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United Methodists respond to storm damage in Haiti, U.S.

 


United Methodists respond to storm damage in Haiti, U.S.

Sept. 24, 2004

A UMNS Report
By Linda Beher*

LINK: Click to open full size version of image
A UMNS photo by Michael Wacht

Debris litters the sanctuary of Fort Pierce (Fla.) Haitian United Methodist Church after Hurricane Frances.
As the Caribbean and parts of the United States reel from recent hurricanes, the United Methodist Church is responding with relief on several fronts.

The United Methodist Committee on Relief is making an initial response to the devastation wreaked on the island of Haiti by Tropical Storm Jeanne, being blamed for more than 1,100 deaths. UMCOR already feeds 16,000 Haitian schoolchildren a day and provides funds for health programs and clinics there.

UMCOR will partner with Action by Churches Together, an international aid alliance, in responding to the needs in Haiti. ACT is assessing response options, according to UMCOR. An assessment team has reached Gonaives, where urgent needs include fresh water, food, emergency shelter and medicine.

In addition, UMCOR’s office for refugee ministries is calling on people to advocate for granting temporary protected status to Haitian immigrants who may be threatened with immediate return to Haiti. Designating Haiti for this status would allow Haitians already in the United States to remain until recovery from the recent storms has improved stability back home. Details are available at http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor/04/haitiprotected.cfm.

Since hitting Haiti, Jeanne has headed toward Florida as a hurricane and is expected to make landfall by Sept. 26. More than 350,000 Floridians have been asked to evacuate. Jeanne would be the fourth hurricane to hit Florida since mid-August, following Charley, Frances and Ivan. Meanwhile, remnants of Ivan are threatening Texas and Louisiana.

In the Alabama-West Florida Annual (regional) Conference, workers have begun the long cleanup. "United Methodists in this conference have been inspirational in providing their expertise in cleaning and caring," said the Rev. Kristin Sachen, program head of emergency services for UMCOR. The power of Hurricane Ivan’s storm surge ripped away beach areas a block deep, and wind flattened many homes in the Pensacola, Fla., area.

UMCOR has already provided $10,000 in relief funding to the Alabama-West Florida Conference, and the conference reported that it is working on requests for additional money.

LINK: Click to open full size version of image
A UMNS photo by Meredyth Earnest

A home in Monroeville, Ala., bears the mark of Hurricane Ivan.
Alabama-West Florida has established a disaster line and an e-mail address where volunteers can check job sites and learn about critical needs for supplies. The telephone number for people in the conference is (866) 340-1956; the e-mail address is disaster@awfumc.org.

"The Florida Annual Conference has demonstrated their hearts’ understanding of how to be in mission," Sachen said. "Leadership there from the bishop, conference leaders and local churches has been especially effective." Workers in Arcadia, Punta Gorda, Fort Pierce and other areas, where a triple punch of hurricanes devastated thousands of homes and commercial buildings, are serving some of the most vulnerable populations. Farm workers, the elderly and immigrants from Haiti have received aid.

Donations can be made online for UMCOR’s appeal, "Hurricanes 2004," Advance #982410. At www.MethodistRelief.org, a secure server allows donors to enter credit-card information. Checks written to UMCOR can be placed in church offering plates or mailed directly to UMCOR, 475 Riverside Drive, Room 330, New York, N.Y. 10115. Donations by credit card can be made by calling, toll free, (800) 554-8583.

Gifts to UMCOR may be designated for assistance to specific regions affected by the storms or directed to "where most needed."

"The offering plate needs to go around many times" in a season of multiple storms, Sachen said, "in order to ensure that we can offer hope and healing to all who count on UMCOR."

Damage from the hurricanes ranged up the eastern side of the United States. United Methodists in several states are responding to flooding caused by Hurricane Ivan.

In the Western Pennsylvania Conference, Bishop Thomas Bickerton has urged United Methodists to respond to flooding, which caused tens of millions of dollars in damages. He also is asking his 900 churches to collect a special offering for area flood victims.

In Western North Carolina, the Lake Junaluska (N.C.) Conference Center is helping the Federal Emergency Management Agency with housing for 100 people displaced by flooding or working on the cleanup effort.

UMCOR continues to need flood buckets containing supplies that volunteers use in post-hurricane cleanup. Specifications can be found online at http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor/print/kits/. Completed flood buckets-with $1.50 per bucket to cover reshipping-should be sent to UMCOR Sager Brown, 101 Sager Brown Road, Baldwin, La. 70514.

*Beher is communications director for the United Methodist Committee on Relief in New York. Information for this story was also provided by Meredyth Earnest in the Alabama-West Florida Annual Conference, Mark Rehn in the Western Pennsylvania Annual Conference, and Ken Howle at Lake Junaluska Conference Center.

News media contact: Tim Tanton, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

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