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UNITED METHODIST COMMITTEE ON RELIEF • YOUR U.S. AND GLOBAL DISASTER RESPONSE ACTION REPORT

WE ARE CREATED IN CHRIST TO DO

good things More Good Things Inside:

• How you are helping survivors of U.S. climate disaster rebound and rebuild • How you are providing clean water to villages in Côte d’Ivoire

photo by Mike DuBose

We are God’s accomplishment, created in Christ Jesus to do good things. –EPHESIANS 2:10 (CEB)

good things... WE ARE CREATED IN CHRIST TO DO

LIKE:

PROVIDE SHELTER ∙ REBUILD HOMES REPAIR DAMAGED CHURCHES ∙ COMFORT THE GRIEVING

After pre-Christmas tornadoes ravaged Kentucky, Tennessee, and other neighboring states, you were there with UMCOR offering immediate assistance. Rev. Joey Reed and his wife Laurinda give thanks for bricks and mortar—in particular, the solid construction of the Mayfield (Kentucky) First United Methodist Church. When a tornado with 200-mile-per-hour winds bore down on their town on December 10, 2021, they fled the parsonage for the church sanctuary. As they crouched inside a closet, glass doors shattered above and most of the roof caved in. To Rev. Reed, it felt like the “last few moments of my life on this earth.” And yet by God’s grace, the couple emerged from the nearly razed building unscathed.

Others, sadly, were not so fortunate. Arriving only a couple of weeks before Christmas, the two-day-long storm system killed nearly 80 people and devastated homes, churches, and towns in Kentucky, Tennessee, and neighboring states. UMCOR offered financial assistance to conference disaster response coordinators to help in the deployment of early response teams and volunteers, and it is currently assisting in the longer-term efforts needed to help communities recover. The disaster response coordinator for the Mayfield area was on site the day after the storm and at the request of the Arkansas, Kentucky, and TennesseeWestern Kentucky conferences, UMCOR provided funding for survivors’ immediate food, shelter, and other emergent needs. As recovery efforts continue over the coming months and even years, people like you will be there to continue empowering UMCOR as it guides survivors, church congregations, and municipal communities from loss and despair to safety.

photo by Hope Byrd

Taking Survivors from Crisis to Hope As the world experiences a growing number of natural disasters, people like you are there providing long-term assistance. On September 2, 2021, a lone pickup truck bobbed along the swollen banks of Schuylkill River in Bridgeport, Pennsylvania, during the aftermath of Hurricane Ida. It was just one casualty of many, and Ida was just one storm of many catastrophic weather events that spiraled throughout the United States last year. Considered one of the most powerful storms in U.S. history, Hurricane Ida caused devastating flooding across the Northeastern United States and—implausibly—made landfall in Louisiana on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. After Ida tore through Louisiana and Pennsylvania last August, UMCOR grants supplied on-the-ground disaster response teams with funding for food, water, cleaning supplies, and other emergency assistance. UMCOR is now supporting the longterm recovery of these communities with additional funding for repairing and rebuilding homes, disaster case management, and other direct services that aid survivors through a holistic recovery process. The Alabama West Florida Conference received UMCOR support to continue helping survivors of 2020’s Hurricane Sally by rebuilding 100 homes and assisting people with unmet needs transition from crisis to long-term stability. Additional UMCOR funding will continue to assist the conference in rebuilding homes damaged by storms, winds, and tornados. In the American West, a new record seared itself into U.S. history as high temperatures, drought, and wildfires exploded across the coast. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, a total of 58,985 wildfires in 2021 consumed 7 million acres nationwide.

Puerto Rico

US States and Territories with Active Projects

UMCOR responded to survivors, with the California-Nevada and Oregon-Idaho conferences receiving grants, technical assistance, and training in the soot-filled wake of the 2021 Dixie and Bootleg fires. UMCOR grants to the Pacific Northwest Conference supported the slow but steady recovery of survivors of the Okanagan County fire. Earlier in 2021, Oregon residents experienced an emergency of a very different nature when the Umatilla River in the state’s northeast region flooded communities along its banks. The Oregon-Idaho Conference received a disaster relief grant to aid survivors in the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Umatilla County. As the incidences of natural and humanmade disaster increase throughout the United States and the world, UMCOR’s workload is increasing. It is the work of UMCOR and its partners to be on the scene in the aftermath of as many disasters as possible, implementing a coordinated plan to leverage conference resources and reach the region’s most underserved populations. Because of people like you, UMCOR is doing all it can to assist national and international partners in reaching survivors who wait for help, whatever their circumstances may be.

Make more good things happen. Give today using the enclosed card or give online by visiting giveumcmission.org/DoGood

photo by Mike DuBose

“I Did a Lot of Praying” At Cayce United Methodist Church in southwestern Kentucky, Rev. Jim Wolfgang was at church doing his usual Friday-night ritual—working on his Sunday sermon—when the tornado hit. “I went to the hall with my dog and held onto the doorposts for dear life,” said his wife Judith, who had remained in the parsonage. “I did a lot of praying.” The couple and their dog survived. 3

A New Chance at Life in Côte d’Ivoire In Côte d’Ivoire, four million people lack access to the world’s most precious commodity: safe drinking water.

In rural areas, a higher proportion of people are affected, where open boreholes vulnerable to contaminants reduce water safety and produce waterborne disease. Globally, nearly 3.5 million people are estimated to die every year as a result of drinking unsafe water. With the help of people like you, Global Health’s water, sanitation, and hygiene program (WASH) is assisting the four Côte d'Ivoire villages of Istha, Allangouanou, Soukoukro, and Youjil. Each community received a newly constructed water tower, which included a freshly drilled well, solarpowered pumps, and three distribution sites. Between the four communities, more than 12,000 people (and counting) now have access to improved health and wellbeing.

WE ARE CREATED IN CHRIST TO DO 4

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Food Relief for the Most Vulnerable in Venezuela, Sri Lanka, and Yemen With the help of people like you, UMCOR is working with local partners to provide food relief to the most vulnerable members of Venezuela’s South Zone of Maracaibo in the face of deteriorating economic and political conditions, with child malnutrition reaching crisis levels. Home to 21 million people, Sri Lanka is experiencing a destructive third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, exacerbating existing food insecurity. Thanks to the support of people like you, UMCOR is partnered with local organizations like the Association of Mobilizing Community Resources and Lanka Evangelical Alliance Development Service to provide food and hygiene relief to 11,500 highly vulnerable people. In Yemen, prolonged conflict has left more than 3.6 million people displaced, with food insecurity a paramount concern. Empowered by the generosity of people like you, UMCOR is working with local partners like the International Blue Crescent to distribute food and hygiene kits to nearly 2,400 internally displaced Yemenis in the Zinjabar district.

Thank you for being there for survivors in 2021! LAST YEAR, PEOPLE LIKE YOU PROVIDED HOPE TO SURVIVORS BY:

183 $12 million.

Funding

Feeding the Hungry in Drought-Stricken Madagascar The island nation of Madagascar is suffering from drought after five consecutive years of below-average rainfall, with the southern region enduring the most significant drought conditions since 1981.

Training

UMCOR Disaster Response grants totaling more than

822

individuals in effective disaster ministry.

The scarcity of potable water has a cascading effect. Decimated crop yields, pest infestations, and limited demand for agricultural labor are creating acute food scarcity for hundreds of thousands of people, many of them under the age of five. With the help of people like you, UMCOR has partnered with the local United Methodist church to address devastating food shortages by providing emergency assistance to this nation.

things... LIKE:

SATIATE THIRST ∙ FEED THE HUNGRY ∙ PREVENT DISEASE

Make more good things happen.

Give today using the enclosed card or give online by visiting giveumcmission.org/DoGood

WE ARE CREATED IN CHRIST TO DO

good thin Giving Hope to a Splintered People

UMCOR is working to ameliorate the upheaval of Afghans at home and abroad. Facing one of the world’s most acute internal displacement crises, many citizens of Afghanistan are also suffering from recurring natural disasters like droughts, floods, storms, and earthquakes. The country also suffers from other hallmarks of widespread poverty: unemployment, lack of access to basic services, and high rates of infant and maternal mortality. Fortunately, historic collaborations between partners in Afghanistan and UMCOR date back to the mid-1960s and continue to inform current efforts to improve health, community development, and human rights. One UMCOR effort is providing assistance to displaced families within the Kabul area, enabling them to triage their most urgent needs for food, shelter, and medicine. United Methodist Churches have stepped up with housing, legal assistance, case management, mental health support, medical care, school enrollment, and community sponsorship for Afghan families, with some of the costs shared by UMCOR through its partnership with Church World Service to provide refugees with temporary housing.

Supporting a Battered Haiti In August 2021, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake subjected nearly one million Haitians to yet another crisis, leaving more than 2,200 people dead, more than 12,000 injured, and thousands homeless. UMCOR joined several local partners in food, hygiene, healthcare, shelter, and livelihoods support.

Assisting Young Guatemalans at Risk When Guatemalans return to their native country, many struggle to reintegrate. Women, indigenous groups, and children face barriers to finding work and accessing basic services. UMCOR is partnering with El Refugio de la Niñez to help facilitate sustainable socioeconomic integration of Guatemalan returnees aged 15 to 25; to date, more than 6,000 returnees have been assisted. UMCOR also works with El Refugio to assist migrant children and unaccompanied minors traveling from Honduras and Mexico through Guatemala, providing food and compassion.

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LIKE:

PROVIDE SAFETY FOR THOSE IN FEAR ∙ EMPOWER COMMUNITY LEADERS TRAIN FUTURE GENERATIONS ∙ BUILD RESILIENCE AND STRENGTH

Bearing One Another’s Burdens In the Philippines, UMCOR is working to build community expertise and resilience to speed up recovery from future disasters. Climate change has brought even greater volatility to the Philippines, a massive archipelago that endures 20 typhoons per year as well as drought, earthquakes, cyclones, and tsunamis. UMCOR’s Disaster Management Coordinator program is training teams to help communities create contingency-based, preemptive plans in preparation for inevitable future disasters. In three Episcopal areas—Davao, Manila, and Baguio—UMCOR trained teams to work throughout the entire disaster cycle, providing more than $1.5 million in disaster response and risk reduction since 2017.

At Valenzuela United Methodist Church in Manila, church council officer Victor Garry Santos appreciated how an UMCOR workshop prepared his congregation for “the Big One,” a large earthquake that one day might be generated by the West Valley Fault Line. “Our exercise in identifying potential risks to the church building were most helpful,” he says. “We are planning an evacuation drill so that the whole membership will be aware of what to do before, during, and after an earthquake.” In Tamac, a small village that received help from UMCOR, townspeople cleared roads after a huge landslide, tapped a new water supply, and built makeshift classrooms for the children. With the help of people like you, more and more communities will be prepared to face future climateinduced challenges.

Make more good things happen. Give today using the enclosed card or give online by visiting giveumcmission.org/DoGood 7

others with the same comfort they received from you in recent years. They comforted

In late December, UMCOR received a remarkable gift from Iglesia Metodista de Puerto Rico—remarkable in the spirit in which it was given. The Methodist Church of Puerto Rico took two special offerings in response to the earthquakes in Haiti and tornadoes in the United States. In the letter accompanying the gift, Bishop Hector Ortiz wrote:

“With this action, the Methodist Church of Puerto Rico shows its solidarity with the people in the world who suffer adversities for natural disasters whether that be in the United States or Haiti.” They comforted others with the same comfort they received from you in recent years. You were there with UMCOR bearing witness to God’s presence in the world. “He’s the one who comforts us in all our trouble so that we can comfort other people who are in every kind of trouble. We offer the same comfort that we ourselves received from God.” —2 Corinthians 1:4 (CEB)

THANK YOU FOR BEING AN AGENT OF GOD’S MISSION With the help of people like you, the worldwide reach of the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) supports:

countries Ongoing efforts to alleviate human suffering and poverty in 46 countries through a network of trained volunteers and affiliated partners.

189

partnerships Partnerships with 189 Methodist-affiliated hospitals, health centers, and health posts, whom we assist in capacity building and funding to enable regular supervisory visits, training, medicines and medical supplies, and other material support.

RESPOND TODAY AND MAKE MORE GOOD THINGS HAPPEN. Use the enclosed card or give online by visiting giveumcmission.org/DoGood

Front cover includes photos by Hope Byrd, Mike DuBose, Todd Rossnagel, and John Bruce

Offering the Same Comfort We Ourselves Receive from God