We will be collecting designated donations in the coming weeks for the Haiti relief effort through UMCOR, the United Methodist Committee on Relief. UMCOR is one of the most well-organized and efficient relief groups in the world and they are supported entirely by designated funds and apportionments from local United Methodist congregations like ours. If you would like to donate to the relief effort, you may designate an offering by indicating it on your check or placing it in a separate envelope. We will also be designating our communion offering on February 7 to go to this effort. If you are unable to make it to church in the coming weeks, you may donate now by clicking here.
To learn more about what the United Methodist Church is doing in response to the crisis in Haiti, you can follow this link http://www.umc.org/site/c.lwL4KnN1LtH/b.5719935/k.E27B/Earthquake_in_Haiti_The_Church_Responds.htm.
If you are unable to provide support but still would like to help, you can make a significant contribution by sending a health kit. The United Methodist Committee on Relief has issued a call for Health Kits, which provide basic necessities to people who have been forced to leave their homes because of human conflict or natural disaster. Health kits are also used as learning tools in personal hygiene and nutrition classes. When people gain the knowledge and materials to maintain personal hygiene, their overall health improves.
Please follow the directions exactly. Include all items; do not add items that are not on the lists. Extra gifts, though given with the best of intentions, render a kit unusable and must be removed. Note: All items must be new.
Place the following items inside a sealed one-gallon plastic bag:
1 hand towel (15″ x 25″ up to 17″ x 27″)
1 washcloth
1 comb (large and sturdy, not pocket-sized)
1 nail file or fingernail clippers (no emery boards or toenail clippers)
1 bath-size bar of soap (3 oz. and up)
1 toothbrush (single brushes only in original wrapper, No child-size brushes)
1 large tube of toothpaste (4.5 oz. or larger, expiration date must be 6 months or longer in advance of the date of shipment to UMCOR Sager Brown)
6 adhesive plastic strip sterile bandages
Value: $12 per kit.
In a separate envelope, please send a check for at least $1 for each kit to help UMCOR Sager Brown with the costs of processing and shipping kits around the world. Important: Please do not include any religious, political or patriotic notes or emblems in any kit.
Deliver kits to TAC Disaster Response Consultant Rev. Clay Whitaker at Old River Terrace UMC, 161 I-10 East, Channelview, TX, 77530.
Do not forget the power of prayer. The prayers of the United Methodist Church and of the church universal are with the people of Haiti. We pray for recovery, restoration, and both physical and spiritual healing.
