Work teams continue to help in Mississippi

By Neill Caldwell*

GULFPORT, Miss. (UMNS) - It gives a whole new meaning to "wrong side of the tracks."

Train tracks run parallel to the beach and the two major roadways along the Mississippi Gulf coast, Highway 90 and Interstate 10. When Hurricane Katrina slammed ashore Aug. 29, the damage above those tracks was significant. But between the slightly elevated railroad tracks and the beach, it was like Katrina's giant hand had scrubbed the ground clean. A huge wall of water pushed in by the storm smashed buildings down to their cement slabs, and when the water receded, it carried the debris back out into the gulf.

When people here say something was "below the tracks," that means it is gone.

Today, most areas don't look much different than they did the day after the storm. But work is happening that will eventually change all that. Local residents and volunteers from all over the nation, including many United Methodist teams, continue to pour in. The church is providing support in many ways, and plans call for building additional warehouses to help the effort.

"It was January before we had drinkable water," says the Rev. Terry Lynn Hilliard, pastor of First United Methodist Church in Pass Christian. "I'm amazed at how unprepared we all were. I lost two cars that were parked 40 miles apart and all my belongings. I had to wade through waist-deep water to get into my in-laws' house."

About a third of the members at First Church have moved to other areas and probably won't be back.

"I'm 65 years old, and I don't ever think I will see it back like it was," says Ed Blakeslee, disaster relief coordinator for the United Methodist Church's Mississippi Annual (regional) Conference.

Warehouses planned
On Highway 49, at a United Methodist Committee on Relief warehouse, several tractor-trailers unload supplies for the relief effort each week. If it's a hot commodity - building materials such as Sheetrock, shingles or insulation, for example - it's gone in a matter of hours. The warehouse also has a food pantry and space to store heavy equipment.

So far it's the only warehouse in the area, but Blakeslee says the plan is to build three more of these multipurpose buildings, one for each of the conference's four damage zones in southern Mississippi. It will take $200,000 to $300,000 to accomplish that goal.

"The government was not ready for this storm," Blakeslee says. "And I mean all of them: local, state and federal. The organization that stepped forward was the church. Faith-based organizations didn't have a plan; they just did what needed to be done."

Just south of the warehouse at Gateway United Methodist Church, about 10 miles inland, work teams rotate in and out each week. It's become a command post and housing center for volunteer workers. United Methodist work teams crowd just about every inch of free space at Gautier United Methodist Church, just a mile from the coast, where the Family Life Center and several Sunday school classrooms have been turned into living space. Teams are fed three meals a day and sleep on cots, with fabric hung from PVC pipe providing a small level of privacy. No one complains.

Pastor Ron Stanley has been at Gautier for nine years and says he wished his seminary had offered "Katrina 101." "I've learned to roll with the punches," he says. "I grew up on a farm and was able to do just about everything."

Working together
The Mississippi Conference has received thousands of workers since Katrina struck. It has worked to support the local churches, which are providing space for the workers. The conference also has helped provide food, water, housing and other resources, and it has scheduled reconstruction efforts. Churches that were still standing are providing worship space for those that were destroyed, sometimes with a different congregation in each corner of the sanctuary.

Few street signs remain, having been blown or washed away. People have created hand-lettered signs for key intersections, but otherwise locals need to guide work teams out or they'll get hopelessly lost.

In the houses, crews first rip out everything because the mold is so bad. Once down to the framing, the walls, floors and ceilings are reconstructed, and then paint and carpet are added. Unskilled workers are assigned to "clean up," a nice way of saying "mucking out" the destroyed homes. Skilled workers - carpenters, plumbers, roofers - are needed most.

"It's amazing to see how this storm has affected the local churches," says Robert Sharpe, the Seashore District coordinator for disaster response. "The Catholics, the Baptists and the Methodists are all working together."

Sharp says that while UMCOR is not always the first on the scene, it is always the last, being committed to staying until the job is completed long after other denominations and secular groups have packed up and gone home. "The United Methodist Church will still be shining five years from now, when everyone else has pulled out."

Mississippi Annual Conference Volunteers in Mission will go out to annual conference meetings around the denomination this summer to thank United Methodists for their open hearts. They want to do it in person.

Says Hilliard: "We have a lot of payback to do when all this is over."

*Caldwell is a freelance writer based in High Point, N.C.

Outreach effort provides cards, packages to soldiers

By Steven Skelley*



Care packages await shipment to U.S. military personnel serving overseas. A UMNS Photo by Steven Price.


CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. (UMNS) - When a package Cheryl Price had sent her son was lost in the mail, God gave her a vision for a ministry that is now touching the lives of hundreds of soldiers.

"I have a son who is in the Air Force, and he was sent to Korea just before Christmas, so I had sent a package, and he never received it," Price said. "He went to the post office every day and looked for this package. … I knew that there must be others in the same desperate situation, looking and longing for a package from home."

Price told this story to Ken Beers, the missions director at First United Methodist Church of Coral Springs, and the lost package became the catalyst for the church's Military Mission Project. That was two years ago.

Price and Beers' mission was to send a card or package to the men and women from their church serving in the military. Soon, they expanded the mission outreach to "anyone who knew someone in the military." After a couple of months, 35 men and women were on their mailing list.

"At Christmas time, we received a letter from a chaplain. He stated that he had 2,500 men that did not have access to a PX and relied on getting packages from the states for basic hygiene items," Price said. "We did a big pack and ship party. Our youth got involved and many members of the church. The congregation, the youth, even the little ones in the Sunday school and Sandwich Club made cards. We were able to mail packages to 1,000 men and women.

"A little extra shopping for deodorant, candy, some beef jerky, a card, prayers and words of encouragement go a long way."

'Powerful testimony'
The Military Mission Project has since set up a collection bin in the church. Each week, members of the congregation donate items the ministry can pack and ship. Some church members give donations directly to support this ministry.

"Cheryl Price has received a hundred e-mails and pictures from solders and sailors in Afghanistan, Iraq and Turkey who received her care packages. I read most of the e-mails, and they give praise and glory to God for the church, the ministry and the gifts," said the Rev. Frank Fitzsimmons, associate pastor at the church.

"The care packages bring joy and hope and a little bit of home to our kids so far away," he said.

"The story of this work is a powerful testimony of how God works through people who reach out of their comfort zone to relieve the suffering of our young men and women in harm's way."
Matthew Arnold is one of the soldiers stationed in Iraq who has received a package from the church. He wrote a letter to the congregation soon after battling a kidnap-murder ring near Baghdad. He thanked members for two packages he had received that were filled with snacks, soap, shampoo and similar items.

"The great variety of snacks included ensured there was something for everybody, and we all send our deepest thanks," Arnold wrote. "My team commander is a big fan of Easter Peeps (candy), so he especially sends his thank you. We all thank you very much for remembering us and making today a little brighter."

Making a difference
Anthony Gucciardo is serving with the Navy in Iraq. He received a card from the church thanking him for his service and signed by a number of church members. He sent a letter in response, thanking the church for the "heart-felt thoughts and prayers."

"Your letters, cards, packages and prayers have a profound effect on not only the service member but our families, as well," he wrote. "A 'normal' deployment is challenging enough for military families. When you add the circumstances of the current conflict, those challenges compound themselves. As our immediate families struggle to persevere, we are shored up by the kindness, spirit and love freely given by fellow Americans like you. I thank you; my family thanks you."

The church mission team hopes the Military Mission Project will catch on and other churches will begin a similar ministry so every soldier might be able to receive a package every month.

"They are the heroes," Price said. "We can make such a difference in their lives by doing just a small thing by sending letters or packages."

*Skelley is a freelance writer based in Beverly Hills, Fla. This article first appeared in e-Review Florida United Methodist News Service.

Center offers safe haven for future volunteers

By Daniel R. Gangler



The Revs. David Cumbest and Jerry Beam lead the dedication service of the Seashore District Volunteer Center. Photo courtesy of the North Indiana Conference


D'IBERVILLE, Miss. (UMNS) - Waves of volunteers started arriving in this coastal town March 6 with the goal of constructing a place for kind-hearted souls to lay their heads when they come to help rebuild Mississippi.

More than 50 church leaders and volunteers gathered May 15 to dedicate the Seashore District Volunteer Center in D'Iberville. The project was completed April 27.

Some 256 volunteers from seven states and from more than 70 churches worked on the eight-week project, built on the grounds of Heritage United Methodist Church.



Volunteers from Indiana help construct the Seashore District Volunteer Center. A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose.


The building is a 50-by-75-foot hurricane-proof steel structure. It has a furnished kitchen, washer and dryer and nine sleeping rooms containing 46 bunk beds built by Hoosier work crews.

From the day Hurricane Katrina ravaged the area around Heritage Church last August, the congregation has opened its doors to those in need and has served more than 100 volunteers a week who have come to the region. Instead of sleeping on floors in Sunday school rooms and pews, relief workers now are sleeping in the volunteer center.

A Cajun dinner followed the dedication. Several Heritage members shared their stories and thanks for this gift.



Members of Heritage United Methodist Church and project volunteers gather for a celebration dinner following the dedication service. Photo courtesy of the North Indiana Conference.


"One said, 'I thought it would be just a place to sleep, but this is a beautiful building,'" recalled Kay Walla, chairperson of the World Missions Commission at St. Luke's United Methodist Church in Indianapolis.

A D'Iberville woman, who had helped throughout the project, expressed her gratitude by telling church leaders that working on the center helped her "out of her slump and back to living a meaningful life helping others."

Her home, badly damaged by Hurricane Katrina, was repaired by January, but the death and destruction around her kept her in distress.

"Another 11 members of their church family were killed and over half of the congregation had their homes damaged or totally destroyed," Walla said. "Then she got involved in our project and began to see help bringing hope, and it got her."

Those leading the dedication included the Rev. David Cumbest, pastor of Heritage, and Seashore District Superintendent Jerry Beam.

Keys were presented to Cumbest, whose congregation will manage the volunteer center. Al Dalton of Indianapolis, one of the volunteer construction managers representing Hoosier volunteers, also participated in the service. Other volunteer construction managers from Indiana included Ken Hollis of Whitestown and John Street of Carmel.

Bishop Michael Coyner, who leads the Indianapolis Area, had planned to be there for the dedication, but his flight was cancelled due to bad weather.

Gary Walla, a member of the project task force who also attended the dedication, said volunteer contractors reported that the center came in around $50,000 under budget due to efficiency, cost breaks and contributions by contractors in Mississippi. At its conception, the project was expected to cost $200,000.

To date, the Indiana Area United Methodist Foundation, which manages the project's finances, has received $119,651. The foundation continues to receive funds daily, and Executive Director Jim Gentry said it hopes to meet all the expenses of the project before summer.

Donations can be sent to the Seashore District Volunteer Center Project, Indiana Area United Methodist Foundation, 1100 West 42nd St., Suite 210, Indianapolis, IN 46208. Note on the check "Seashore District Volunteer Center." One hundred percent of all proceeds will go to this project.

*Gangler is director of communications for the Indiana Area of the United Methodist Church.

Drive Out Hunger Invitational Golf Tournament June 19, 2006

Stewart Orell has a suggestion for non-golfers who would like to support the Drive Out Hunger Golf Tournament--WHY NOT SPONSOR A GOLFER OR A HOLE?? Much of what Feed America First does stays right here in Middle Tennessee.
For more information call 1-615-512-5015 or 1-615-597-1325.

Charity offers hair, peace for cancer patients

By John Gordon*

Debbie Glatz yells encouragement to her 6-year-old son at a T-ball game. As Glatz faces the challenges of recently being diagnosed with breast cancer, she said her family means everything.
"I have to get better for them," she said.

Besides support from her family, Glatz will not be alone on her journey through months of chemotherapy and, later, surgery and radiation treatment. Bonny Diver, a breast-cancer survivor who founded Hair Peace Charities with encouragement from her United Methodist church, will be there to help.

"My way of being active to fight cancer is through education and through helping other women," Diver explained, "and doing what I can to attack the cancer that's out there and say, 'We're not going to let this get the best of you.'"

Hair Peace helped Glatz buy a wig when her hair fell out, a common side effect of chemotherapy. Diver said most Pennsylvania insurance companies will not pay for wigs, adding to the financial burden for cancer patients.

"I knew that that would be one of the hardest parts, losing my hair," said Glatz, a registered nurse at a children's hospital. "It happened 17 days after the first chemotherapy treatment, it started to come out."

Glatz called the wig a "big confidence booster." She said it helps her four children - Alex, 6; Sarah, 8; Justin, 12; and Jared, 14 - feel more at ease.

"One day, I just had a hat on without the wig," she recalled. "My 6-year-old son said to me, 'Mommy, you look scary without your hair. You don't look like my mom. I need you to put your hair back on.'"



Pat Julkowski (right), manager of a hair-loss studio for women, shows a wig to Hair Peace Charities founder Bonny Diver. Photo by John Gordon.


Diver, a radio announcer and a member of Ingomar United Methodist Church in Pittsburgh, offers more than wigs to cancer patients.

"We thought that would be our first initial contact to help women with getting the $100 voucher," she said. "By accepting that gift from us, though, they have to accept our prayers."
The names of cancer patients are put on a prayer list e-mailed to church members. Patients receive cards and offers for babysitting and meals. Church members also make prayer quilts.
A youth group from Ingomar plants flowers at the homes of cancer patients.

"This is a really nice thing to do for people who can't do it for themselves," said church member Sam Sweeney, 14. "It makes you feel really good about yourself, like doing something nice for someone else."

Church member Loris Ziener said the flowers brightened her yard-and her spirits. "They give me that continued hope," she added. "It's spring, it's that hope, and along with it the beauty of the flowers."

Diver also provides a listening ear and the guidance of someone who has gone through the difficulties of cancer treatment. "It's a fight," she said. "It's the fight that I want to have. It's the battle against cancer."

Diver was diagnosed with breast cancer three years ago. She found a lump after falling from a horse and breaking her shoulder. Now cancer-free, she credited her faith with helping her through surgery and radiation treatment.

"It really was very apparent to me that there was a presence of God in my life, and that's why I call it peace, p-e-a-c-e, Hair Peace," she said.

Glatz said she looks forward to the day when her treatment is over and she can volunteer with Hair Peace Charities.

"I want to get better and get through this, and help other people that are going through the same thing," she said. "Because it's tough, but there's an end to it. And I'm looking for that light at the end of the tunnel."

For more information on Hair Peace Charities, e-mail Diver at bdiver1@verizon.net or call (412) 734-5204.

*Gordon is a freelance producer and writer based in Marshall, Texas.

Links to Church World Service Stories--Indonesia, Pakistan, Displaced Families, Camp Settlements, Gift of the Heart kits

Indonesia: A New House--A Place to Call Home and be a Family Again
May 10, 2006--Visiting the sub-village of Lampu Kawat to see how it has progressed in its recovery since the December 2004 tsunami.
Full story at: http://www.churchworldservice.org/news/archives/2006/05/468.html


On the Horizon in Pakistan: Program Director Provides a View
May 10, 2006--After a week in Pakistan, CWS NY colleagues Chris Herlinger and Ann Walle sat down in the Islamabad offices with CWS Pakistan-Afghanistan Director Marvin Parvez for his thoughts on the CWS program and its future goals.
Full story at: http://www.churchworldservice.org/news/archives/2006/05/467.html


Visiting with Displaced Families: "The World is Here"
May 10, 2006--In Balakot, near the Bissian Construction Training Center, are a small number of tents left from a village that grew after the quake.
Full story at: http://www.churchworldservice.org/news/archives/2006/05/466.html

Psychosocial Support Team: "Talking Escapes the Tension"
May 10, 2006--The Psychosocial Support Team of CWS/Pakistan conducted assessments of camp settlements during the last six months.
Full story at: http://www.churchworldservice.org/news/archives/2006/05/465.html


Serious Challenges Remain as Pakistan Response Enters Eighth Month
May 9, 2006--Just as the effects of the October 2005 earthquake are still all too apparent throughout northern Pakistan, slow, steady but sure signs of recovery are also visible.
Full story at: http://www.churchworldservice.org/news/archives/2006/05/463.html


CWS Appeals for "Gift of the Heart" Kits
May 8, 2006--Needs stemming from the earthquake in Southern Asia in October 2005 and the hurricanes that affected the U.S. in the summer of 2005 are prompting CWS to urgently ask its member denominations to help replenish CWS's supply of CWS "Gift of the Heart" Kits.
Full story at: http://www.churchworldservice.org/news/archives/2006/05/464.html

Mississippi church perseveres through heartbreak of hurricane

By Tim Tanton*

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. (UMNS) - A steeple lies like a fallen giant across the tiny lawn of Main Street United Methodist Church. It is a conversation piece in this coastal town, one that prompts visitors to stop their cars and take photographs.



Toppled by Hurricane Katrina, Main Street United Methodist Church's steeple rests on the grass. A UMNS photo by Ginny Underwood.

The steeple symbolizes what churches throughout the Gulf Coast region have undergone since Aug. 29, when Hurricane Katrina bludgeoned Southern Mississippi and Louisiana, causing more than 1,500 deaths and leaving communities in ruins.

But Main Street United Methodist Church itself symbolizes much more. Despite the damages the church suffered, its day care center is again busy with 45 children, ministries are being performed, and the fellowship hall is alive with the constant presence of volunteer relief workers from around the United States. Cots fill the fellowship hall, and the parking lot behind the church is packed with RVs and trucks.

The steeple is broken, but the church goes on.
Pastor Rick Brooks smiles as he shows a group of visitors around the church. He is grateful the church wasn't damaged more than it was, though he feels deeply the pain of what happened to his community. One Sunday morning, while greeting people outside the church, he glanced down Main Street and felt a sinking feeling, a strong sense of "personal pain." He thought for a moment that someone else could preach that day, but the moment passed. "The Spirit helps us in our weakness," he says.

Much work lies ahead for the church and the town, but Brooks has faith. "I foresee this continuing to be a vital congregation," he says.

Churches fill key role
"The devastation of Bay St. Louis is heartbreaking," says Bishop Hope Morgan Ward, who leads the United Methodists in Mississippi. Though the church was badly damaged and the parsonage ruined by storm surge, the Brooks family continued to serve in significant ways, she says.

The Main Street Church building survived in large part because of the Old Town's location on a bluff. "Some floodwaters came up here, but we were kind of at the peak of the bluff," Brooks says.

In the sanctuary, he points out discolored spots on the wall, cracks and other signs of damage.
"It looked pretty rough in here," he says. Some of the water came in through the stained-glass windows, and the building also sustained wind damage. The church will be getting a new roof soon.

An insurance adjuster is looking at the damages suffered through wind and storm surge, Brooks says. "We know there will be some uninsured loss that will be substantial."

The United Methodist Council of Bishops' Katrina Church Recovery Appeal is vital to churches such as Main Street remaining in ministry. And churches like Main Street are vital to helping coastal communities rebuild.

"If you bring the church back and the schools back, then the people are going to move back," says Lynn Brooks, a middle-school teacher and the pastor's wife.

The Council of Bishops announced the appeal (http://umc.org/churchrecovery) last fall, and the effort will be kicked off at this year's U.S. annual conference gatherings in May and June. The appeal fund will help congregations such as Main Street stay on their feet, Pastor Brooks says.
Outside the church, Brooks sees a familiar couple walk by, and he greets them with delight.

Byron and Marjory Lynch are retirees who have been living with one of their sons in Charlottesville, Va., since Hurricane Katrina destroyed their beachfront home in Waveland, Miss. He is chairman of the board of trustees and she is co-lay leader. They plan on rebuilding.
"We're coming back," Byron assures Brooks. "Just give us time."

Like the Lynches, a high percentage of congregants relocated by necessity after the storm. The church had about 520 members before Katrina, and its membership is roughly half that now, but worship attendance is strong. Brooks actually held a worship service in the church on the Sunday after Katrina, and five people attended - including Lynn. Today, some 120 people are attending services, half of them volunteers or guests.

"There has always been a good spirit of worship here, but I would say it's been heightened since the storm," Brooks says.

He has tried communicating by letter with dislocated church members. "That's been a hard thing as a pastor: to have so many of those names and faces gone," he says. "It does hurt to know … many of them will not be back."

Fleeing the storm
The Brooks family itself had to flee as Hurricane Katrina moved toward the coast. The couple and their children - Catherine, 16, and John Wesley, 10 - took refuge with Lynn's parents, south of Jackson.

The Rev. Rick Brooks (left), his wife, Lynn (right), and children Catherine, 16, and John Wesley, 10, lived in the trailer in the background while the parsonage was undergoing hurricane repairs. A UMNS photo by Ginny Underwood

A few days later, Sept. 1, Rick and Lynn drove back to Bay St. Louis. As they crossed Interstate 10 on their way south, the landscape seemed surreal, Rick recalls.

"Once we passed I-10 … you could tell we were in a war zone."

Large billboards were bent over, and stores and offices were leveled, but they found the parsonage still standing, Lynn says. "I just cried because it was there."

Everything inside was covered with sludge and sediment. Nearly seven feet of water had filled the house, all of it coming in under the doors. Though many of their belongings were lost - including Rick's book collection, a painful loss for him - the family was able to salvage a lot.

The Brooks lived in two trailers in the driveway until the parsonage could be restored. One of the trailers was donated by United Methodists on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and the other came from a family member.

First United Methodist Church of Tupelo, Miss., played a major role in the restoration of the parsonage, which was cleaned out by volunteer teams from other areas of Mississippi and South Carolina.

"You just can't pay people to do what those people came and did," Rick says. He describes the cleanup as "the nastiest" kind of work.

At the end of January, the family moved into the remodeled house. "Keeping the family body and soul together is so much easier with that home base," Rick says.

Powerful connection
The family speaks with gratitude about the outpouring of support from United Methodists around the country. Main Street Church is partnering with the Kansas East Conference, which is providing leadership and coordinating volunteers there.

The broader church has made a difference through the presence of volunteers, prayers and financial support.

"We have felt the connection so powerfully," Brooks says. He is processing what it means to be in ministry following the hurricane. How members understand relationships with others as the body of Christ has changed, he says, as the church has hosted work teams and volunteers from around the country and reached out in its own community. Members are learning what it means to be the extended church, as well as the meaning of hospitality.

Says Brooks: "It will be virtually impossible for us not to be different."

*Tanton is managing editor of United Methodist News Service.

'We will not shrink from this challenge,' bishop vows

GULFPORT, Miss. (UMNS) - Sitting outside the shell of a church building, Bishop Hope Morgan Ward acknowledges the grief that Mississippians feel in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, but today she is all about resolve.

"The United Methodist Church is committed to this recovery," Ward says. "That commitment is long term."

Beside her looms the ruin of Mississippi City United Methodist Church, a gutted building that still holds random attributes of a vital church - a few chairs, a piano, a stuffed toy. Mostly, though, it has a lot of open space.



Debris from Hurricane Katrina sits in front of Mississippi City United Methodist Church in Gulfport. The church, founded in 1890, was damaged by Hurricane Katrina Aug. 29. The congregation is worshipping in a nearby warehouse that it owns. Bishop Hope Morgan Ward, who leads the United Methodist Mississippi Annual Conference, says churches are the “strategic centers” for nurturing and worship in their communities. A UMNS photo by Tim Tanton.


Like the church, much of the area along Mississippi's Gulf Coast still looks as battered as if the storm struck yesterday instead of half a year ago. While recovering slowly themselves, the churches at the same time are helping homeowners and their communities rebuild.

"We will not shrink from this challenge," Ward says. But she acknowledges the enormity of the job ahead. "The task of rebuilding is long, is arduous, is beyond our comprehension still."

Ward is encouraging United Methodists to help the churches in Mississippi and Louisiana rebuild through the Council of Bishops' Katrina Church Recovery Appeal. The appeal, developed at the council's meeting last fall, will be emphasized during U.S. annual conference sessions in May and June.

The bishops launched the appeal to raise money for rebuilding churches in the Katrina-stricken areas, help pay pastors' salaries and re-equip congregations for ministry in their areas. The appeal is different from the United Methodist Committee on Relief's fund-raising work, which is supporting humanitarian relief on the coast.

Mississippi City United Methodist Church exemplifies the pressing need.
"This is one of our most historic churches," Ward says. The church was founded in 1890 by a mission pastor who sent an appeal across the conference requesting dimes to erect the building.
Ward has preached twice here, including one occasion, right after the storm, when the church had its communion table set up in the parking lot. Today, about 100 members of the congregation meet for worship in a nearby warehouse that the church owns.

The conference is working with at least six congregations to figure out if their churches will be rebuilt. In one extreme case, Clermont Harbor (Miss.) United Methodist Church was left with nothing but its steps after the hurricane.

The conference is expecting more than $4 million in uninsured and under-insured losses to churches and related properties.

"It's essential that we respond to the bishops' appeal for the rebuilding of our churches," Ward says. "Our churches are strategic centers" for nurturing and worship, she says, noting that 30 conference churches are hosting work teams along the coast.

United Methodist giving is helping keep pastors in their communities, she says. "In Mississippi, the pastors who evacuated returned very soon to their congregations. A number of the pastors never evacuated and experienced the storm even as their homes and churches were destroyed. The presence of pastor leadership in a community is a shepherding gift to the entire community."

The Rev. Rick Brooks, of Main Street United Methodist Church in Bay St. Louis, is one such pastor. The financial support helps sustain congregations in need, he says. "I use that word 'sustaining,' and I really believe that's true. It's sometimes amazing the difference a little bit of help" can make.

Bishop Ward has been a source of encouragement "to know we are not going to be alone and that the churches will be here for us, and I have felt that personally in a great way," Brooks says. "I believe it because we've experienced help already, and it's made a tremendous difference."

"It's essential that our pastors be present in our devastated communities," Ward says. "… Unless the connection is helpful in garnering the resources for pastors' salaries, pensions and insurance, for the recovery of parsonages, pastoral presence will be diminished among us.

"And," she says, "the mission of our church as a whole is lessened."

'Finest hour'
Despite the adversity, Ward says she is seeing a new spirit in the congregations. At Heritage United Methodist Church in D'Iberville, members have collected sleeping bags and tool kits. "They have regained their strong sense of being a missional congregation."

Some congregations have drawn closer in connection with one another, such as a white church and an African-American congregation that have been worshipping together since their buildings were destroyed. Over and over, the bishop says, she hears people say this is their "finest hour."

"These months have been the most heartbreaking and the most inspiring, simultaneously," she says. The weight of grief in Mississippi is great, Ward says. It's a grief reflected in her account of a church member weeping that her town won't be rebuilt in her lifetime, or in a simple message spray-painted on the ruins of a home: "This was our house."

In some ways, the Gulf Coast area seems starker and harsher than it did right after the hurricane hit, she says. Now empty expanses exist where before there had been buildings, churches, homes, playgrounds. "There is nothing, where before there was life and vitality."

Vital connection
People on the coast are tired of the destruction, but Ward says she knows the strength of the Christian community. Daily, the conference receives thousands of volunteers. A week earlier, a team of Bolivians arrived to help, and tsunami survivors also have traveled to Mississippi for relief work. Volunteer in Mission teams stay for periods ranging from a week to months. The conference coordinates their work with a main response center and four regional offices, all funded by UMCOR.

"It is important for the whole church to stay connected, to stay vitally involved," the bishop says, "because this is our calling as God's people."

Staying connected will be important as a new hurricane season begins in June.
"We have learned what wind and water can do," Ward says. "We are in a stronger place as a result of this experience, in a better place to move forward into the hurricane season."

With help from the appeal, the church will remain strong on the Gulf Coast, she says. Information on the Katrina Church Recovery Appeal is available at http://umc.org/churchrecovery. Donations can be made online or designated for Bishops' Appeal #818-001 and sent to an annual conference treasurer.

"It is our genius as United Methodist people to live in connection with one another, Ward says. "We know that we have not suffered through this alone. We know that we don't face the future alone. … God has given us life together, and for that we are deeply grateful."

*Tanton is managing editor for United Methodist News Service.

The UMCOR World Hunger/Poverty program is accepting grant pre-screening applications, due June 15.

Priority consideration will be given to projects which exemplify the following principles:

1) The project is geared toward systemic change directed at the root causes of hunger and poverty, and has the potential to expand and/or generate financial or human resources.
2) The project shows collaborative partnership with community organizations and churches, and has the ability to leverage granted funds.
3) The project has strong evaluation components, will provide a model which, if successful, could be replicated elsewhere, and utilize volunteer services.
4) Include a current organizational budget, both income and expenses, for the sponsoring church or agency.

Email me and I can send you more information and an application.

Grace and Peace

Rev. Jason Brock
Dir. Love and Justice,
Disaster Response Coordinator
Tennessee Conference of the United Methodist Church
1110 19th Ave., S.
Nashville, TN 37212
615-695-2753 (office direct)
615-293-8594 (mobile)
615-329-0884 (fax)
jbrock@tnumc.org

Week draws attention to crisis of uninsured

A UMNS Report By Kathy L. Gilbert*

Before this day is over, more than 50 people in the United States will die because they have no health insurance and cannot afford the medical treatment they need to stay alive.



Dr. Ted Hill. The faith-based Salvus Center, founded by United Methodist Dr. Ted Hill, serves working people who have no health insurance. A UMNS photo by Kathy Gilbert



Dr. Ted Hill, a United Methodist physician in Tennessee, is one of many in the faith community who have decided not to stand by and watch that happen anymore. With the help of medical and business leaders in Sumner County, north of Nashville, he has opened the Salvus Center, a medical clinic committed to "helping those people who fall through the cracks."

The center is inspired by the biblical mandate to care for the sick and needy, Hill says.

May 1-7, faith communities across the United States are supporting Cover the Uninsured Week to draw attention to the need for health coverage for all. According to the most recent figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 46 million - including 8 million children - in the United States have no health care coverage.


Bishop Melvin Talbert is one of six retired bishops living within the Tennessee Annual Conference


The numbers of people without health insurance are increasing, not decreasing, says United Methodist Bishop Melvin Talbert, who is on the national interfaith advisory board for Cover the Uninsured Week.

"When we started (Cover the Uninsured Week) three years ago, we had 41 million," he says. "That number has increased to 46 million.

"We need to stop and raise the question: 'What would happen to us - those of us who are privileged to be insured - if we had a catastrophic illness and didn't have health insurance?' Well, that is the situation for 46 million people."

According to Cover the Uninsured Week's Web site:

+Nearly all the uninsured are under age 65.
+Members of racial and ethnic minority groups make up a disproportionate share of the uninsured population.
+Nearly 20 percent of uninsured are children.
+The likelihood of being insured increases as the level of education rises.
+Only 9 percent of families with income over $50,000 per year are uninsured, compared to 40.8 percent of people with family incomes below $5,000.

Employment-based health insurance continues to be the predominant source of coverage for the non-elderly population.

The United Methodist Church, in its Book of Discipline, holds that health care is a basic human right, as well as a responsibility both public and private. In Paragraph 162T of the Social Principles section, the church states: "We encourage individuals to pursue a healthy lifestyle and … also recognize the role of governments in ensuring that each individual has access to those elements necessary to good health."

The United Methodist Church's General Conference has also passed a number of health-related resolutions on the importance of health care for all.

The United Methodist Board of Church and Society advocates for "a national health plan that will provide comprehensive health benefits to everyone with an equitable and efficient financing system that can reduce the current rapid inflation."

"About 18,000 people die in the United States each year because they are uninsured and cannot get the medical care they need," says Cynthia Abrams, an executive with the Board of Church and Society. "It's time to put politics aside and make progress toward solutions. Tell Congress to make health coverage for Americans their top priority."

Talbert agrees it is time for action.

"It is a moral issue for us as the church to be supportive of getting all of our brothers and sisters covered because we care for each other. I hope United Methodists across the connection will pause this week, particularly on Sunday, to emphasize the importance of getting something done.

"We need to say to both parties - Democratic and Republican - the time is here when we need to stop talking and do something about this crisis that we are facing as a nation."

*Gilbert is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn.

Spanish speakers assist Louisiana hurricane recovery

By Betty Backstrom*

BATON ROGUE, La. (UMNS) - It is difficult to lose everything you have in a natural disaster. It is even more difficult to recover from the loss if language barriers exist.

Thousands of those affected by Hurricane Katrina, which struck the Gulf Coast Aug. 29, are Hispanic/Latino, with Spanish as their primary or only language. Not only are many of them struggling to rebuild because of insurance and financial problems, but communicating with English-speaking permit office employees, contractors and recovery volunteers is challenging for storm victims who are not fluently bilingual.

"The need for Spanish-speaking volunteers, specifically translators and skilled workers, is enormous," said Maribel Calvo, a missionary with the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries assigned to El Mesias United Methodist Church in Kenner, La. The church is the seat of Hispanic/Latino ministries for the denomination's Louisiana Annual (regional) Conference, which was hit hard by Katrina.

After learning of the need for Spanish-speaking help, the Rio Grande Annual (regional) Conference sent a contingent to New Orleans in April.

"We saw the coverage of the aftermath of Katrina on television. That alone just doesn't tell the whole story," said Rev. Isidro Pina, the United Methodist Committee on Relief coordinator for the Rio Grande Conference.

After visiting with the Rev. Samuel Calvo of El Mesias Church and his daughter-in-law, Maribel, the group was able to visualize how Spanish-speaking volunteers from the Rio Grande Conference can speed up the recovery process for so many storm survivors in the predominantly Hispanic/Latino area surrounding the church in Kenner.

During the fact-finding trip, members of the delegation translated relief process documents from English into Spanish to expedite the application process.

"We are now working in collaboration and partnership with the Louisiana Conference by recruiting Rio Grande Conference Volunteer In Mission teams to go to Kenner to help clean up and rebuild damaged homes," said Abel Vega Jr., director of connectional ministries for Rio Grande. "Our first VIM mission is scheduled for May 15-20. We plan to bring along bilingual volunteers to serve as case workers in assisting Spanish-speaking storm victims."

A family opens up

Some of the residents who will be helped by the May mission team are members of El Mesias Church.

Members Mario and Carla Alvarez had more than three feet of flood water in their home, several blocks away from El Mesias Church. United Methodist volunteer teams have gutted and replaced damaged Sheetrock, but the house needs a new roof.

"Not all recovery tasks can be completed by every volunteer," Calvo said. "Along with the need for volunteers to gut homes, there is a great need for professionals such as roofers, plumbers and electricians."

Two trailers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency are parked in the Alvarezes' small front yard. The home and trailers currently house five families, all related to Mario and Carla. Of the 15 residents, three are children.

Almita, Carla's sister, and her husband, Edwin, live with their 2-month-old son, Edwin Jr., in one of the trailers. "We were living in the Redwood Apartments, which are right across West Esplanade Boulevard from the church (El Mesias). The entire complex completely collapsed during the storm," Almita said.

Small miracles

Maxine Milla, originally from Honduras, moved from Connecticut to Louisiana with her husband when he retired several years ago. In her 70s, she has lived alone since her husband died shortly after moving to New Orleans.

"I am so grateful to my friends at El Mesias," said Milla, whose Kenner home was flooded. Church volunteers gutted the house and are installing Sheetrock.

Milla lives in the FEMA trailer that sits on her lawn. Many of the flowers in her once perfectly kept garden are blooming again. She points to a rose bush full of deep red blossoms. "The flowers on that bush used to be white before Katrina," Milla says, marveling at the little miracle represented by the color change.

The most poignant miracles are seen in the acts of kindness and the faith of the storm victims living in the worst of circumstances.

"The Hispanic/Latino residents in this area want to rebuild," Maribel Calvo said. "They know what it is like to leave a country and never go back. For them, New Orleans is home. If it is possible, and if they receive the right kind of help, many will come back."

*Backstrom is editor of Louisiana Now!, the newspaper of the United Methodist Church's Louisiana Annual Conference.

Prison van ministry helps families stay together

By John Gordon*

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - When Lisa Woods walked into a visitation room at the Tennessee Prison for Women, her 3-year-old niece - whom she hadn't seen in nearly a year - ran to greet her and jumped into her arms.




Lisa Woods (center), visits her nephew, DeaunTray Woods, 8, and niece, Condazia Murphy, 3. A UMNS photo by John Gordon.


"It's very exciting," said Woods. "At first, I thought I was going to cry."

Woods' niece, nephew, sister and mother went to the Nashville prison for a visit with the help of the prison van ministry at Concord United Methodist Church in Knoxville. Once a month, volunteers drive church vans on the three-hour trip from Knoxville to Nashville to help keep families connected.

"I wasn't able to drive myself down," said Woods' mother, Phyllis Woods. "I think it's very special and very good of them to do it."

Phyllis Woods said visits from family members are important to those in prison.
"I love her much, and in spite of all what's happened, I still need to keep in touch with her, no matter what," she said.

Lisa Woods' niece, Condazia Murphy, recited her ABCs, while her brother, DeaunTray Woods, 8, set up a game of checkers.

"It's fun to go see my auntie because she thinks of fun things to do," DeaunTray said.

Lisa Woods is serving two eight-year sentences on drug convictions. She is enrolled in a comprehensive rehabilitation program at the prison and said she is turning her life around.
"Every family has their trials and tribulations," she said. "But I feel like being able to see my family gives me a drive to keep going on."

The family spent several hours visiting, eating lunch and playing games.



Rebecca Brock (center) visits with van driver Jim Miller (right) and his wife, Judy, before beginning the trip to see her incarcerated daughter. A UMNS photo by John Gordon.



Lisa Woods' sister, Bridget Woods, said she enjoyed the visit, even after going through a thorough search at the entrance to the prison.

"It's kind of them to help people out who can't come this far," she said of the church.

The van ministry began nearly 20 years ago at Concord and has ferried hundreds of family members to visit Nashville prisons. Elaine Wynn, the church's director of adult and family ministries, said the program shut down temporarily when ridership declined but restarted about three years ago.

"To me, it's really important because prisoners - there's such a stigma involved with being in prison," Wynn said. "And often they are people who have just made mistakes. They're sort of forgotten folks, in many ways."

High gasoline prices have made it even harder for families to make the trips on their own, she added.

"I would like to see the church expand beyond visitation to helping prisoners when they're discharged, and maybe sponsoring families and helping children with education," she said.

Jim Miller, a church member and volunteer driver, said entire families are affected when someone goes to prison.

"When an individual that's related to other individuals goes into one of those institutions," he said, "everybody goes into one of those institutions who's related to them and loves them and knows them."

Another van rider, Rebecca Brock, visited her daughter in the women's prison. Brock said the van ministry has helped because she can no longer drive herself.

"It's just been a God's blessing, really has," she said. "You can talk to them on the phone and everything, but it's not like seeing them in person."

Meanwhile, Lisa Woods is not bitter about being caught and sent to prison.

"I'm glad that I got caught," she said. "Because if I wouldn't have got caught, I would still be out there doing the same things, risking my life, living the wrong life, and would never have gotten to experience this experience and this journey."

She said her days from morning to night are occupied with the prison's rehabilitation program. She said the van ministry is important in keeping her family together.

"It keeps us focused on being able to see our family again," she said. "It gives us faith. It gives us hope."

*Gordon is a freelance producer and writer based in Marshall, Texas.

United Methodist Men asks families to focus on hunger

By J. Richard Peck*

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - The United Methodist Men's agency is asking families to fast a meal in June to feed the hungry.

The churchwide Commission on United Methodist Men and the Virginia-based Society of St. Andrew are asking families to observe National Hunger Awareness Day on June 6 by fasting one meal and giving the amount that would have been spent on that meal to feed the hungry.
Operating under the banner of Fami1y (Fast A Meal In 1 Year), the National Association of Conference Presidents of United Methodist Men also encourages churches to use June 4 or June 11 as a Hunger Awareness Sunday. The presidents hope families will fast one meal and send funds to the National Hunger Relief Office in Nashville.

Glenn Wintemberg, president of the national association, proposed the plan to a March 3-5 gathering of conference presidents. The presidents unanimously approved the plan and hope other agencies and denominations will join the effort.

"The vision came to me while attending the 2005 National Hunger Summit in Washington," Wintemberg said. "With thousands of hunger advocates in one place, the setting was the perfect place for the idea to be born. This is another instance where if you open yourself to the possibilities of what God has in store, he will answer."

Churches that want to observe a Hunger Awareness Sunday can find Sunday school lessons and worship materials at the Society of St. Andrew Web site at www.endhunger.org/nhad. Individuals may download a Fami1y brochure at www.nacpumm.org. Printed brochures are available through the Commission on United Methodist Men or the annual conference hunger relief advocates.

World Hunger Day was created in 2002, at a time when there was a significant increase in the number of Americans unable to feed their families. Hunger-relief organizations such as the Society of St. Andrew were forced to cope with this increased demand while working in an environment with less food surplus and fewer charitable dollars available. National Hunger Awareness Day emerged as a way to increase awareness about hunger in America.

Recently, the Society of St. Andrew passed a 500 million-pound milestone. In cooperation with the United Methodist Men and other organizations, the society has distributed more than 500 million pounds of fresh produce to the hungry since its founding in 1979.

Hunger relief funds may be sent to the Hunger Relief Advocate, General Commission on United Methodist Men, P.O. Box 340006, Nashville, TN 37203-0006.

The Society of St. Andrew is an Advance special (#801600) of the United Methodist Church's second-mile giving program, the Advance for Christ and His Church.

*Peck is the communications coordinator for the Commission on United Methodist Men.