News & Features Archives 2006

December 2006

• United Methodist Anti-Malaria Work Recognized at White House Summit
  The commitment of The United Methodist Church to the eradication of malaria was recognized at a December 14 forum hosted by President and Mrs. George W. Bush.
• A Church of Servants Anticipates a Third "Miracle Offering"
  "God is not disinterested or uninvolved in the world. God intervenes through God's people. We're the only bank account God has.
• Report Cites Positive Signs Amid Rising HIV/AIDS Statistics
  Programs to prevent HIV/AIDS get better results when they target the people most at risk and make adaptations as the course of the epidemic changes.
• Speakers Challenge Church Health Ministry Leaders
  United Methodists need to become agents of "holy boldness" in advocating for better health care, Bishop Felton May told a national gathering of health ministry leaders.
• Relief Supplies Can Change Lives
  Washcloths. Combs. Toothpaste. Notebooks. Baby blankets. United Methodists collect these and other supplies to create kits or packages that will serve others in need.
• Philippines: UMCOR Provides Relief Following Typhoon Durian
  UMCOR is working with partners in the Philippines to provide immediate assistance following Typhoon Durian which struck the Central Philippines on December 1, triggering mudslides.

November 2006

• UMCOR Sager Brown Needs Generators
  Volunteer in Mission teams in Biloxi, MS, using power tools to rebuild homes destroyed by Hurricane Katrina are connected in a very real way to the United Methodist relief supply center in Baldwin, La. The tools plug into a generator with the inventory tag "UMCOR Sager Brown."
• Liberian President Pledges Ambulance, Support for Ganta United Methodist Hospital
  Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf continued her commitment to improving the health of the Liberian people by bringing improvements to Ganta United Methodist Hospital.
• A Responsive Heart
  About a month after Ganta United Methodist Hospital reopened its doors following Liberia's civil war, an elderly lady requested to see the Hospital Administrator.
• "I Like What They Do About God"
  J'Nay Joichin, "almost 9" and a Hurricane Katrina evacuee survivor, still dreams about the 2005 killer storm that trapped her in her New Orleans home.
  
• Mozambican Ministries Receive HIV/AIDS Program Support
  "In Africa, you can't pass by a family without finding people who have been lost to AIDS. We also have a lot of children caring for children whose parents have died from AIDS."
• Nothing But Nets Campaign Raises Money to Fight Malaria
  More than 100,000 insecticide-treated bed nets will be delivered to Nigeria in November as part of a new malaria prevention campaign called Nothing But Nets.
• Give a Gift That Changes the World through UMCOR's Christmas Wish List
  Remember God's greatest gift by giving in Christ's name to help members of our extended family around the world.

October 2006

• UMCOR grants bolster community centers on Gulf Coast
  Three United Methodist community centers on the Gulf Coast will receive additional assistance from the United Methodist Committee on Relief.

September 2006

• Sudan Relief Continues During Uncertain Period
  The United Methodist Committee on Relief work is continuing in Sudan, despite uncertainty over security in the near future.
• UMCOR Helps Sri Lankan Families Displaced by Violence
  Families displaced by recent violence in Sri Lanka are being assisted by the United Methodist Committee on Relief as they return home.
• Spiritual Care in Disaster Response
  Spiritual Care in Disaster Response is a new collection of resources provided by UMCOR to assist congregations, families and children involved in disaster-as survivors or as people who emotionally support them.

August 2006

• A Year and Counting: UMCOR and Katrina Recovery
  "So many have worked so hard this year," says the Rev. Tom Hazelwood, UMCOR's domestic disaster response director, "and yet we know that the long road to recovery is just beginning.
• Heart for Children Lives On in Bequest to UMCOR
  "For UMCOR, $500,000 for direct relief work helping people in need around the world." A red heart punctuated the statement. The bequest came from the estate of Estelle D. Wyman, who died this year in Redwood City, Calif.
• UMCOR Responds to Violence in Sri Lanka
  The slow simmer of war has come to a full boil in Northeastern Sri Lanka this week. Fighting between the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has dramatically increased in Trincomalee District of northeastern Sri Lanka, an area where the United Methodist Committee on Relief has been working towards tsunami recovery.

July 2006

• From the Chaos of War, Hope for the Future;UMCOR Development Reaches for a Renaissance in Congo
  United Methodist leaders in the Democratic Republic of Congo have high hopes for the presidential and parliamentary elections. The polling on Sunday, July 30-the first in 40 years-marks a break in the chaos of war in Africa's second largest nation and a tangible step toward democracy and recovery.
• United Methodist Relief Agency Needs Funds for Middle East Crisis
  The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) today issued an urgent appeal for funds to assist civilians caught in the renewed fighting in the Middle East.

June 2006

• UMCOR Listed among "Big Names in Katrina Relief" by Newsweek
  The United Methodist Committee on Relief ranked sixth for the amount raised for hurricane relief in a recent survey by Newsweek of the "Big Names in Katrina Relief." UMCOR raised some $64.5 million for hurricane relief and rehabilitation that will fund long-term recovery for the next three years.
• Get Equipped to Empower Ministries of Health at the Congregational Health Conference
  Registration is well underway for the second national Congregational Health Ministries conference to be held in Memphis, TN, October 8 - 11. Space is limited to 75 attendees with priority given to Annual Conference representatives.
• Welcoming the Stranger
  Cosponsoring a refugee family to be resettled "afforded our congregation another "window to the world" that was new to many of them," writes Hank Woolard, chairperson of the Refugee Family Support Group for Oak Grove UMC.
• A History of Breaking the Silence: United Methodists and AIDS
  The Centers for Disease Control reported the first case of AIDS on June 5, 1981. Little did we know that this disease was about to claim millions of lives, wipe out entire communities, and affect life on every continent.

May 2006

• Earthquake in Indonesia: UMCOR's Response
  The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is working with partner agencies to provide immediate relief and assistance following a major earthquake that shook the city of Yogykarta and surrounding areas in the early morning hours of May 27.
• Indonesia Earthquake
  A major earthquake shook Yogyakarta, on the Indonesian island of Java, in the dawn hours of Saturday, May 27, 2006. More than 4,000 people were killed in the 6.2 quake with hundreds of thousands injured and many more are left homeless.
• Register Now for the Congregational Health Ministries Conference Empowering Ministries of Health: Transform, Mobilize, and Advocate
  Registration is now open for the second national Congregational Health Ministries Conference to be held October 8-11, 2006 in Memphis, TN.
• Getting the Word Out: HIV/AIDS and Malaria Education in Cameroon
  The United Methodist Church in Cameroon's HIV/AIDS Team recently added malaria to their curriculum.
• Storm Recovery Center Gives Hurricane Preparation Tips
  As Florida churches brace for the upcoming hurricane season, a United Methodist relief official emphasizes that preparation is all important.
• UMCOR Awards $5 Million in Grants For Katrina Recovery to Benefit 6,600 More Families
  NEW YORK, May 15, 2006-An additional 6,600 families and several hundred homeless individuals will benefit from partnerships announced by the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR).
• UMCOR Executive Elected President Of National Disaster Umbrella Group
  NEW YORK, May 15, 2006-Tom Hazelwood of the United Methodist Committee on Relief is the new president of the National Voluntary Agencies Active in Disaster (NVOAD).
• Loving a Refugee Family As If It's Your Own
  Sixty young people from Smokey Hill United Methodist Church in Centennial, Colo., fell in love with Achuil Matiok, a Dinka tribeswoman from southern Sudan.
• Blessings in a Bag: Ordinary Items in Health Kits Make a Difference
  They're cramped in the single room where they've been living for these two years. They're a family of five now, with the new baby, who was born here in this barrack-like collective center, in Tbilisi, Georgia, far from home.
• Women Work Together in Colombia
  Some 248 poor rural families-more than half of them headed by women-are improving their basic survival conditions by working together.They are among the many families in parts of southwest Colombia who live in extreme poverty despite their region's resources.
• Case Management: Solution for "The Least and the Lost"
  Robert Sharp is a Hurricane Hunter pilot who loved "punching through" the eye wall of storms when he flew for an Air Force weather reconnaissance squadron.

April 2006

• Katrina Aid Today Grassroots Grant Program Revises Award Date
  Grants up to $500,000 for local organizations providing case management and direct aid to Katrina survivors are being considered by United Methodist Committee on Relief. The grant award date is now the first week of May.
• Hope Comes Home in a Cow
  Mrs. Phai lives in Cambodia's Svay Rieng province. Cambodia continues to be one of the least developed countries in the world.
• UMCOR Directors Approve Four New International Development Programs
  NEW YORK, NY, April 7- Earthquake resistant housing for two villages is among the humanitarian initiatives under way in the Kashmir region that straddles the mountainous borders of Pakistan and India.
• UMCOR Directors Approve $52 Million for Hurricane Recovery
  STAMFORD, Conn., April 4-United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is fielding a robust hurricane recovery program serving thousands of families in the Gulf Coast of the United States over the next three years.
• Cleaning Up and Restoring Life after Violent Storms in the Midwest
  NEW YORK, APRIL 4, 2006- Violent storms and tornados rolled across five Midwestern states Sunday, killing 28 people and injuring dozens of others. The Rev. Tom Hazelwood, the United Methodist Committee on Relief's US disaster coordinator, is in contact with all five annual conferences.

March 2006

• UMCOR Sager Brown Issues Top Supply Needs
  NEW YORK, March 31, 2006-UMCOR's relief supply warehouse, the Sager Brown Depot in Baldwin, La., issued a new list of most needed relief supplies this week. The top two needs are not the standard kits, but specific cleaning and bedding items that are needed to fulfill requests after 2005's many disasters.
• Era of Relief Ends in Bosnia and Herzegovina
  NEW YORK, NY, March 31, 2006-The era of United Methodist relief in Bosnia and Herzegovina has ended and the era of self-sufficiency has begun as United Methodist Committee on Relief withdraws after a 13-year project.
• Ganta Hospital and School Featured in NPR Report
  March 24, 2006 Ganta United Methodist Hospital in Liberia was featured in National Public Radio's Morning Edition on March 21. The hospital and school were held up as examples of the resiliency and commitment of the Liberian people.
• One Great Hour of Sharing Helps UMCOR Change Lives
  March 16, 2006 The house on Little River Road is still on its pad, unmoved by the water that rushed in from two directions in a Bayou La Batre, Ala., neighborhood. The roof had been partially dislodged by the high winds of Hurricane Katrina.
• UMCOR Helps Louisiana Communities Respond to Needs of Displaced
  by Betty Backstrom BATON ROUGE, La. (UMNS), March 03, 2006 - Funding through the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is helping meet the needs of schoolchildren displaced from New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina. Of the more than 600,000.

February 2006

• The Story Behind the Story: United Methodist Committee on Relief Receives Page One Coverage
  February 29, 2006 UMCOR was a source for a Washington Post story on Monday Feb. 27, 2006. Entitled "Two-Thirds of Katrina Donations Exhausted," the page-one story calls attention to the distinctions between roles of first responders like the Red.
• Missionaries Named to Lead Relief Supply Depot
  NEW YORK, Feb. 22, 2006-United Methodist missionaries Charles and Patty Maddox have received an appointment to serve as director and volunteer coordinator at a national relief supply depot in Baldwin, LA. UMCOR Sager Brown is operated by United.
• Mudslide in the Philippines
  This morning in the Philippines a mudslide triggered by days of drenching rains buried an entire village and an elementary school. The village of Guinsaugon in southern Leyte Island is located about 420 miles southeast of Manila.
• Working Together as Partners -Lessons from Long Term Recovery
  by Michelle R. Scott Feb. 14,2006-- Long term hurricane response requires the whole community, reminiscent of Paul's words in 1 Cor. 3:9, "We work together as partners who belong to God." It is this kind of partnership during their long term.

January 2006

• Mission Leaders Ask Bishops To Push for Justice In US Immigration Reform
  NEW YORK, Jan. 5, 2006-Top mission leaders of The United Methodist Church are appealing to the bishops of the denomination in the United States to get involved in advocating just and fair immigration reform legislation affecting 11 million.