| Florida
receives grant for red tide relief
APALACHICOLA — At the request of the Florida
Annual Conference, the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR)
sent a grant of $85,000 to provide relief for people affected by a
prolonged period of red tide in the Apalachicola area.
The affected area depends economically on
tourism and fishing. More than 2,400 families involved in those
industries lost combined wages of more than $1.5 million. The Florida
Conference will use the grant to provide food and assistance with
utility and medical bills, car payments and rent.
Donations can be given through UMCOR’s
Domestic Disaster Response #901670-1 and designated “Florida Red
Tide.”
District decides to wait on ad campaign
LAKELAND — The West Palm Beach District has
decided to wait until next year to run a local component of the
denomination’s Igniting Ministry national media campaign.
The district earned a matching-funds grant of
$48,355 from United Methodist Communications, but was not able to
raise its half of the funds, according to Craig Stephens, director of
communication ministries at Trinity United Methodist Church, Palm
Beach Gardens, and a member of the district committee.
The committee is asking churches to include the
money in their 2003 budgets and will apply for a grant for Easter
2003.
Conference ships kits
HIGH SPRINGS — More than 1,000 school kits and
900 health kits were shipped from the Florida Conference’s Disaster
Supply Depot here last month to the United Methodist Committee on
Relief’s (UMCOR) depot in Baldwin, La.
Nearly two-thirds of the school kits are
designated for the Bishop Cornelius and Dorothye Henderson Secondary
School in Mozambique, Africa.
“UMCOR recently sent out an urgent call for
health kits, so this shipment was timely,” said Lisa Rhan, Florida
Conference disaster response coordinator.
The kits were delivered by First United
Methodist Church of High Springs using its van.
The High Springs Depot still has a few hundred
kits in stock, but Rhan is asking church to begin collecting supplies
for future disasters.
“United Methodists make God’s love real
through the availability of these kits in responding immediately to
victims of disasters,” she said. “A kit is worth a thousand words
and as many hugs.”
For more information, contact Rhan at
386-454-7775.
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|
Photo by Lisa Rhan |
| Volunteers load First United Methodist Church of High Springs' van with health and school kits destined for the United Methodist Committee on Relief depot in Baldwin, La. |
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© 2002 Florida United Methodist Review Online |
