UMCOR selects Katrina aid partners

Dec. 16, 2005
NEW YORK (UMNS) -Ten social service and voluntary organizations have been announced by the United Methodist Committee on Relief as participants in its $66 million Katrina Aid Today initiative.

The initiative is sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Selected by a grants review board, the organizations will oversee 3,000 professional staff and volunteers who will assist 100,000 families displaced by Hurricane Katrina in rebuilding their lives.
Trained by UMCOR, the staff and volunteers will help survivors identify sources of support, develop personal recovery plans, acquire access to services and take appropriate actions to bring them to self-sufficiency.

UMCOR currently is in final contract negotiations with the 10 organizations, which are Boat People SOS, Falls Church, Va.; Catholic Charities USA, Alexandria, Va.; Episcopal Relief and Development, New York; Lutheran Disaster Response, Chicago; the National Disability Rights Network, Washington; the Odyssey House of Louisiana, New Orleans; the Salvation Army, Atlanta; the Society of St. Vincent De Paul, St. Louis; United Methodist Foundation of Louisiana, Baton Rouge; and Volunteers of America, Alexandria, Va.

These organizations "have a track record of responding to the needs of disaster survivors in a recovery effort," said the Rev. Paul Dirdak, UMCOR's chief executive. Each partner also has pledged matching funds or in-kind donations for the work, he added.

Partners in the Katrina Aid Today consortium focus their work on the disaster zones of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, as well as areas serving families that have been relocated to Texas, Georgia, California, Florida, Illinois, Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, New Jersey, Colorado, Connecticut, Washington D.C., Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, New York, Oklahoma and Washington. Some of the partners have expertise working with people with disabilities and non-English-speaking families.

The grants review board making the selection consisted of representatives from the American Red Cross, Mississippi Commission for Volunteer Service, Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, Church World Service and the Points of Light Foundation.

More information about Katrina Aid Today or its partner grantees can be found at www.katrinaaidtoday.org, the program's Web site.

*The United Methodist Committee on Relief provided information for this report.