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September 23, 2004
Church cleans up after hurricanes in Haiti, U.S.
United Methodists begin
Hurricane Ivan relief efforts
By United Methodist News Service
Alabama and the Florida panhandle are in desperate need of work teams
to assist in the Hurricane Ivan cleanup, according to the area's United
Methodist bishop.
"We are thankful for the calls and offers of assistances from other
annual conferences and churches," said Bishop Larry M. Goodpaster, who
is based in Montgomery, Ala. "Even beyond the damage that the churches
are suffering is the total devastation of an entire area of our
conference from Gulf Shores, Ala., to Fort Walton Beach, Fla. Entire
areas are simply wiped out."
After ravaging the Caribbean, Hurricane Ivan made landfall near
Mobile, Ala., early on Sept. 16 and then pushed its high winds, heavy
rains and tornados northward. Ivan and its related storms have been
blamed for more than 50 deaths in the United States and 70 deaths in the
Caribbean.
Initial damage assessments by the United Methodist Church's
Alabama-West Florida Annual Conference and the United Methodist
Committee on Relief indicate that work teams are needed immediately for
cleanup in Atmore and Brewton in Alabama and Pensacola, Perdido Bay,
Perdido Key and Gulf Breeze in Florida.
Volunteer teams are asked to contact the Alabama-West Florida
Conference disaster center in Mobile, Ala., which was to be operational
Sept. 22. The Rev. Clyde Pressley is the center's coordinator.
Volunteers can call, toll free, 866-340-1956 for work location
assignments and housing information.
Work teams are expected to be self-sustaining and to bring work
materials and tools, along with food, water, towels, bedding and
personal hygiene products. The housing locations will provide sleeping
quarters and bathroom and kitchen facilities.
All United Methodist churches in the Pensacola area sustained damage
from Hurricane Ivan, according to conference officials. Several dozen
church families lost everything, including their homes.
Local congregations are responding to relief needs in their
communities by serving meals, providing pastoral care and child care for
hurricane victims, and supporting relief workers and utility crews. A
number of churches are serving as Red Cross shelters.
"I am extremely proud of how United Methodists are responding in the
midst of crisis," Goodpaster said. "Even when, many times, they have
damage to their own homes and are living under extreme anxiety, they are
offering themselves to the community."
A 119-member church in the Pensacola District, Elizabeth's Chapel,
has fed 1,500 people a day. Gulf Breeze (Fla.) United Methodist Church,
a Red Cross shelter, is serving three hot meals a day to victims and
recovery personnel, and the Perdido Bay (Fla.) United Methodist Church
has provided a number of outreach ministries to the community while
operating under an emergency generator.
The United Methodist congregation in Excel, Ala., is feeding the
community, and the Atmore (Ala.) First United Methodist Church is
distributing food, water and other materials.
UMCOR, the denomination's relief agency, has provided an initial
grant to Alabama-West Florida to help it dispense food, water and ice
and begin recovery efforts. Distribution centers for materials such as
flood buckets and cleanup kits have been established at Blue Lake United
Methodist Assembly in Andalusia, Ala., First United Methodist Church in
Pensacola and the Gulf Breeze church.
Alabama-West Florida also is networking with the Florida Conference
to coordinate resources. Updated information on the relief work will be
posted at www.awfumc.org,
the conference's Web site.
In the Caribbean, UMCOR emergency field staff will assess damage from
Hurricane Ivan in Grenada and Jamaica as soon as commercial air traffic
resumes. In Cuba and the Bahamas, UMCOR has provided grants for relief
supplies, emergency shelter and building materials.
Methodist churches in St. George, St. Paul, Woburn and Grenville on
the island of Grenada received hurricane damage, and the church in
Constantine was destroyed, according to information from the Methodist
Church in Britain. Both the British church and Methodist Church in
Ireland said they would make a significant response for relief and
reconstruction efforts in the Caribbean.
UMCOR continues to need donations of flood buckets, used by
volunteers to clean up post-hurricane debris and water. Specifications
are at gbgm-umc.org/umcor
online.
Donations to fund United Methodist assistance for hurricane relief
can be made by check, credit card or an online commitment.
Gifts to UMCOR Advance No. 982410, Hurricanes 2004, may be designated
for specific regions affected by this season's hurricanes or simply to
"where most needed." Contributions can be placed in church offering
plates, mailed directly to UMCOR, 475 Riverside Dr., Room 330, New York,
NY 10115; or charged onto credit cards by calling 800-554-8583. Online
donations can be made at
MethodistRelief.org.
Jeanne, another tropical storm, has caused flooding and mudslides in
Haiti, resulting in more than 700 deaths as of Sept. 21. Most of the
deaths occurred in the coastal city of Gonaives. UMCOR expects to
partner with Action by Churches Together, the international alliance of
humanitarian aid organizations, to provide emergency food, tarpaulins
and other relief supplies in Haiti.
Meredyth Earnest, director of communications
for the Alabama-West Florida Annual Conference, provided information
for this report.
Florida Hurricane Relief Information
For Information: Call the UMCOR Hotline at 1-800-918-3100. Visit the
UMCOR Hurricanes 2004 website at
www.umcor.org.
Sending money: Monetary gifts should be marked UMCOR Advance
#982410 Hurricanes 2004. The advance number and name of the project
should be printed on offering envelopes and in the memo line of checks.
United Methodists can put gifts in offering plates; checks can be sent
to UMCOR, 475 Riverside Drive, Room 330, New York, NY 10115. For credit
card gifts call toll-free 800-554-8583.
Taking work teams: The Florida Annual Conference has set up a
master number for volunteers: (toll-free) 1-800-282-8011, extension 149.
Coordinators beg volunteers: Call first, don't just show up. All teams
should be coordinated through Florida's Disaster Response unless you
have a personal contact. Team application forms packets are available at
www.flumc.org.
You can also e-mail the Volunteers office at
StormRecovery@flumc.org.
Flood buckets/supplies: Flood buckets and supplies should be
sent to the Florida Conference Disaster Response Madison Depot, 799 West
Pinckney St., Madison, Fla. To contact the depot call Linda Gaston at
850-973-3225, Margaret Throgmorton at 850-973-2646, or Charlie Peck at
850-973-1490.
OR you can take flood buckets and supplies to the Midwest
Distribution Center in Chatham, Illinois. This UMCOR-like depot is a
ministry of the Illinois Great Rivers Conference. Call 217-483-7911 or
email at
midwestmissiondc@aol.com.
How to make flood buckets: For information on flood buckets,
visit UMCOR at www.umcor.org.
For other needed supplies, visit
www.amenradio.org.
Recovery is expected to take many months -- or longer.
Volunteers will be needed for a long time, but it's essential to hook up
with coordinators who will find an assignment for each person.
For bulletin inserts, log on to:
gbgm-umc.org/umcor/print/bulletininserts/hurricanes2004.cfm
This information was provided by Gina Riendeau,
Mission and Ministry Outreach, North Indiana Conference.
In Haiti UMCOR responds
to Jeanne's aftermath
Updated: September 23, 2004
NEW YORK (GBGM) ? The besieged island nation of Haiti, where the
United Methodist Committee On Relief feeds 16,000 school children a day
and provides operational funds for health programs and clinics, has
received another setback from lethal tropical storm Jeanne. UMCOR is the
nonprofit relief agency of The United Methodist Church.
More than 1,000 people have died in Haiti from flooding and mudslides
since the storm lashed the northern provinces. Thousands more sought
high ground on the roofs of their houses as nine-foot floodwaters swept
through impoverished urban centers. Rescue workers expect to uncover
more dead as waters recede.
In its initial response to the present devastation, UMCOR will
partner with Action by Churches Together, the international alliance of
humanitarian aid organizations. ACT, currently assessing response
options, reports that access to many of the affected areas is possible
only by air, since roads are still under water. An assessment team has
reached Gona?es, where urgent needs include fresh water, food,
emergency shelter, and medicines.
Three United Methodist volunteers are at work on other projects in
Haiti, in the Verrettes region, some 40 miles south of the most stricken
parts of the island nation. An unreliable telephone system has stymied
UMCOR leaders' efforts to contact officials of the Methodist Church of
Haiti or United Methodist missionaries in Port-au-Prince. The relief
agency expects to provide additional recovery assistance once the church
there defines needs.
R. Randy Day, head of the denomination's mission agency, made an
emergency stop in Haiti en route to a church meeting in South America.
He planned to meet with Raphael Dessieu, bishop of the Haitian church,
and with the U.S. consulate.
Last May floods occurred when a river burst its banks, sending flood
waters rushing through several poor neighborhoods and destroying
hundreds of fragile homes on the border of the Dominican Republic and
Haiti. News reports at the time indicated that some of the dead were
Haitians who had crossed the border to live and work. More than 3,000
people died in mudslides. Haiti is especially vulnerable to mudslides
because of extensive deforestation.
After the shooting and violence of turbulent civil disturbances ended
earlier in 2004, Haiti -- the most destitute
nation in the West -- faced food shortages,
disabled sewer systems, and water shortages. These emergencies, now out
of the media's scrutiny, have become virtually invisible to all but
those whose lives are immediately affected. The Methodist Church of
Haiti has prioritized several programs to assist with recovering from
civil disruption -- health care, spiritual
care, school fees, and hot lunches.
UMCOR urges assistance with current recovery efforts through gifts of
money to its Hurricanes 2004 appeal, Advance #982410, marked Haiti -- by
mail to UMCOR, 475 Riverside Dr., Room 330, New York, NY 10115. Donors
wishing to use credit cards may call toll free 1-800-554-8583. Gifts of
money enable specially trained disaster workers to minister in hard-hit
areas, direct assistance, and purchase of relief supplies. UMCOR
anticipates that long-term recovery from these severe storms will take
several years.
For daily reports of UMCOR's work in Haiti, log on to
gbgm-umc.org/umcor.
For bulletin inserts, log on to:
gbgm-umc.org/umcor/print/bulletininserts/hurricanes2004.cfm
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