3 conferences return federal disaster-relief funds

United Methodist News Service
NEW YORK—Three United Methodist conferences that had received long-term federal hurricane recovery funding have withdrawn their joint request.
The Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi conferences had received a $3 million award from Katrina Aid Today. That’s a national consortium led by the United Methodist Committee on Relief.
The money is now to be redistributed among the remaining nine consortium members.
United Methodist leaders pulled their request because they realized they would have sufficient funding through church sources to support all work proposed by the three conferences, said the Rev. Kristin L. Sachen, head of the relief committee’s emergency services office.
That private funding allows more flexibility in the design and implementation of recovery work, she said.
Katrina Aid Today is working to help families in 30 states identify and find solutions to their major post-hurricane problems. It is monitored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency using donations from the international community.
The program is funded with a $66 million grant for use over two years. The relief committee, a unit of the General Board of Global Ministries, was named manager of the consortium in October.
Warren Harrity was named executive director of Katrina Aid Today. Harrity, formerly interim director, has worked for the relief committee since 2003, when he opened operations for the agency in Kabul, Afghanistan.
He became acquainted with the United Methodist agency while serving as a refugee coordinator in Bosnia and Herzegovina with the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, a U.S. State Department agency.
Harrity has worked with displaced people in Armenia, Afghanistan, and Bosnia—all countries where disaster forced the migration of large numbers of people.
“People who have been displaced share a lot in common,” he said. “They’ve all suffered loss and immeasurable changes. They’re all seeking durable solutions so they can have a stable family life, take care of their children and aging parents.”
Contributions to relief work along the Gulf Coast and in Nicaragua can be placed into church offering plates designated for UMCOR Advance No. 982523. One hundred percent of every donation to any appeal goes to support the ministry a donor designates.