UM agency ships 25,000 health kits to tsunami victims

Sager Brown Depot
serves as hub for flow
of supplies to disaster

United Methodist News Service
BALDWIN, La.—Some 25,000 health kits—containing soap, bandages and other essentials—left the United Methodist Committee on Relief depot for Asia last week.
The kits were assembled by volunteers from around the United States. They worked at the relief committee’s Sager Brown Depot in Baldwin, La. The depot is a hub for the flow of relief supplies from the committee to points around the globe.
“It makes me feel good, making all the bags for people that I know that really need them (and) taking time out of my life to help someone else out,” said Corey Rosemurgy, a college student from Austin.
The 25,000 kits, valued at $500,000, were loaded Jan. 6. With the assistance of Church World Service, relief arm of the National Council of Churches, the supplies were airlifted to areas devastated Dec. 26 by tsunamis. Those waves killed at least 150,000 people and left millions more homeless in 12 countries around the Indian Ocean.
“The people of the United Methodist Church are always fantastic to respond in whatever the disaster is,” said Tom Hazelwood, relief committee executive secretary for U.S. disaster response. “And our phones have been ringing off the hook.”
The health kits contain toothbrushes, toothpaste, towels, combs, nail files and fingernail clippers along with soap and bandages.
“We have found that if you’re able to use just the soap and water, that’s a big help in helping keep down the diseases and everything that comes in after a disaster like this,” Hazel-wood said.
The United Nations warns the death toll from the disaster could double if drinking water and other essential services are not restored quickly.
Congregations around the United States donated items for the health kits.
“My word is a word of gratitude for the gifts that people give, both in material resources and of their funding, to help us bring relief and to bring help and healing to people that have been broken because of these disasters,” Hazelwood said.
Cash donations are still needed to help with the disaster relief, he said.
“The main thing that we need, really, is funding—money so that we can buy the materials and supplies on the ground, where they’re needed,” he said. “It costs so much to ship from the United States.”
The United Methodist relief agency, working with other faith-based partners, is making a long-term commitment to help the tsunami victims. Church World Service, which receives support from 36 denominations, is involved in the rush delivery of more than $900,000 in supplies to stricken countries.
Hazelwood said relief funds pledged by governments will not be enough.
“We’re there for the long haul, and we’ll be working not only to bring these relief supplies, but doing the development work and the long-term recovery,” he said. “Our hope is to work through our partners there, and the goal has already been set to rebuild at least 10,000 homes.”
Founded in 1940, the relief committee has a long history of providing disaster relief. Sager Brown began as a distribution center for supplies to victims of Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and later became the United Methodist Church’s worldwide shipping hub for relief aid.