Pondering With the Pastor
It’s been four months since Hurricane Helene hit and people and
their towns still need help! Where is UMCOR? UMCOR (The
United Methodist Committee on Relief) is the organization within
the UMC that responds to natural disasters. It’s the UM
organization many of us have been giving to for years because
100% of our donations go to help the victims. Our church often
collects specific offerings for UMCOR in response to disasters
reported in the news. We collected several offerings for UMCOR
recently after Hurricane Helene.
This is the first time however, I have been in the area where the
disaster has occurred. I’ve never “seen” UMCOR in motion, other
than visiting the Mission Response Center in Terrell, NC (near
Lake Norman) where they store Flood Buckets/Cleaning Kits and
Hygiene Kits ready to be shipped anywhere in the world. Have
you seen UMCOR on the ground working here in WNC? Where is
UMCOR?
“We are UMCOR!” replied the article in our recent UMC Press. I
have personally seen UM Churches in person and online in Burke,
McDowell, Mitchell, and Buncombe Counties who have been
serving as distribution centers for supplies and meeting places for
management teams from UMCOR as they respond to the
devastation of Hurricane Helene.
In just a few days, Spruce Pine UMC of Mitchell County became a
hub for disaster relief. For weeks following Hurricane Helene,
every square foot of the church was in service to the community.
It offered a food pantry, water, a clothing closet, cleaning
supplies, and baby supplies. Spruce Pine UMC is where we
delivered the Flood Buckets our church assembled.
After two months of distribution responsibilities, Spruce Pine
then set up dormitories in children’s ministry rooms and
constructed a temporary shower facility outside for literally
hundreds of UMCOR-trained ERTs (Emergency Response Teams)
coming from conferences across the country. These ERTs are
visiting a week at a time to serve people of WNC.
UMCOR disaster response comes in three stages: Rescue,
Recovery, and Rebuilding. We saw the rescues on TV. Recovery is
still in process. And Rebuilding has only started in a few areas.
The process is painfully slow if you are a victim and easy to forget
when you are an observer.
UMCOR is committed to the long haul, however. UMCOR has
been in partnership with the WNC Conference since day one and
is now looking at long-term recovery for the next several years.
Our Western North Carolina Conference is working with UMCOR
to assess recovery needs and setting up long term disaster
management programs. WNC is receiving grants averaging
$100,000-$200,000 to begin this assessment, which includes fact
and resource gathering to discover where needs are already
being met by government and nonprofit agencies and which
communities have not received what they need. Finding these
gaps in services and resources is an UMCOR objective.
How can you help? You can give money to UMCOR through our
church. Remember, 100% of your donation goes directly to
helping victims. Just designate WNC Hurricane Helene relief on
your check or PayPal payment.
You can also volunteer to help! Go online to UMCOR.com and
explore locations for Emergency Response Training. You can also
call the Blue Ridge District Office of the UMC and they will point
you in the right direction.
Lastly, you can participate in putting together Cleaning Kits and
Hygiene Kits when the opportunity arises at our church. We’ve
assembled at least 300 of these in the last two years. Now that
we’ve seen a disaster, we know how much these simple kits can
mean to a person who has lost everything.
“We are UMCOR!” Let’s do our best to support this organization
of ours that reaches out to others in the name of Jesus Christ!
Through UMCOR we can truly be the hands and feet of Christ in
WNC. – Barb
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