News & Features Archives 2009

November 2009

• Education and Honoring Highlighted Native American Women’s Gathering
  Women from more than 10 tribes from Maryland to Florida attended Lake Junaluska's first Native American Women’s Conference on October 16-18, 2009.
• Philippines Emerges From Flood-Inducing Typhoons
  Residents of the Philippines are trying to dry out and rebuild after being battered by multiple flood-inducing typhoons this fall.
• Clean Hands Save Lives
  “Clean Hands Save Lives” was the theme of the 2nd International Global Hand washing Day (GHD).
• Full Participants: Pastors with Disabilities Share Struggles, Hopes in Ministry
  For the Rev. Kirk VanGilder, life in the deaf community and his call to ministry both began in a single moment of grace.
• New AIDS Resource for United Methodist Churches
  “Working Toward an AIDS-Free World: An Educational Kit for United Methodist Churches,” a new online resource developed by the United Methodist Global AIDS Fund team.

October 2009

• Truck Drivers Get Tested for HIV
  I never thought this could happen to me,” said Hari, a truck driver from Mathura, India. Hari learned he was HIV positive while at a restaurant stop in Mursan, India. He is now counted among the 33 million people infected with the HIV virus.
• ‘Imagine Something More’ to End Malaria, Bishop Says
  United Methodist Bishop Thomas Bickerton keeps a $10 bill in his pocket so he can demonstrate how little money it takes to protect an African household from malaria.
• UMCOR Directors Approve Funding for Programs that Address Hunger
  The United Methodist Committee on Relief's (UMCOR) board of directors reviewed and approved $25,000 to support a program benefiting children who are chronically malnourished in South Africa.
• UMCOR Indonesia Celebrates Global Hand Washing Day
  The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) Indonesia Mission will celebrate Global Hand Washing Day on October 15, 2009 in 13 Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Project schools throughout Aceh Province.
• UMCOR Distributes Relief Supplies in Philippines
  United Methodists have been working to get emergency supplies to families affected Typhoon Ketsana in the Philippines.
• UMCOR Responds to Three Emergencies
  The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is responding to people affected in the Philippines, Samoa and Indonesia following three disasters this week.

September 2009

• World Food Day—Young Adults Learn Farm Management
  Food is a daily challenge for Armenia’s institutionalized children and people who are elderly.
• UMCOR Responds to Philippines Typhoon
  The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) Philippines is working with its local partners including Action by Churches Together (ACT) and the National Council of Churches to provide relief to those affected by Typhoon Ketsana, also called Ondoy, in the Philippines.
• Nuturing Gifts
  The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is empowering more than 900 displaced special needs children in the Republic of Georgia.

August 2009

• Soybeans and Sewing Machines Help Conflict Survivors in Sri Lanka
  Bombed out homes stand empty next to verdant rice paddies throughout the eastern Sri Lankan countryside.
• SHADE—A Refuge for Many
  Charles,* a young man from Zimbabwe, is the sole bread winner for his family. In the midst of his country’s economic meltdown, famine and poverty troubles, Charles was determined to feed his family for at least one week.

July 2009

• UMCOR Philippines Opening Dedication
  he Salakot Chapel was overflowing with bishops, General Board of Global Ministries directors, disaster response coordinators, district superintendents and volunteers who were among the nearly 200 people celebrating the grand opening of UMCOR Philippines.
• UMCOR Brings Hope to Zimbabweans in South Africa
  “The first call of justice is that all people are treated with dignity,” believes Bishop Paul Verryn referring to the Central Methodist Mission.
• UMCOR Philippines Prepares to Officially Open
  The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) announced the opening of its newest office – UMCOR Philippines.
• Hope for Samuteb Memorial Hospital
  Samuteb Memorial Hospital deteriorated significantly during the prolonged war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
• For You Yourselves Were Once Aliens
  On World Refugee Day, a group of youth and adults in the Western New York Annual Conference gathered to learn more about what it means to be uprooted and displaced.
• Grant Provides for Expansion at Kissy United Methodist Hospital
  Kissy United Methodist Hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone, will now be able to double the capacity of the Maternal and Child Health unit through a recent grant awarded to the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR).

June 2009

• The Story of Christine and Her Son Stephen
  Christine, 13 years old, is a maiden who was forced by her parents to marry early as tradition requires here.
• UMCOR Supports the Displaced in Myanmar
  Since 2006, the number of people seeking refuge at the Ee Htu Hta camp in the eastern part of Myanmar, also known as Burma, has grown from 600 to nearly 4,200.
• A Mission Intern and Sojourner: From North Carolina to South Africa to New York
  Ms. Brooks returned to the United Methodist University not to pick up her dorm-room keys but to give the keynote address for "Mission Awareness Week."
• UMCOR Selected to Lead Case Management Training
  New York, NY The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) will train as many as 600 case managers to work with families in Texas whose lives were uprooted as a result of Hurricane Ike in September 2008.
• UMCOR and Equal Exchange Celebrate United Methodist “Tons” of Fair Trade Support
  The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) and its partner Equal Exchange, a worker-owned co-operative dedicated to fair trade, celebrate the efforts of United Methodists everywhere who participated in UMCOR’s 100-Ton Challenge by purchasing fairly traded products through UMCOR’s Coffee Project.
• UMCOR West Opens in Utah
  United Methodists from throughout the Western Jurisdiction gathered on Saturday for the grand opening of UMCOR West office and depot.

May 2009

• UMCOR Provides Relief for Displaced People in Sri Lanka
  The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is providing direct assistance to people displaced by the recent weeks of fighting in Sri Lanka.
• Refugee Ministry at Gig Harbor UMC
  Hanaa’s life has been full of challenges. When war broke out in Iraq, she and her family fled their home to live in Jordan.
• UMCOR Sager Brown -- a Community Resource
  At the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) Sager Brown campus in Baldwin, La., volunteers from across the US assemble relief supply kits to ship wherever they are needed in the world.
• UMCOR Issues $200,000 Challenge Grant for Sierra Leone Mosquito Nets
  United Methodists are taking on a new challenge to provide every child under five years-old in Sierra Leone with a long-lasting insecticide treated bed net.
• Remarkable Michigan Woman Remembers Relief Agency in Will
  "A remarkable, independent and generous woman," is how Rev. Cathi Gowin describes Anne Ryckman, a deceased parishioner at St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Grand Rapids, Mich.
• UMCOR Directors Approve Funds for US and International Disasters
  United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) directors approved $1.9 million in grants to provide long-term assistance for people in the US and Cuba who were affected by the 2008 hurricanes in their semi-annual meeting.
• Maize Distribution Brings Relief to Zimbabwe
  Because of a difficult agricultural season combined with hyperinflation, most households in Zimbabwe report they are now eating fewer meals.
• Fair Trade Moves Congregants to Action
  On April 5, worshipers at Beach Lake United Methodist Church in Pennsylvania waved palm fronds as they joined the annual Palm Sunday celebration that marked Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

April 2009

• UMCOR West Prepares to Officially Open
  Volunteers have been hard at work preparing the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) West Office and Depot for the grand opening on May 30 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
• UMCOR Responds to Needs in Sri Lanka
  The United Methodist Committee on Relief Non-Governmental Organization (UMCOR NGO) is on the ground in Sri Lanka, working with other humanitarian aid organizations to emergency assistance to those who are escaping conflict.
• Methodists Provide Compassionate Response in Myanmar
  While much of the world watched in horror after Cyclone Nargis devastated southern Myanmar (Burma), the Methodist Church (Lower Myanmar) MC(LM) sprang into action—providing ministries of healing, food, shelter and counseling to people in great need.
• The Long Road Home: Allen Zomonway’s Community-Based Efforts to Prevent Malaria
  Allen Zomonway tackles the problems of malaria and other community health needs with passion.
• Immigrants Find Legal Help at Clinic
  The 18-year-old woman in Katherine Esquivel’s office is hunched over the table and nervously wringing her hands. She speaks almost no English and hesitates to utter the few words she does know.
• Increasing Health through Leadership and Infrastructure-Building
  A recent meeting of bishops and United Methodist health care leaders in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, has led to major capacity-building efforts throughout the Central Conferences in Africa through the assistance and support of the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR).
• Latin American, Caribbean and US Churches Explore New Ways of Being in Mission Together
  More than 100 Methodist leaders from Latin America, Caribbean and the United States gathered in Mexico City, March 24-27, to strengthen relationships through sending and receiving volunteers and when responding to local disasters.
• Self-Sufficient Farming
  Doña Ana Lucia Bañol is a single mother who struggled to raise five children on her own. Originally from the city, Bañol moved to Riosucio, a town in the State of Chocó, Colombia where she heard about ASPROCAFE, a fair trade coffee co-operative, in hopes of finding a better way to support herself and her family.

March 2009

• United Methodists Address Red River Threat
  From sandbagging to evacuating, United Methodists have helped address the flood threat along the Red River Valley in the Dakotas and Minnesota.
• Buy Chocolate, Help Farmers, Agency Says
  When June Kim says she’d like everyone to buy a ton of chocolate for Easter, she isn’t kidding.
• "…Begging Them To Live": A Nurse’s Passion For AIDS-Education Invigorates the Ganta Community
  There's a lot to be proud of when talking about Angeline Willicors' accomplishments.
• Water and Sanitation
  The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is helping bring better health to children in 31 schools in Aceh Province, Indonesia, through innovative water and sanitation programs.
  
• Rebuilding Lives in South Sudan
  Teresa Juan spent 20 years as a refugee in Uganda, fleeing the civil conflict that wreaked havoc across southern Sudan for more than two decades, leaving more than one and a half million people dead.
• UMCOR Helps a Gaza Family Find Refuge
  Hanadi (not her real name) has faced many challenges in her thirty-three years.
• "Miraculous" Giving for Sudan at Ginghamsburg Church
  "I was blown away once again," said Karen Smith of Ginghamsburg Church's fifth Christmas Miracle Offering for Sudan.
• United Methodists Clean Up After Oklahoma Tornadoes
  United Methodists are continuing to assist cleanup and salvage operations following the tornados that struck Oklahoma on Feb. 10-11.

February 2009

• Out of the Ashes
  Since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2002, over five million Afghan refugees have journeyed home to Afghanistan after living in Pakistan or Iran for more than 20 years.
• Extraordinary Giving Connects Conway, SC, with the Congo
  Union United Methodist Church embarked on a Christmas offering campaign to raise funds for the church’s new initiative, Union with the Congo.
• Supplies Arrive in Zimbabwe
  Containers of lifesaving medicine and other supplies from United Methodists have arrived in Zimbabwe.
• Louisiana Conference Proves Disaster Response Capacity
  After the monster hurricane season of 2005, the exceptional generosity of United Methodists established a network of UMCOR partners across the US Gulf Coast to assist survivors of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma.
• New Executive Joins UMCOR in Western Jurisdiction Office
  Rev. Brian Diggs is joining the organization, directing the ministry of the newly opened Western Jurisdiction Office in Salt Lake City, Utah.
• Human Stories Guide UMCOR’s Hazelwood
  When a hurricane is predicted, the Rev. Tom Hazelwood consults weather forecasts and scientific projects to chart its likely path.
• Preventing AIDS with Information
  In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), AIDS education is reaching a more diverse population thanks to an UMCOR program that is being led by Dr. Kasanka Mwana Ngoie.
• German Central Conference Gives Generously to Fight Malaria in Sierra Leone
  A generous gift of approximately $130,000 (100,000 Euros) from the German Central Conference will provide mosquito nets in a national net campaign to take place in Sierra Leone this November.
• A Gift of Warmth
  Janat Gul was born in Pakistan as a refugee in 1994, while his country was in the midst of a civil war.

January 2009

• Cleaning Buckets a Tangible Expression of Care
  “Cleaning buckets” bring hope to survivors in all types of disaster situations, including fires, earthquakes and floods.
• Journey to Hope
  Chuma is among millions of Zimbabweans who crossed the border into South Africa in search of a place of refuge and a better life.
• UMCOR Responds to Gaza Relief Needs
  With a tentative cease-fire holding between Israel and Hamas, humanitarian organizations are stepping up their assistance to Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip.
• Raise an Eco-Palm Branch
  Anna Sentana lives in the town of Carmelita, Guatemala where she and her community rely on the harvesting, processing, and selling of palms for their livelihood.
• UMCOR’s 100-Ton Challenge is Over Halfway Mark
  Since the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) issued its 100-Ton Challenge for United Methodists to increase their purchases of fairly traded goods on World Fair Trade Day 2008, 56.5 tons have been purchased towards this goal.
• United Methodists Look to Assist Civilians in Gaza
  United Methodists are trying to assist with the ongoing need for aid to civilians caught in the war zone of the Gaza Strip.
• Generous Donations Bring Healing to Zimbabwe
  United Methodist health facilities in Zimbabwe remain open in the face of the country's burgeoning health and economic crises.
• Grace Empowers African American Community
  GRACE Community Services (Generating Resource Awareness through Disaster Case Management and Education) has been involved in many powerful ministries since Hurricane Katrina roared across the Gulf Coast in August 2005.
• Brooklyn Church Offers a Warm Welcome to Hundreds of Immigrants
  When Pastor Pauline Wardell-Sankoh came to John Wesley United Methodist Church in 2000, she did not realize the extent of passion for immigration justice that had begun to take root a year earlier.

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