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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
      

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. 
   

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.

Related articles

Flood buckets, kits needed at UMCOR supply depot

UMCOR Sager Brown ships relief supplies

Gustav leaves behind plenty of debris for cleanup

Volunteers give back at Sager Brown Depot

Resources

Sager Brown

UMCOR

Rocky Mountain Conference

Crossroads Urban Center


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