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News & Features Archives 2008

May 2008

• UMCOR Responds to Active Tornado Season
  Tornadoes and severe storms raced across the mid-South Saturday evening, May 10, carving up towns throughout the region.
• Relief to Myanmar
  “The United Methodist Committee on Relief is persistently pursuing all avenues to provide relief in Myanmar,” said Sam Dixon, UMCOR’s top executive.
• New Orleans Clinic Offers Healing and Hope
  In the heart of uptown New Orleans, historic Rayne Memorial United Methodist Church had its steeple destroyed and sanctuary badly damaged from Hurricane Katrina in August 2005.
• Flood Buckets Supply Cleaning Items and Encouragement
  When Dee Montgomery went into her Watseka, Illinois home after flooding in January and February, 2008, she didn’t know where to begin. That is, until fellow United Methodist Diann Peabody came by with a flood bucket.
• UMCOR Provides Help to Myanmar
  Cyclone Nargis tore through Myanmar (Burma) May 2 with unexpected fury, causing a tidal surge that swept inland that devastated Myanmar's most populated regions leaving homes and businesses flattened and families forever changed.
• United Methodists Support Fair Trade and Small-Scale Farmers
  Fair wages for small-scale farmers was among the concerns addressed by The United Methodist Church's quadrennial legislative meeting.

April 2008

• Multiple Tornadoes Destroy Parts of Virginia
  As many as eight tornadoes ripped up parts of central and southeastern Virginia on Monday, April 28.
• Call for Remembrance and Renewal for Katrina Recovery
  General Conference paused on Monday morning to recognize the tragedy and celebrate the resulting witness that grew out of Hurricane Katrina's devastation in August 2005.
  
• Food for the Hungry
  The nutrition unit at Kissy United Methodist Hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone, is an integral part of the care families receive at this institution.
• Transformation Through Mission
  Brother John Bowie volunteered in New Orleans for a week in February, 2008, and came home a transformed man, proud to be a part of The United Methodist Church.
  
• World Malaria Day: A History of Success, High Expectations for the Future
  On the first World Malaria Day, United Methodists celebrated their contributions to eradicating this disease.
• Global AIDS Event Encourages Participants to "Lighten the Burden"
  On the eve of the 2008 United Methodist General Conference, the denomination's Global AIDS Fund celebrated its first four years of work toward an AIDS-free world.
• Providing Health to All
  The boxes of antibiotics, analgesics and anti-malarial drugs that arrived in late March at Mpasa United Methodist Medical and Nutrition Center outside of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, were the first medicines they have received in over a year.
• Two New Disaster Response Executives Join UMCOR
  Melissa Crutchfield will serve as the assistant general secretary for International Disaster Response. Sandra Kennedy-Owes began is executive secretary for Domestic Disaster Response.
• UMCOR Sudan: Educating Educators
  South Sudan continues to make the first fragile steps of recovery after the longest-running civil war in Africa’s history. People are returning by the thousands to restart their lives in their homeland. But first they have to rebuild what was lost.
• UMCOR's 100-Ton Challenge
  UMCOR is challenging United Methodists to help farmers earn fair prices for their crops by participating in UMCOR’s 100-Ton Challenge.
• Hope After AIDS
  “I was afraid I was going to die,” said Terrence* one of 63 people who come regularly to the Friends Unit of Kissy United Methodist Hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone, for group counseling sessions and antiretroviral medication.
• Malaria Filling a Deep Need
  "Nothing is sufficient," says Henrietta Emmanuel who heads up Kissy United Methodist Hospital's malaria program. The need in Sierra Leone is so great, she goes on to explain, that as soon as they receive nets or medicines they are used.
  
• Arkansas Takes Another Pounding
  In a state already reeling from the “Super Tuesday” tornadoes, ice storms and flooding, a night of powerful tornadoes blew through Little Rock, Ark. on Friday, April 4.
• Katrina Aid Today Transfers Activity to Local Organizations
  The national case management consortium, Katrina Aid Today, led by the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), completed its grant-funded activity on March 31.
• Early Response Teams Secure Homes After Tornadoes in South Carolina and Georgia
  UMCOR-trained Early Response Teams (ERTs) were busy with tarps and chain saws across a wide region of North Georgia and South Carolina in the week following severe storm systems that moved through on March 15.

March 2008

• Even as Flood Waters Rise, UMCOR Works with Annual Conferences in Their Response
  Maxine Allen describes the situation in Arkansas as a “nightmare”—families in the counties affected by the February 5, 2008, tornadoes suffered an ice storm two weeks later, and are now dealing with devastating flooding along a nearly identical track.
• Annual Conferences Build on Training and Experience in “Super Tuesday” Tornado Response
  Preparedness, training, experience, and ongoing relationships enabled United Methodists to be in the forefront of the response to the recent “Super Tuesday” tornadoes.
• UMCOR to Establish Three Additional Offices in 2008
  The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is expanding its physical presence in the US and around the world.
• $18 Million for Long-Term Recovery and Program Expansion Approved by the UMCOR Board
  United Methodist Committee on Relief Directors approved over $18 million to help disaster survivors over the long term and to expand UMCOR's ministry of presence at their semi-annual meeting.
• Community Services Agency “Stretches” to do Disaster Response
  Miss Bonita Jethro was born and raised in East St. Louis, Illinois, and remembers Lessie Bates Davis Neighborhood House from her childhood days.

February 2008

• Help Sager Brown Deliver Kits of Hope
  In Georgia, happy faces, smiles and hundreds of cheerful voices filled a room when children saw the arrival of school kits, health kits and sewing kits donated by UMCOR last September.
• Relief for Kenyans Seeking Safety in Uganda
  As the conflict in Kenya continues and the nation’s leaders struggle to find a path to peace, United Methodists are bringing comfort to those left most vulnerable by the conflict.
• United Methodist Youth Raise $830,000 for the Hungry
  About 2,200 United Methodist congregations and 25,000 United Methodist youth participated in this year's Souper Bowl campaign-raising $830,000 so far this year.
• Across Lands
  Moe Aung, his wife Naw and their three children fled their home in Myanmar (Burma) and sought shelter in a Thailand refugee camp where they remained for five years.
  
• Continued Kenya Violence Disrupts Food Supply
  Continued violence in Kenya has displaced hundreds of thousands of citizens and disrupted the food supply in parts of that African nation.
• Palms Equal Fair Trade
  Every year, Christian congregations across the nation purchase palm fronds to celebrate Palm Sunday which commemorates Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem.
• UMCOR Builds Hope After Tsunami
  Abu described how the wave came towards him like a mountain, and how he unsuccessfully tried to warn other people to run.
• UMCOR Responds to "Super Tuesday" Tornadoes in Five Southern States
  The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) and its regional church partners are responding as rapidly as conditions allow to tornadoes that struck five southern states on Tuesday night, February 5.
• Delivering Hope to the Congo
  A diverse coalition of organizations have come together to provide medicines worth up to $14 million to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

January 2008

• Soup's On—at the Souper Bowl of Caring
  Sunday, February 3 marks a major sports day for die-hard football fans. As the football line-up begins, United Methodist youth and young adults will be lining up their soup cans for another special event.
• UMCOR Responds to Needs in Kenya
  More than a week of violence following disputed elections has left the lives of many Kenyans in shambles. Nearly 200,000 people have been displaced.
• More Refugees Crowd into South African Church
  Twelve hundred refugees sleep each night at Central Methodist Mission in Johannesburg, South Africa.
• A Hope That Brings Healing
  Sounds of painful groans, a child kept from school, and a violent strike from an ex-husband. Life has been far from easy for Layla Ismailova* who lives in Azerbaijan.