The UMCOR Hotline
August 08, 2006
In Today's Hotline
Lebanon: Helping Displaced Families
Palestine: Life in Gaza Remains Difficult
LEBANON: HELPING DISPLACED FAMILIES
UMCOR partners in Lebanon are assisting displaced families with basic needs in conflicted areas. The International Orthodox Christian Charities, an UMCOR partner through the ACT International alliance, is serving families seeking refuge in public schools. They're delivering food and other necessities to 892 families staying in the classrooms. The IOCC food parcels are sufficient to support a family for one month. Additionally, Church World Service is delivering hygiene kits, water containers, and blankets to provide for these families in need.
Your gifts to UMCOR Advance #601740, Middle East Emergency, Lebanon, also help provide for families forced to flee their homes by the recent violence in Lebanon. 
PALESTINE: LIFE IN GAZA REMAINS DIFFICULT
The humanitarian crisis in Gaza deepens each day as conflict in the region continues. Electrical and water shortages add to the concerns of the Palestinians. Since Gaza's only electrical station was bombed in June the region has made do with half its power supply, hampering hospital services and causing medicine and food shortages.
UMCOR supports the work of Action by Churches Together member agencies that are bringing much-needed relief to the area. You can contribute to these important efforts by giving to UMCOR Advance #601740, Middle East Emergency, Palestine.
A resurgence of violence in northeastern Sri Lanka has displaced some 30,000 people—many of them from the town of Muttur, where UMCOR works. UMCOR personnel, based in nearby Trincomalee, are helping the displaced and the wounded receive the help they need. UMCOR is working closely with the Methodist Church of Sri Lanka in all of its relief efforts—providing food and medical assistance to civilians affected by the fighting.
Your gifts to UMCOR Advance #982450, International Disaster Response, Sri Lanka, will provide relief for thousands in northeastern Sri Lanka.
In mid-July Tropical Storm Bilis brought serious flooding and landslides in southern China. More than 3 million people had to be relocated as a result. UMCOR is working with Amity Foundation, a local partner, to provide food, shelter and medical assistance to 3,000 families left homeless by the floods and mudslides. Amity is also developing plans to provide long-term relief and rehabilitation after the widespread devastation wrought by Bilis.
UMCOR provides emergency relief in many areas of the world. To find out more about UMCOR's ministries, please visit umcor.org. You can donate to any project by placing a contribution in the offering plate at a local United Methodist church; by sending a check to UMCOR, PO Box 9068, New York, NY 10087-9068; or by calling 1-800-554-8583, where credit card donations are accepted. You can also give online by clicking on any of the "Give Now" links. UMCOR is exempt from tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of the United States and qualifies for the maximum charitable contribution deduction by donors.
And, please pray for those who are hungry, displaced, sick or in poverty because of these and other natural and human-made disasters, and for the workers who minister to them.
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