Relief agency collects $62
million for hurricane response

United Methodist News Service
NEW YORK—The United Methodist Committee on Relief received more than $62 million for Gulf Coast hurricane relief and rehabilitation.
“Year-end receipts from the annual conferences pushed the figure far, far beyond what we anticipated in the late fall,” said Roland Fernandes, General Board of Global Ministries treasurer.
The relief committee had taken in $62.37 million as of Dec. 31. All the money is going to relief and rehabilitation, primarily through conferences affected by hurricanes that struck the Gulf Coast. Post-hurricane work in Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico and Nicaragua also was covered.
“In April, our directors will make decisions about how the balance will be expended,” said the Rev. Paul Dirdak, the mission board executive in charge of the relief committee.  “Meanwhile, UMCOR has responded 100 percent to the emergency relief and rehabilitation start-up requests made by the annual conferences, with over $6 million expended to date. Our rehabilitation efforts will likely cover a four-year period.”
David Sadoo, international field staffer for the relief agency, said work in Mexico and Central America is an important part of the church’s hurricane response.
“We are assisting there with both relief and long-term rehabilitation,” Sadoo said.
The Rev. R. Randy Day, top staff executive at the mission board, expressed appreciation to United Methodists and their friends for the outpouring of support for people and communities affected by the hurricanes.
“United Methodists are such caring and generous people,” Day said. “How thankful we are that we can provide major assistance to the storm-ravaged areas.”
The Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama-West Florida and Texas conferences were the most severely affected by hurricanes striking the United States in 2005. Louisiana and Mississippi were the hardest hit by Katrina, which made landfall Aug. 29.
The Texas Conference received the largest number of displaced people from New Orleans, followed by a major hit from Hurricane Rita in September.
Dirdak said the cash contributions are only one measure of the enormous United Methodist response to the hurricane disasters. In addition, tons of supplies have been sent to the relief committee’s Sager Brown materials depot in Baldwin, La., for distribution in the disaster zone. Thousands of church members are helping with cleanup and rebuilding as volunteers in mission.
“The compassion of the United Methodist people for those in crisis appears to be unlimited,” Dirdak said. “It is a compassion rooted in thanksgiving for God’s grace and love and in Jesus’ mandate to love our neighbors.”
While most of the $62 million was contributed in response to Hurricane Katrina, some amounts were earmarked for relief following the later Hurricane Rita, and some came in response to 2005 storms before Katrina.
Money reaches the relief committee in a variety of ways: telephone and Internet gifts, checks sent directly to the agency, and contributions made through local congregations and channeled by annual conferences to the General Council on Finance and Administration. The council serves as treasurer for relief and other designated giving through what is called the Advance for Christ and His Church.