UMCOR flood and hurricane relief efforts need our support
By Linda Bloom, UMNS
Hurricane Matthew and floods throughout the United States have created a need for UMCOR assistance. One-half of Bishop Ough’s 2016 Thanksgiving Appeal will help replenish the funds of UMCOR. Click for more details and resources.
Photo by Mike DuBose, UMNS. Jeremain (left) and Jeremaih Robinson pile up ruined furnishings from a home that was heavily damaged by flooding in Baton Rouge, La. The 16-year-old twins were part of a volunteer team from First United Methodist Church in Baton Rouge.
Nearly $2 million for disaster response funding for flooding in four U.S. states was approved during the annual fall board meeting of the United Methodist Committee on Relief.
The denomination’s Louisiana Conference received a total of $700,000 to assist with recovery in the southern part of the state, where six trillion gallons of rainwater fell in just three days in August.
“UMCOR is silently working alongside the Louisiana Conference,” said the Rev. Jack Amick, head of UMCOR disaster response, who visited the afflicted area with colleagues Greg Forrester and Mary Andreolli. “We don’t come in and take over, but we come behind and support these partners.”
Tens of thousands of homes sustained extensive damage from the floodwaters, with 20 parishes (the Louisiana equivalent of counties) declared eligible for disaster assistance by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The funding from UMCOR will support volunteer management and home reconstruction, with additional tool and material resources at each hosting site.
As long-term recovery begins, the funding from UMCOR will “enable the conference to begin the long process of helping individuals and families get back into their homes by making them liveable,” the grant application stated.
Also approved was $500,000 for flood recovery in West Virginia, where historic floods in June damaged or destroyed thousands of homes, along with United Methodist churches and parsonages. The West Virginia Conference will target about 120 vulnerable families living near churches and other facilities to better arrange support for volunteer teams.
Grants addressed two regions of Texas that experienced flooding in 2016. The Texas Conference is receiving a total of $300,000 to help 200 households in 10 counties recovery from flooding that occurred from March to May. A $200,000 grant for the Central Texas Conference is helping with home repairs and case management assisting families affected by extensive flooding in Hood County in early June.
The Mississippi Conference received $250,000 to support its response to March floods that hit the state’s most vulnerable populations. “Due to the lack of insurance and the high degree of poverty in the affected areas, the recovery is expected to take up to two years,” the grant proposal said.
Other small initial grants from UMCOR have addressed damage caused by Hurricane Matthew. Amick left for Haiti, one of the regions hit by the hurricane, after the Board of Global Ministries meeting concluded on Oct. 22.
UMCOR directors also approved grants from the Haiti Emergency Advance — $199, 530 for a microcredit project and $1.84 million for Phase III of the New College Bird project.
Hurricane Matthew Response from South Georgia Conference on Vimeo.
