Responding with compassion and care to survivors in crisis around the world.
Ĺą U.S. Disaster Relief does more with a network of volunteers. PAGE 2
Ĺą The big and small ways UMCOR is bringing hope to displaced people in Ukraine, Moldova, South Sudan and Turkey. PAGE 4
Ĺą Sharing the gift of health in Africa. PAGE 6
Sixty-nine-year-old Jane* sat under a tree with three piles at her feet: papers to throw away, papers to burn, papers to keep.
She fingered crayon drawings, her mother’s death certificate and stacks of birthday cards.
“I’ve been dreading this,” she said. “I was hoping another hurricane would come and blow it all away.”
Since Hurricane Ian made landfall near Cayo Costa, Florida, in September 2022, Jane and her 31-year-old son have been living in a donated RV until their house can be made
livable again. Household items are piled up under tarps in the yard. A shed and two trailers hold more belongings.
Hurricane Ian is the third-costliest weather disaster on record in the United States, and the deadliest hurricane to strike the state of Florida since 1935.
Thanks to the generosity of people like you, a $2 million UMCOR long-term recovery grant is assisting survivors like Jane and her son. It is also providing aid to people affected by Hurricane Nicole, which followed two months after Ian in November 2022.
The grant helps provide long-term recovery to 165 households—nearly 400 individuals—who are among the most vulnerable members of the affected communities, including single parents, the disabled, the elderly, and recent retirees without community ties.
With thousands of U.S. residents displaced by severe weather, UMCOR faithfully assists survivors with the help of people like you.
Among other services, survivors will have their homes repaired, rebuilt or replaced, depending on their level of need. Some may be relocated. They will also get help fulfilling any remaining unmet needs through community partnerships and collaborative efforts.
In spring of 2022, UMCOR stepped in to help the nearly 600 households in Oklahoma that were hit with multiple tornadoes, high winds, and heavy rain and hail in May.
Today, a $70,000 UMCOR recovery grant is helping these Oklahoma survivors reach their long-term recovery goals by funding the purchase of rebuilding materials for impacted homes in addition to other support.
In April 2023, severe weather caused major damage to communities in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley. A $10,000 UMCOR grant helped provide water, food and other relief supplies; coordinate debris removal and other cleanup efforts; and assess how to address survivors’ long-term recovery needs.
volunteers who reached out to Hurricane Ian survivors this past summer.
In addition to digging trenches, Forrest also took time to help 69-year-old Jane through the heartbreaking process of sorting through a lifetime of water-logged keepsakes.
Forrest listened to Jane’s stories and chatted with her 31-year-old son, who asked thoughtful questions about Forrest’s faith in Christ.
“When the next big storm comes,” the son told Forrest, “I would like to help.”
First United Methodist Church of Lakeland, FloridaThanks to UMCOR’s informed and reliable infrastructure, expert leadership, and experienced volunteers, every dollar received is leveraged to work as hard as possible.
For example, this past summer the $2 million Florida grant was buttressed by the sweat equity of 100 volunteer construction teams totaling a crew of about 600 volunteers. The value of their donated labor is approximately $380,000.
Forrest White, director of missions for the First United Methodist Church of Lakeland, Florida, was among the
“I believe we left them better than we found them,” says Forrest of his time spent with Jane and her son. “And, as always, we were better, too, because of them and what they shared with us.”
As extreme weather events intensify across North America—especially between May and November—UMCOR continues to empower volunteers like Forrest to be reminders to survivors like Jane of God’s presence in the world.
“Scripture tells us that we are called to nothing less than to show our Christian love in action,” says Forrest. “If we show up for people affected by disaster… we are tangible reminders of God’s love and God’s presence.”
Bring hope and healing to thousands of displaced survivors. Give generously to UMCOR’s U.S. disaster response team at giveumcmission.org/afterthestorm. When you support UMCOR with your gift today, you are a tangible reminder of God’s love and presence in the world.
Scripture tells us that we are called to nothing less than to show our Christian love in action. If we show up for people affected by disaster…we are tangible reminders of God’s love and God’s presence.”
—Forrest White, Director of Missions
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When Bishop Herbert Welch started UMCOR in 1940, the organization’s goal was to meet the material needs of refugees displaced by World War II. Today, with an estimated 108.4 million people forcibly displaced worldwide, UMCOR strives to fulfill that original mandate. With your help, UMCOR provides tangible support to international refugees, internally displaced persons, and migrants globally, showing God’s compassion to millions of people who find themselves far from home.
In Kam'yanytsya, Ukraine, internally displaced people fleeing Russian aggression will soon have a stable place in which to seek shelter. The small city has welcomed refugees since the start of the war in February 2022, housing them in an elementary school, an office building, and even in the church, where parishioners moved the beds each Sunday to make space for worship.
Now, the United Methodist Church in Ukraine plans to purchase a former hotel in the area, where it will continue to provide vulnerable families and individuals with essential services—health care, food, water and mental health and psychosocial support—in a more stable location.
Your contribution to UMCOR will help provide two years of ongoing support for this shelter, ensuring that it has everything
necessary to meet the needs of the internally displaced people within its walls, from electricity and water to psychosocial support and job training. And, when the war with Russia ends, the center will operate as a mixed-use ministry space to serve Ukrainians rebuilding their lives in a post-war society.
Up to 116,000 of the poorest refugees fleeing Ukraine have landed semi-permanently in one of Europe’s poorest countries—Moldova—and have found the welcome there to be, in the words of one Ukrainian refugee, Natalia, like “a warm hug.”
But hospitality can become burdensome, especially when a vulnerable country opens its doors to vulnerable refugees.
So UMCOR is working with ministry partners to ensure that both Ukrainians in northern Moldova and the Moldovans hosting them have the resources they need to continue their healthy relationship.
Your generosity helps local nonprofit and church organizations in Moldova offer counseling and other mental health services, medical attention, food, and career support to Ukrainian refugees. At the same time, it provides food for vulnerable Moldovans and supports programming that unites Moldovans and Ukrainians—such as sports and arts activities for youth from both countries—in order to strengthen the ties between them.
Food, water, mosquito nets: these are the critical, emergent needs of men, women and children who crossed into South Sudan in the wake of violent military conflict in Sudan in the spring. Because of your compassionate support, UMCOR is meeting these needs for about 600 individuals, or 120 households, who fled to a northern border region of South Sudan. Many of those in need are South Sudanese returnees, rather than refugees; having escaped violence in South Sudan years ago, they have returned—pursued by fear and suffering in
For millions of displaced people worldwide, your support eases the burden of being adrift.United Methodist Bishop Christian Alsted and the Rev. Yulia Starodubets pray with Oksana, who fled her home in northeastern Ukraine after the Russian military destroyed her apartment building. Oksana told Alsted that there is nothing left there to return to. She is staying in a former Soviet printing plant turned shelter in Uzhhorod, Ukraine. Photo by Mike DuBose, UMNS
As in many parts of the world, over 83 million people in Asia leave their homes and families out of necessity. But unlike refugees fleeing violence or natural disaster, these workers often migrate from vulnerable countries to wealthier ones to seek work and send their earnings back home to support their families.
every place they try to make home. Working side by side with our ministry partner, UMCOR quickly mobilized to supply them with some immediate assistance in the shape of mosquito nets to protect them from malaria, food, and portable water filters to prevent waterborne diseases.
When a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck southern Turkey in the early hours of February 6, it precipitated the loss of over 50,000 lives in the country. UMCOR was able to quickly coordinate with its longtime partner in Turkey to turn your support into tangible, immediate help for survivors.
But needs continue. Because many displaced persons still live in tents, where the open flames of candles or kerosene lanterns are dangerous, 3,960 solar lanterns were recently distributed to provide light in a safe manner. These lanterns last up to 50 hours on a single charge and provide 360 lumens and cell phone charging.
With your generous giving, small measures such as these make life a little easier for some of the nearly one million people who remain displaced within Turkey.
In collaboration with UMCOR’s ministry partner, your support is addressing the needs and rights of migrant laborers across Asia, where governments and companies often violate temporary workers’ rights and well-being. Together we empower these migrants to advocate for their welfare by connecting workers and educating them about their rights.
Through your support, migrants are accessing work and legal assistance, receiving language aids, being educated about their rights and supported as they advocate for them, and gaining access to an international network of local nonprofit migrant organizations so they can find immediate allies when their rights are violated or their well-being is threatened. Being far from home is difficult for migrants, but by helping them find community and a voice, your support reduces their suffering, bolsters their self-worth, and contributes to a more just international economy.
GOPA-DERD
UMCOR partners survey the devastation after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Turkey and Syria on February 6, 2023.
Your gift today empowers migrant workers who are the most vulnurable to abuse.
Partner with us to show God's compassionate love to those who find themselves displaced.Scan the QR code with your smartphone’s camera or visit giveumcmission.org/afterthestorm.
Through United Methodist conferences and health boards, Global Ministries applies your gifts to foster healthy households and communities. From equipping communities across Africa to fight malaria to improving hospital access for expectant mothers in Mozambique, a focus on global health improves the quality-of-life for thousands of vulnerable people.
When one-year-old Mamie came to the United Methodist health clinic near her home in Sierra Leone, she was very sick. Quickly diagnosed with malaria through a rapid test, she was treated with antimalarial medication and recovered after several days.
But Mamie’s parents worried about how they would pay for her care. So, when Mamie’s father learned that his daughter’s stay and treatment at the clinic were free, he leapt for joy and thanked God and the clinic healthcare workers for healing his child.
According to the World Health Organization, 96% of worldwide deaths from malaria occur in Africa, and 80% of those cases occur in children. But since 2008, Global Ministries’
Imagine No Malaria campaign has leveraged the compassionate giving of people like you to join the global fight against malaria and save the lives of children like Mamie.
Today, in nine different countries across sub-Saharan and East Africa, United Methodist health facilities partner with local leaders and institutions to prioritize ending this often lethal—but preventable and treatable—tropical disease. By enabling mosquito net distribution, education campaigns, rapid testing, the training of healthcare workers, and research that assesses the results of this work, your donations are protecting thousands of people against malaria.
In the East African country of Burundi, malaria rates doubled in 2019. But since then, Global Ministries has ensured that anyone who visits a United Methodist health facility can receive a mosquito net to reduce their chances of infection. Pastors and students at 20 local schools have been trained
to spread malaria awareness, educating classmates and parishioners about malaria symptoms and encouraging them to visit a health clinic at the first sign of disease, since early intervention is critical.
In Angola, community participation in malaria prevention and education is also strong. Youth workers go door to door to meet with families and demonstrate how to hang mosquito nets. As in Burundi, they encourage their neighbors to recognize the signs of malaria and visit local clinics. And community members can trust that they will be able to access antimalarial treatments at those facilities, because your support provides for this, too.
“Most of the people surrounding Quessua [health clinic] come from very poor homes,” explains David, a health volunteer at a clinic in Angola. “They cannot afford to pay for these services in [the] city, but at Quessua they get all services for free.”
With your ongoing contributions, the Imagine No Malaria initiative will continue throughout Africa, freeing children like Mamie and thousands of others to thrive in a world where they can truly imagine a life with no malaria.
In Mozambique, over half of the population must walk an hour or more to access a health facility, and only three doctors exist for every 100,000 people. Facing these obstacles to medical care, many pregnant women experience delivery complications that put the life of mother and child at risk.
The Chicuque Pregnant Waiting House is a comfortable place for pregnant women with high-risk pregnancies or for those who live a great distance away. But being close to the coast in Mozambique, its zinc ceiling is disintegrating from the salty sea air and the corrosive juice of berries that drop on it from a nearby tree.
Fortunately, because of your generosity, this building that has been a haven for expectant mothers since 2017 is being
renovated to shelter and support more women as they eagerly await the birth of their newborns.
Located within the grounds of Chicuque Rural Hospital, the waiting house provides women with a place of respite and security in the days prior to their delivery, so that they are spared from trying to rush to the hospital from their homes once labor is imminent.
As one mother explained, “We came here to wait for the birth for about a week because we were told that the child was too big. … Fortunately, the delivery was normal under the assistance of doctors and there were no problems.”
In the first half of 2023, 123 women stayed at the home, remaining an average of five days each. Your support allows for renovations to the space so that it can continue to keep expectant mothers safe, reduce labor complications and infant mortality rates in Mozambique, and give babies a healthy start to life.
who have health have hope and those who have hope have everything.
Your gift supports volunteers and local partners serving the specific needs of the most vulnerable people in your community. With UMCOR, you are a neighbor helping your local neighbors.
Your gift supports an international network of partnering organizations that extend the depth and breadth of UMCOR’s outreach around the world. With UMCOR, you are a neighbor helping your global neighbors.
Your gift to UMCOR furthers the selfreliance, wellbeing and resilience of families and communities in your neighborhood and around the world.
The recent $2 million Florida recovery grant was buttressed by the sweat equity of about 600 construction crew volunteers. The value of their donated labor is approximately $380,000.
The sweat equity of our volunteer network means your donation helps more people.