCOR
directors last March. The second office is in Mobile, Ala., and the
third will be established somewhere in the Philippines.
Relief supplies, like these at Sager Brown, will be stored at the new depot to better respond to disasters in the
western United States.
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The Salt Lake City location "would be seen as a potential link to the
Philippines," according to Jackson, who will travel there with Simeon
later in November for the Central Conference of the United Methodist
Church in the Philippines. The Philippines office could be up and
running by mid-2009.
That office, according to Dixon’s report, will not only address
disaster relief and development issues in the Philippines, but also
"provide us with a staging area to enable UMCOR’s response to disasters
in Asia and the Pacific Islands."
Another office is tentatively planned for Africa, he added, once the offices in Utah and the Philippines are well established.
*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.
News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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Resources
Sager Brown
UMCOR
Rocky Mountain Conference
Crossroads Urban Center |