UMVIM TRAINING IN PORTLAND, OR; CAL-NEVADA NEWS ON HAITI; UMCOR HAITI UPDATE

Photo: UMCOR delivering packages with food and supplies. Photo courtesy, Mike DeBose, UMNS.

UMVIM TRAINING IN PORTLAND, OR

There will be an UMVIM Training at Cherry Park UMC in Portland on Monday, March 15, 2010 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Please bring a sack lunch. UMVIM Training manuals will be available for $28.00. For more information, please contact Donna Waltman at 503-622-3226, dgwaltman@juno.com or Betty Pritchard at 503-359-9340, b2c2_2@verizon.net.

NEWS FROM CAL-NEVADA CONFERENCE ON HAITI

The California-Nevada Annual Conference: contributed $246,203.70 so far to the Western Jurisdiction's Lenten project, "Operation Resurrection 2010."

HAITI UPDATE

UMCOR has begun implementation of a five-year work plan that contemplates three phases of assistance to Haiti: emergency, recovery and rehabilitation.

This week’s highlights include:

Anthony Jones, Emergency Consultant in Haiti, is working with the UN through cluster meetings to organize UMCOR activities in relation to other organizations in Haiti.

To subsidize the Methodist Guest House in Haiti until volunteers can begin staying there, UMCOR is providing two months salary to the guest house staff.
UMCOR is working with Haitian Artisans for Peace International (HAPI) to provide immediate infrastructure improvements, including water and sanitation, to meet the needs of displaced rural families in Mizak.

Staff Recruitment:

--Hiring and sending key staff for the office in Haiti--Livelihoods Coordinator (Haiti) position is posted--Haiti Desk Officer (NY) position is posted
In the spirit of collaboration, representatives from UMCOR and GBGM Mission Volunteers met with Volunteers in Mission (VIM) Jurisdictional Coordinators in Florida on Wednesday who were preparing to travel to Haiti. The VIM coordinators are representing United Methodist volunteers and UMCOR, working with the Methodist Church of Haiti to assess and prioritize the future work of volunteers. The team discussed the challenges of transportation and housing for volunteers as well as the enormity of work.

With recent reports indicating that 75 percent of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, will need to be rebuilt; volunteers soon will be needed to go to Haiti. Volunteer teams are beginning to mobilize by filling out the registration form.

The team in Haiti has identified a need for layette kits and birthing kits to address the basic needs of babies born in displaced persons camps in Haiti. Volunteers have been preparing kits to send to Haiti.

UMCOR provides emergency relief in many areas of the world. To find out more about UMCOR's ministries, please visit umcor.org. You can donate to any project by placing a contribution in the offering plate at a local United Methodist church; by sending a check to UMCOR, PO Box 9068, New York, NY 10087-9068; or by calling 1-800-554-8583, where credit card donations are accepted. You can also give online by clicking on any of the "Give Now" links.

UMCOR is exempt from tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of the United States and qualifies for the maximum charitable contribution deduction by donors.

And, please pray for those who are hungry, displaced, sick or in poverty because of these and other natural and human-made disasters, and for the workers who minister to them.

FLOOD RELIEF IN MEXICO; ONE GREAT HOUR OF SHARING MARCH 14; UMVIM TRAININGS; HAITI UPDATE

Photo: UMVIM Volunteers at work. To see where you can be trained to become and UMVIM Team Leader please see below....

MEXICO: FLOOD RELIEF

After torrential rains left some 5,000 people homeless, 17 dead and more than 100 missing in Baja California, Mexico, last month, UMCOR is supplying relief aid to the survivors.

Personnel from three churches of the Iglesia Metodista de México located along the coast near San Quintín Valley will survey survivors in their areas and assess needs for food and clean water.

With UMCOR funding, the churches will be able to supply packages of beans, rice oil or shortening, flour, and other items to affected communities.
Your support will help UMCOR help the survivors of international disasters like this one. Please give to International Disaster Response, UMCOR Advance #982450.

ONE GREAT HOUR OF SHARING MARCH 14- SUPPORT UMCOR

Over a period of four years, millions of square meters of land in Mozambique, in southeast Africa, were cleared of landmines with the direct support of UMCOR and other partners. Now, UMCOR is turning its efforts to Angola, to help the people there.

More than 40 years of internal strife and conflict have made Angola one of the worst landmine-affected countries in the world. Landmines endanger the lives of the civilian population, deter socio-economic growth and impede the delivery of humanitarian and development assistance.

UMCOR is there, with our partners, to increase the capacity of humanitarian de-miners within Angola and, so, improve the possibilities for rebuilding the country and the lives of its citizens.

When you give to One Great Hour of Sharing, you help cover UMCOR’s cost of doing business and allow us to keep our promise that 100 percent of every other contribution you make to a specific UMCOR project, like the one in Angola, will be spent on that project and not on administrative costs.

One Great Hour of Sharing is March 14.

Order your free offering envelopes or posters by calling 888-346-3862. Check the UMCOR website for worship materials and a video presentation in support of this important offering. Gifts to this fund can be made all year long. Please give now.
UMCOR provides emergency relief in many areas of the world. To find out more about UMCOR's ministries, please visit umcor.org. You can donate to any project by placing a contribution in the offering plate at a local United Methodist church; by sending a check to UMCOR, PO Box 9068, New York, NY 10087-9068; or by calling 1-800-554-8583, where credit card donations are accepted. You can also give online by clicking on any of the "Give Now" links. UMCOR is exempt from tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of the United States and qualifies for the maximum charitable contribution deduction by donors.

And, please pray for those who are hungry, displaced, sick or in poverty because of these and other natural and human-made disasters, and for the workers who minister to them.

UMVIM TRAININGS IN COLORADO

We will be having UMVIM team leader training in the RMC as follows:

Cheyenne WY…@Grace UMC….Feb. 28th 2-5pm.

Durango CO@ First UMC March 6th 1:30pm to 4:30pm.

March 13 - FUMC Loveland, CO

March 27 - Casper UMC

Please contact Betsy Keyack at bkeyack@att.net.

HAITI UPDATE

Since the January 12 earthquake, UMCOR has carried out an initial assessment of damages and needs, developed a five-year work plan, and shored up strategic partnerships with the United Nations, NGOs and the Methodist Church in Haiti.
The UMCOR work plan anticipates three phases of recovery: emergency, recovery and rehabilitation. Currently operating in the emergency phase -- from the time of the earthquake through April and including the start of the rainy season in March – UMCOR is addressing the most immediate needs of access to food, clean water and sanitation, temporary shelter and emotional and spiritual support.

This week’s highlights include:
While UMCOR has been working in Haiti since before the earthquake, this week, UMCOR re-opened the Haiti field office. UMCOR’s Kate Paik and Larry Powell have been in Port-au-Prince coordinating with the Methodist Church in Haiti and preparing the UMCOR Haiti field office.

Staff Recruitment:
--Anthony Jones was hired as an Emergency Response Consultant and has deployed to Haiti.--

Azim Akhtar was hired as the Operations Coordinator and will deploy to Haiti in the coming weeks.--Key local staff have been hired.--Positions are posted for: Head of Mission, Finance Director, Emergency Shelter Coordinator, and Income Generation Coordinator.

Kate Paik commented on the three days of remembrance in Haiti, Feb 12-14 which was "to stop and reflect on the past month of survival. Many were dressed in white and spent the three days, usually from 6 am until 1 or 2 pm, at church singing and praying. It [was] a time to gather their strength from God to go on still once more."

With recent reports indicating that 75 percent of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, will need to be rebuilt; volunteers soon will be needed to go to Haiti.

Volunteer teams are beginning to mobilize by filling out the registration form.

Through Justice for our Neighbors clinics across the country, UMCOR is helping Haitian immigrants register for the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) the US government has offered. A workshop was held in New York City on Wednesday to educate people about how to apply.

In addition to health kits, this week, volunteers began assembling and shipping layette kits and birthing kits to address the basic needs of babies born in displaced persons camps in Haiti.