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Admist the Destruction, the Cross Stills Stands!

Response after Haiti earthquake: Give, prepare, plan

By Tita Parham

ORLANDO — A major earthquake hit Port-au-Prince Jan. 12, killing thousands and causing widespread destruction. Many Florida Annual Conference Haitian congregations are also feeling the effects as members work to connect with and help family members and friends in Haiti cope with the disaster.

The Florida Conference has a long-term relationship with the Methodist Church of Haiti, formalizing those ties with the signing of the Haiti/Florida Covenant in June 2006. The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) also has close ties with the Methodist Church there and is responding to the devastating earthquake with funding, material resources and prayers.

Churches and individuals can help by raising funds for relief efforts and giving to either UMCOR or the Methodist Church of Haiti. General humanitarian aid is being provided by UMCOR through its Gifts to Advance Special #418325. Every dollar UMCOR receives for this Advance goes directly to help the people of Haiti. Checks, with #418325 in the memo line, can be mailed to UMCOR at P.O. Box 9068, New York, NY 10087, or dropped in church offering plates. Donations can also be made online at http://new.gbgm-umc.org/.

Monetary donations may also be sent to the Methodist Church in Haiti. Every dollar collected will go directly to the Methodist Church in Haiti to help rebuild lives and buildings. Checks may be made payable to “FAC Treasurer,” with “2010 Methodist Church in Haiti Relief, #100190” in the memo line. Individuals may send checks directly to the Florida Conference at 1140 McDonald Street, Lakeland, FL 33801. Florida Conference United Methodist churches may send these checks through their normal apportionment giving channels, utilizing lock-box #207.

Churches can also consider preparing and sending health kits for short- and long-term recovery efforts to Sager-Brown, the UMCOR depot in Louisiana. Information on making kits is available at http://www.umcor.org.

It is unsafe at this time for mission teams to enter Haiti, but churches can begin planning now to sponsor or send a United Methodist Volunteers in Mission (UMVIM) team later in the year to assist in disaster recovery and humanitarian aid. Churches may visit the UMVIM Web site at http://www.umvim.org for updates or to register a team to go to Haiti. The Southeastern Jurisdiction UMVIM ministry is also collecting contact information at http://www.umvim.org/haiti for individuals interested in traveling to Haiti. Contacts listed there will be activated as soon as UMVIM has news about the possibility of scheduling trips to Haiti.

The General Board of Discipleship is offering prayers, hymns and liturgies for use during worship services at http://www.gbod.org/worship/.

More information about the United Methodist response is available at http:// www.umcor.org, http://www.umvim.org and http://www.flumc.org.

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A massive earthquake struck Haiti Jan. 12, causing widespread devastation and loss of life. With 19 Haitian churches, 25 Haitian clergy, and more than 3,100 Haitian members, the Florida Conference has a special relationship with Haiti. That relationship is also expressed through the Haiti-Florida Covenant, which has helped organize mission trips to Haiti and worked hand-in-hand with the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) to offer support.

“I want to express my profound sense of grief at the devastation, pain and misery being experienced in Haiti right now,” said Bishop Tim Whitaker of the Florida Conference. “We will do all we can do to be of assistance to our brothers and sisters there.”

The first thing to do is pray for the people of Haiti, he said, for those who have survived, those who have lost loved ones, and those who are on-site, offering aid.

Bishop Whitaker encouraged churches to give generously in their response to the earthquake by using UMCOR. Online donations are being accepted on the UMCOR Web site.

“Utilizing UMCOR, which partners with numerous ecumenical agencies already on the ground in Haiti, is the most efficient way for our churches to be involved in offering a Christian response,” the bishop said.

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