Kits for Conference

Local churches are encouraged to gather items for kits listed below and send them to annual conference. The Rev. Bob Sharp is again this year’s coordinator. He may be reached at (757) 851-1923 or e-mail sharp1@cox.net. For many years, Church World Service has been in charge of distributing the kits collected at annual conference; however, this year the kits will be sent to the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) Sager Brown Depot in Baldwin, La. There are several types of kits that UMCOR uses and all of the kits will be received at conference; however, UMCOR emphasizes three categories of items listed below that are most needed. (Information about all kits may be found on the UMCOR Web site at www.gbgm-umc.org/UMCOR.)

 

School Kits contain: one pair of blunt scissors (rounded tip), two pads (or loose leaf) of 81/2"x11" ruled paper, one 30-centimeter ruler, one hand- held pencil sharpener, six unsharpened pencils with erasers, one eraser (21/2"), 12 sheets construction paper (varied colors), one box of 24 crayons (only 24). Prepare a 14"x16" (finished size) cloth bag with handles and a closure (Velcro®, snap, or button) and place items in the bag. Patterns are available from UMCOR Sager Brown. Value: $11 per kit. A donation of at least $1.00 for each kit to help with the costs of processing and shipping kits around the world is requested.

 

Flood Buckets contain: A 5-gallon bucket with resealable lid, bleach (two 1-quart or one 82-oz. bottle. Do not include bleach if you are shipping the bucket through the US Postal Service, UPS or FedEx.), five scouring pads, seven sponges, one scrub brush, 18 cleaning towels (reusable wipes), liquid laundry detergent (two 25 oz. or one 50 oz. bottle), one household cleaner (12-16 oz. bottle), disinfectant dish soap, (16-28 oz. bottle), 50 clothes pins, clothes line (two 50 ft. or one 100 ft.), five dust masks, two pair latex gloves, one pair work gloves, 24-bag roll of heavy-duty trash bags (33-45 gallon — remove roll from box before placing in bucket), one insect repellant spray (6-14 oz. can — if aerosol, cans must have protective caps — *see special requirements below), one air freshener (8 or 9 oz. can — if aerosol, cans must have protective caps — *see special requirements below).

*Special requirements: Put all items in the plastic bucket and seal lid. Please ensure that all cleansing agents are liquids (not powder) and in plastic bottles. Value: $45 per bucket. A donation of at least $1.50 for each flood bucket to help with the costs of processing and shipping is requested.

  For flood buckets only, if the requested sized item is not available, go down to the next available size. If nothing is available in the requested or smaller size, put masking tape on the outside of the bucket saying, “This bucket contains no _________.”

 

Bedding Paks contain: two flat double-bed sheets, two pillowcases, two pillows. Value: $50 per pak. A donation of at least $1.00 for each kit to help with the costs of processing and shipping kits around the world is requested.

 

NOTE FOR ALL KITS: When bringing the kits to conference they should be in boxes for placing on the trucks and the money should be kept separate from the kits, not put inside of the box. Make all checks payable to “Virginia United Methodist Conference,” earmarked for “Kits #592.”