2008 Hurricane Response

The 2008 Hurricane season is proving to be very active. Updates will be posted to the website as events take place and information is received. Until specific information is provided about the need for volunteers and other assistance, local churches and individuals can do the following:

Support UMCOR's work by giving to UMCOR Advance #3019695, Hurricanes 2008. Write the Advance number and name on the memo line of your check and place it in your local church offering. Go to www.umcor.org for more information and to find directions for on-line giving. To aid Ike recovery work, please mark your check: "Hurricanes 2008, Hurricane Ike." Donations for Gustav recovery work should be so designated.
Donations can also be made to Virginia Conference Disaster Response and Recovery to aid in work with those who have been impacted by this year’s hurricanes within our conference. To give to the conference disaster response ministries, forward donations through your local church to the Conference Treasurer, noting Virginia Conference Advance Special #933.
Assemble and be prepared to ship Flood Buckets Directions for preparing Flood Buckets can be found on the UMCOR website at: http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umcor/getconnected/supplies/flood-bucket/ or by clicking on the link to the left of this page. The Virginia Conference Disaster Response Team is asking that you to continue to create Flood Buckets to be used to support the disaster ministry of The United Methodist Church. Please hold these Flood Buckets in your local church until collection places and dates can be firmed up. Right now, we are working towards an Oct 25, 2008, date for the collection. The reason for such a late collection is that we are still in the high hurricane season for Virginia, and we do not want to send buckets to Sager Brown in Louisiana only to have to request them back. We feel this would be bad stewardship of our funds. So as good stewards and to be prepared at home, please hold the Flood Buckets until requested. Monies for transportation of the Flood Buckets can be sent to VA Conf UMC, PO Box 1719, Glen Allen VA 23060. Note: Flood Buckets on the check and mark, Attention: Martha Stokes on the envelope.
Watch for information from our Conference Disaster Response Team regarding preparation tips, Early Response Team requests, and recovery efforts and from our Conference Volunteer in Mission Coordinator regarding long-term volunteer needs. REMEMBER, please do not respond to any disaster until we have been informed that the affected areas are ready for volunteers, donations, and other assistance. At this time, the Louisiana area is ready to receive regular UMVIM teams. Please contact Yvonne Dayries, Volunteer Manager, Louisiana Disaster Response, at 225-3465193. Louisiana anticipates a need for case managers and for direct aid. Preliminary reports from coastal parishes indicated that many of the same families assisted by the conference disaster response ministry after the 2005 storms were flooded once again. As of September 24, the Texas Annual Conference is accepting recovery trained Early Response teams for some of the more devastated areas, but they are also accepting long term clean-up teams for those areas that are ready now. Teams can stay in various churches and need to be semi- self-sufficient. The area does have gas now, and stores are open in most areas so teams can buy food products. It will depend on the area they go to. Galveston Island is to be open next week for clean up teams, but only Early Response will be allowed there. Surfside and Freeport are in desperate need of muck out teams and debris removal. Teams must register online, www.txcumc.org, and will receive a call or e-mail back within 24-48 hours. Teams can also call directly to the Rita Recovery phone number 409.892.0140 as they are back in business, but they need to call there only if they want to work in that area. If they want to work the coastal area, they need to go through the registration system.
Stay informed by checking back to this page often.