UMCOR gives $64.5 million to Katrina relief
After nearly five years of relief and recovery work in Gulf Coast states affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the United Methodist Committee on Relief has released its final disbursement of funds for the recovery effort.
“Our work in Louisiana and Mississippi, like our work in Haiti (following the Jan. 12 earthquake) is based on (staying) for the long haul,” said the Rev. Tom Hazelwood, an UMCOR executive.
Since the summer of 2005, when Hurricane Katrina slammed the Gulf Coast on Aug. 23 and Hurricane Rita struck it again one month later, UMCOR has been working with annual conferences and grassroots organizations in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas and Florida.
UMCOR also has supported survivors who fled to other states. More than 1.3 million people left hurricane-soaked hometowns where some 300,000 homes had been wiped out, scattering to all 50 states.
United Methodists and people of goodwill across the country donated more than $64.5 million to UMCOR’s recovery effort on the Gulf Coast. Funds went to cleanup, reconstruction, family-by-family problem solving and direct assistance to support the survivors.
The remaining funds will continue to support recovery work in Louisiana, where UMCOR has helped the annual conference repair or rebuild more than 9,100 homes so far, and in Mississippi, where it has supported the repair of some 12,320 homes, more than 100 of them from scratch.
In Texas, where Hurricane Rita was strongest, UMCOR helped the conference repair or rebuild 721 homes. More than 8,300 volunteers carried out this work, donating some 268,108 hours, valued at nearly $5.5 million.
“Because of our connectional system, United Methodists are uniquely positioned throughout the country and the world to meet the needs of survivors, including how we rally volunteers,” said Catherine Earl, UMCOR executive secretary for U.S. disaster response.
In Louisiana, nearly 72,000 volunteers have so far logged 3 million hours of donated time, energy and effort, and 160,000 volunteers have participated in recovery efforts in Mississippi.
“It was heartening to see the efforts of so many people from all over the country, who could just as easily have stayed home,” said the Rev. Clyde Pressley, the conference’s disaster recovery executive director. “I have had a rebirth in my heart over the value of the connectional church.”
--by Linda Unger, Baltimore-Washington Ann Conf UMNS
ONE GREAT HOUR OF SHARING
CHESTER UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
WHAT A DIFFERENCE WE DID MAKE
SOUP AND BREAD WAS OUR MEAL
AUCTION ACTION WAS OUR VENUE
CATHY WHITLACH WAS OUR GUEST,
WHAT MOTAVATION SHE GAVE US
RECORD BREAKING WAS OUR GOAL
SHATTERING RECORDS BECAME REALITY
BY ALMOST DOUBLING LAST YEARS GIVING
THANKS BE TO GOD FOR OUR ABUNDANCE
Poem by Yvonne Layton
Mission coordinator
Chester United Methodist Church
Yellowstone Annual Conference
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benefits The United Methodist Committee on Relief located at the General Board of Global Ministries. With this offering, The United Methodist Church rebuilds lives and communities around the world by helping the United Methodist Committee on Relief keep its promise that 100% of your designated gift goes to specific causes.
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"She's only 26 years old and came to me in tears. In a whisper the girl said to me, 'I'm afraid. I think I have AIDS, but please do not tell my family'"
ACT justly LOVE mercy WALK humbly
Angie Willicore tells this woman’s story to illustrate the terrible stigma of AIDS in Liberia. Angie is a registered nurse for Ganta United Methodist Hospital in Liberia and head of the community-based HIV/AIDS counseling team.
“I want to relax them and get them to talk,” said Angie of her approach for patients such as this young woman. “Talk, talk, talk. Every time, this is how I gain their trust. They then come straight back to me.” With her hand tapping at the door, Angie continues, “See this door? It’s always open, and they know I will talk to them. I’ve even learned how to take blood directly for the HIV test because people don’t want
to leave this room and go to the lab.”
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UMCOR supports Ganta and 16 other United Methodist hospitals in Africa and Asia in their community-based health programs, such as the HIV/AIDS ministry at Ganta Hospital. Committed people like Angie live out God’s command to act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly.
Through comprehensive programs like these that help provide healing and hope for some of the world’s most vulnerable people, UMCOR is there on your behalf providing help to people in distress.
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