March 2, 2001 Edition

Bishop's Corner

One Great Hour of Sharing

By Bishop  J. Lloyd Knox

For about 40 years I have been familiar with the work of the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). UMCOR began at the end of World War II as a relief ministry of the then Methodist Church. Hundreds of thousands of Europeans were given food, clothing and shelter through the efforts of our relief agency.

In the early 1950s the then Methodist Committee on Relief (MCOR) assisted St. John’s Church in Tampa in sponsoring a refugee family from Poland. It was then that I, as a pastor, came to appreciate MCOR. Since that time I have seen UMCOR assist refugees in Africa, Palestine, the Balkans and parts of Asia.

Lilia Fernandez, who grew up in the Methodist Church in Santiago de las Vegas, Cuba, is UMCOR’s refugee resettlement director. The Rev. Carl Shafer, a retired member of our conference, was her pastor in Cuba. Lilia tells me there is still great need for sponsors of refugees.

When we see television reports of earthquakes, hurricanes, flooding and tornadoes and other natural disasters at home and abroad you can be certain UMCOR will be on the scene within 24 hours. Part of the reason is there are Methodist churches or connections almost all over the world. UMCOR uses personnel already present. In the 1960s and 70s when I served in Miami UMCOR gave us great help in caring for Cuban and Haitian refugees. Later in 1992, UMCOR and United Methodist Volunteers in Mission were with Miami for the long haul in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew, which devastated South Dade County.

Often newspapers do not print the name of UMCOR with the list of relief agencies after great natural disasters. This is partly due to the fact that UMCOR works with Church World Service as a cooperative Protestant relief agency, of which UMCOR is a member. If your local paper does not report UMCOR as one of the relief agencies, you should call and let the editor know. UMCOR has been on the job since 1945 and is still going strong. UMCOR’s address is 475 Riverside Drive, NYC, 10115; telephone is 1-800/UMC-GBGM.

Sunday, March 25, is UMCOR’s One Great Hour of Sharing. I trust every church will give its people the opportunity to participate in United Methodist’s splendid relief ministry.

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