VOLUNTEERS NEEDED IN ALASKA; PACIFIC NORTHWEST CONFERENCE ERT TRAINING & UPDATE

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED IN ALASKA

VBS VIM Team Needed in Nome for Summer 2011

Nome Community UMC is in search of a team to lead VBS this summer in Nome. The possible dates are the evenings of Sunday, June 12 through Thursday, June 16 or Sunday, July 31 through Thursday, August 4. The team planning to come to Nome is unable to come after all this summer. Nome Community UMC would still like to host VBS this summer. We had 55 kids register for VBS in 2009 and 72 kids register in 2010. In order to keep this vital program going, we need your help to lead VBS and teach this many kids. We are looking for a minimum of 4 people on the team. Six or more people would be ideal. Please prayerfully consider this opportunity. If you are interested in bringing a team, please contact Pastor Julie Yoder Elmore at church@cumcnome.org or by calling her cell at (907) 304-2105.

PACIFIC NORTHWEST CONFERENCE ERT TRAINING & UPDATE

On June 22, 2011 there will be an ERT Training Course led by UMVIM Conference Co-Coordinator Jim Truitt. So far, the Pacific Northwest Conference has 70 members trained as ERTs (Emergency Responders). If you are interested in becoming an ERT please contact Jim Truitt at jftruitt@comcast.net.

NEWS FROM UMCOR ON TORNADO RESPONSE

Tornado damage in Alabama. Photo courtesy blog.al.com.

NEWS FROM UMCOR (UNITED METHODIST COMMITTEE ON RELIEF) ON TORNADO RESPONSE

“Love your neighbor as yourself.” So simple. So powerful. So much at the heart of who we are as United Methodists. Does it make you wonder... who is my neighbor?
In Alabama and across the US South, survivors of this year’s historic spring storm season are still reeling. After the latest of these super storms raged through the region on April 27, killing hundreds and injuring many more, countless families now find themselves homeless and in need of care.

Your faithful giving enables UMCOR to be the hands and feet of Jesus to respond with compassion to storm-affected families. It is only with your commitment that we are able to help families recover, rebuild and restore lives back to normal.
Can you show your love to your neighbor with a donation to UMCOR?

Disasters start like any day... you, me, our neighbors... we live, we work, we play. Then the unexpected... the water rises, the winds swirl, the flames leap and before we know it... everything’s gone.

Who is there for you? Who is there for your neighbors? UMCOR: The United Methodist Committee on Relief.

Your donation today to UMCOR’s Spring Storms 2011 joins with thousands around the country – your neighbors – to relieve the suffering of those who started their days just like you and me... and never expected it to end so very differently. And better yet... when you make your gift to UMCOR, all of it, 100% of the funds go to disaster service – none to administrative expenses.

-Rev. Cynthia Fierro Harvey

Deputy General Secretary, UMCOR

EARLY RESPONDERS REQUESTED FOR ALABAMA

Devastation from tornado in Alabama.

Request for Trained Early Responders

from Rev. Matt Lacey
North Alabama Conference

North Alabama invites UMCOR Emergency Response Trained [ERT}. If you have been ERT trained, here are the criteria which we are asking you to follow:

Team leaders MUST have a valid UMCOR ERT badge in the last 3 years. Team members must have a valid conference or UMCOR ERT badge in the last 5 years. To volunteer, please visit this site to register.

We are taking these criteria very seriously due to the nature of the damage of these massive storms. Please remember that we are a connectional system, and are going through the proper channels to insure everyone's safety and well-being

If your church wants to give an offering, please give through UMCOR's website by clicking here, or making a check out to the North Alabama Conference labeled with the Advance number 3021326.

I encourage you to follow the conference website, or find North Alabama missions on Facebook at www.facebook.com/missionsnal

This is a trying time for many, and we are called to, with God at our side, help to heal a hurting world. We will release any further information as we receive it. God Bless.

Rev. Matt Lacey, Director of Mission and Advocacy, North Alabama Conferencemlacey@northalabamaumc.org

MORE VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES: ORPHAN EMPOWERMENT PROJECT & HOME REPAIR MINISTRY

Farai Mashonganyika, Field Officer Zimbabwe (far right) Farai oversees our work in Zimbabwe. This includes delivery of food, medical care, and clothing supplies and coordination for visiting work teams. Farai is married and has three children.

MORE VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITES: ORPHAN EMPOWERMENT PROJECT & HOME REPAIR MINISTRY REQUESTING VOLUNTEERS

ZOE Ministry is a General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM) Advance whose ministry focuses on working with orphans in Africa. ZOE Ministry has a handful of slots open on two upcoming mission trips to Rwanda: June 20-29 and August 21-30

The trips will cost approximately $3,200 and will introduce missioners to ZOE's remarkable orphan empowerment project. This project equips orphans to live self-reliant, faith-filled lives within three years, thus breaking the cycles of poverty and dependency. To learn more about this ministry please visit www.zoeministry.org. For more information on the upcoming trips please e-mail info@zoeministry.org

Operation Inasmuch of Mitchell County, NC is an interdenominational home repair ministry led by area United Methodists and is now accepting applications for spring, summer and fall mission teams. Located in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains near Spruce Pine, North Carolina, the ministry provides assistance to needy, elderly and handicapped residents. Dormitory style housing is provided for teams of up to 50 members. The housing units have a fully furnished kitchen. Teams must furnish their own linens and towels. Adult and youth teams are encouraged to apply. Teams may come for a weekend, a week or longer. For more information contact Neil Brown, 828-766-5922 or brownneil@bellsouth.net

UMVIM TRAINING

UMVIM TRAINING IN IDAHO - ALL ARE WELCOME

Faith in Action! United Methodist Volunteers in Mission training Who:

· Anyone wanting information and preparation for serving on a domestic or international mission team with the United Methodist Church

· Anyone planning to lead or assist a youth or adult mission team, either internationally or in the USA

When: Saturday; May 14, 2011 9:00 a.m. – 4 p.m. Where: Boise First United Methodist Church Cathedral of the Rockies 717 N. 11th, Boise 83702

For more information and registration, contact Scott and Bev Pressman, bspressman@gmail.com

SUMMER VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES IN COSTA RICA AND THE SOUTHERN USA

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES IN COSTA RICA AND SOUTHERN USA

1.Rice and Beans Ministries, Costa Rica, from Fred Curry:

The first team is May 3 to May 10th . food and prayer ministry , vbs, light construction , we always have medical opportunities. The second team is may 14 to may 21st ..food and prayer ministry , vbs, light construction , we always have medical opportunities.

For airfare purposes we can be flexible on the enter dates. Just contact me for more info.

Third we need more people for our Base Camp July 9th to July 16th or 17th ... we will be working with 3000 to 4000 children in 28 communities in 4 days... we will visit 400 to 500 or more families in food ministry... contact me for more info.. we need 30 more from the usa for this week.. we have participants from El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, USA and Panama ... we are inviting people from Mexico and Guatemala as well ... also here is the newest promo video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cU46DYXakA Fred Curry: fred@rabmin.org www.riceandbeansministries.com 2. Tennessee Home Repair/Flood Recovery, from Todd Fitch: I have up to 10 spots open. Minimum age 14. Individual Youths must have chaperone. I could really use one or two who are comfortable leading a home repair team of 4-5 mixed-age volunteers.

Cost is $175 plus road food and (shared) gas. Dates of travel: July 10-15, 2011

- Leaving from Christiansburg VA 10 July. Working somewhere within 1 hour of Nashville, TBD by UMCOR TN Conference. Won't know specifics until June. - Type of Work TBD by UMCOR TN Conference. Won't know specifics until June. Most likely Home Repair and/or Flood Recovery. They will try to match jobs to our mix of skills. I'm accepting volunteers until May 15. Todd Fitch: todd.fitch@comcast.net

3. Slidell Louisiana, from Henry Jarrett

I have some open spots on the work team I am leading to Louisiana July 24-31st. My church-Fairmont United Methodist Church is going to Slidell Louisiana and work with the Epworth Project which is helping build and rehab homes in the greater New Orleans area. Their website is www.epworthproject.com. Team members can ages 11 and up and there is no skill required. We do have about 5 spots open and I am asking each team member to contribute $350 to cover roundtrip airfare, insurance and ground transportation. I would need to know something by May 1st of possible. They can contact me at 919-606-5674 or by email at jarretth@bellsouth.net or my personal mailing address PO Box 18311 Raleigh NC 27619-8311.

SERVE IN EL SALVADOR; FUTURE TEAMS; TEAMS NEEDING VOLUNTEERS

SALVADORE MISSION PROJECTS

Looking for a place to serve? Check out Salvadore Mission Projects (SMP). It is the perfect destination for your workteam. You can find all the information you need to schedule a team at our website, www.salvadoranmissionprojects.com. While you are their please sign up for our 12 for 12 sup-port program. Your help is needed and will be greatly appreciated.

FUTURE TEAMS

Davis UMC Educational Team to Turkey – March 24 – April 6 Linda Deos and James Cramer lead and serve with Helen Roland, Eva Brock, Rosa Washington-Olson, Marcus Clark, Margo Clark, Elaine Ginosar and Alice Lakin of Davis UMC.

California – Nevada Conference Team to Haiti – March 27 – April 7 Suellen Rowlison leads and serves with Sara Munday, Carol Olmstead, Robert Olmstead, LeRoy Peters, John Prock and John Roberts of Placerville - Federated Community UMC, Julie Hastings and William Coye of Fullerton – FUMC and Manoj Kumar.

Los Altos / Palo Alto UMC Team to Camp Lodestar in Wilseyville, CA. – April 1 - 3 Leslie Carmichael leads and serves with Megan Alvey, Christopher Arnesen, Jacquelyn Chang, Jarrett Fishpaw, Meredith Forney, Emily Grendon, Andrew Kittle, John Larson, Kaitlin Medeiros, Patricia Parfett, Jessica Prudence, Allen Sourvignier, Brent Taylor, Hal Taylor, Derek Webb and Samuel Yun of Los Altos -Los Altos UMC and David Carmen of Palo Alto - FUMC.

Central Delta Area Team to Haiti – April 6 - 15 Bruce Burr leads and serves with John Curry, John Gabby and Jacy Franceschi of Dixon UMC, Patti Bartlebaugh and Lisa Shay of Brentwood UMC, Bob Buckner of Montegue UMC, Hope Harvey of Davis UMC, Lavonda Williams Ristow of Woodland UMC and Larry Gilbert of Alamo - San Ramon Valley UMC.

Los Gatos UMC Team to Colonet, Mexico – April 8 - 15 Larry Loper leads and serves with Cynthia Loper, Julia Loper, Gregory Loper, Justine Kwan, Tom Waldrop, Linda Waldrop, Susanna Waldrop, Kenneth Kasper, Bryan Mekechuk, Nikolas Mekechuk, Ryan Reyna, Jacob Ley, John Lynch and Amy Loofbourow of Los Gatos UMC.

Multi-Church Team to Slidell, Louisiana – April 9 - 23 Joe Hoffman of Dutch Flat UMC leads and serves with David Orland of Rancho Cordova UMC, Beth Murphy of Colfax UMC. Barbara Smith, Frank Sweeney, Sherrill Sweeney, Pat Kaiser, Carl Swain, Barbie Swain, Haley Hobbs, Sally Flores, Joel Pineda, Sandra Lashly, Kelsey Bartolomei and Noelle Gauldin of Pioneer UMC of Auburn.

Livermore – Asbury Team to Slidell, Louisiana – April 10 - 16 Roger Everett leads and serves with Dick Crawford, Sharmyn Crawford, Bobbie Johnson, Coleman Johnson, Art Molvik, John Van Scyoc and Philip Woolworth of Livermore - Asbury UMC, Alex Coffing and Ruth Coffing of Minneapolis, MN.

Irvine, CA. – University UMC Youth Team to Florin UMC (Sacramento) – April 17 - 23 Sarah Heath and Bob Theemling co-lead and serve with Ted Watkins, Jack Lucas, Jason Jackson, Jeff Moretti, Trent Williams, Kim Sciutto, Brittany Abel, Brooke Abel, Kate Jensen, Kelsey Heflin, Alex Wong and Andrew Reyes of Irvine, CA - University UMC.

CARE-A-VANERS Team to S.L.C. Utah UMCOR Depot – April 30 – May 14 Rod Castor leads and serves with Gloria Castor of Sunnyvale - Trinity UMC, Ina Tanner, Marv Tanner, Elaine Hill and Gene Hill of Campbell - Campbell UMC, Susie Caudle and Lynn Caudle of Grass Valley - Sierra Pines UMC, Jeanne Murchie and Jim Murchie of Manteca - St. Paul's UMC.

TEAMS NEEDING VOLUNTEERS

Haiti – 5/8/2011 – 5/16/2011Leslie Carmichael (of Los Altos UMC) 650-941-0260 carm-lee@pacbell.net

Haiti – 6/5/2011 – 6/13/2011Hal Taylor (of Los Altos UMC) 650-967-5531 hitaylor@sbcglobal.net Haiti – 6/15/2011 – 6/24/2011Bruce Burr (of Dixon UMC) 530-383-3820 grumpyburr@sbcglobal.net

Bulembu, Swaziland -- 8/9/2011 – 8/24/2011Team Leader = Becky Perry (of Boulder Creek UMC) 831-338-4998 perry95006@yahoo.com More Info GO TO: http://www.cnumc.org/volunteeropportunities/detail/79

TO VIEW THE FULL LIST OF PLANNED TEAMS FROM THE CAL-NEV CONFERENCE AND TEAM LEADER CONTACT INFORMATION GO TO: http://www.cnumc.org/volunteeropportunities