Food shortages hurt church response to hunger

Delegates and visitors to the 2008 United Methodist General Conference load donated sweet potatoes for hungry people in the area around Fort Worth, Texas. A UMNS photo by John C. Goodwin.

By Linda Bloom*

For Marian Kelly, the sweet potato is an indicator of how the food market has changed.

In the past, the director of the potato project for the Society of St. Andrew would start receiving donations in March of older sweet potatoes from the previous year's crop. "The farmers couldn't really sell everything they had in storage," she explained.

Through its potato project, the United Methodist-related organization takes these donations of edible but unmarketable potatoes and delivers them to agencies that serve the poor. Donations for sweet potatoes have averaged a couple of million pounds within a three-month period.

During last two years, however, "we have noticed that it was getting later in the spring before the farmers started donating sweet potatoes to us," Kelly said.

She attributed several reasons to the delay in both delivery and tonnage. Sweet potatoes are being served in more restaurants, both baked and as fries, and they can be converted into a flour-like substance to enrich cake and other baking mixes.

More significantly, the use of corn in biofuels has directly impacted sweet potato use. Sweet potatoes are being used as a corn substitute--as a filler in dried pet food, for example--or are simply not planted as much as more acreage "is being diverted to raising corn for ethanol purposes," she said.

The net result will be a decrease in the number of "sweet potato drops" conducted by the Society of St. Andrew. In general, according to Kelly, donations are down. The organization moved just over 20 million pounds of food last year, compared to 30 million in 2006.

Additional fundraising will be a necessity. "It used to be that we could move food for a penny a serving a very few years ago," she said. "Now it's at least 2 cents a serving and even more."

Food, fuel prices soar
The impact of soaring food and fuel prices continues to make the news. In a July 2 letter to the "Group of Eight" world leaders meeting in Japan, World Bank President Robert Zoellick wrote about the implications of the "negative shock" of the high cost of commodities on the gross domestic product of the world's 41 poorest countries. "For the most vulnerable, especially poor children, they (GDP numbers) mean malnutrition, reduced resistance to disease, and too often death," he said.

On July 11, U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes announced that about 14 million people in the Horn of Africa are "in urgent need of food aid and other humanitarian assistance" because drought coupled with fuel and food price hikes are crippling local agricultural production.

An earlier report from U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization found 22 countries more vulnerable to such price increases because of the dependence on imports and the fact that many in those countries already are hungry.

Faith response
The magnitude of the crisis is shaping the response of religious denominations and church-related organizations.

The United Methodist Committee on Relief already has a variety of programs that include food security as a component. Relief work in Sudan, for example, has included seeds, tools and land for displaced farmers. Milk-bearing goats in Afghanistan provide families with milk, wool and additional income. UMCOR's Armenia program assists children and adults in institutional settings with a nutritious diet.

But the agency recently created a Global Food Crisis Fund to provide a broader way for the church to respond and be part of the solution to world hunger, according to the Rev. Sam Dixon, UMCOR's chief executive. The fund will allow them to address spot crises and strengthen various agricultural projects around the world, he said.

At Church World Service, a three-person team of staff executives was appointed by the Rev. John McCullough, a United Methodist pastor who leads the ecumenical organization, to look at the food crisis. The five regional coordinators for CWS, who met in June, have been asked to prioritize programs in their regions that impact food security.

United Methodist Richard Williams directs Church World Service’s social and economic development program. A UMNS photo by Linda Bloom.

A key priority will be fighting malnutrition in children ages 5 and under, according to Richard Williams, a United Methodist and director of the CWS social and economic development program. "We feel that will be of paramount importance," he said. "If you don't catch them early, you will lose a generation."

CWS is involved in a number of programs aimed at helping communities provide for their own food supply and sell excess food at market for additional income. In Guatemala, for example, the agency has partnered with the Food Resources Bank, UMCOR and other denominations to help indigenous families build greenhouses and patio gardens to grow vegetables.

CROP Walks
For years, Church World Service has raised money to address hunger and poverty issues--through projects such as the one in Guatemala--with its Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty Walk, more commonly known as the CROP Walk.

Many United Methodists are among interfaith walkers in some 2,000 U.S. cities and towns who participate in the annual event. A portion of the money raised is used for hunger relief in each community.

Williams hopes local churches will continue to participate in CROP Walks. "This increases the resources we have to put toward food security programs," he said. "That's how the average person can really make a difference."

At Stop Hunger Now, the focus is on both immediate relief and social solutions to hunger. "Long term, we're never going to end hunger dealing with crisis situations," said the Rev. Ray Buchanan, a United Methodist pastor who is the organization's founder and president.

He considers Haiti to be the "worst-case scenario" when it comes to hunger in the Western Hemisphere. In April, thousands of hungry Haitians were held back by U.N. peacekeeping troops as they demonstrated at the presidential palace. Soon afterward, Prime Minister Jacques-Édouard Alexis was voted out of office by opposition party lawmakers.

In the past two years, his agency has delivered two and a half million meals to Haiti, including about half a million in cooperation with UMCOR. Stop Hunger Now tries to think beyond immediate needs by providing meals to schools as an incentive for school attendance.

Information on how to donate to the Global Food Crisis Fund, UMCOR Advance No. 3019696, and the various other hunger-related organizations and projects supported by the United Methodist Advance can be found by typing the ministry name, project number or the word "hunger" into the search box at http://www.givetomission.org/.

*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.

Feed America First Needs Warehouse Space

Since early 2002 Feed America First has distributed donated food to small charities in Middle Tennessee from our warehouse at 714 W. Main in Murfreesboro. Our staff of three currently uses an office and about 4,000 square feet of warehouse, for which we pay $500 a month, including utilities. We have lost our lease as of September 15, 2008 so we need a new warehouse.

Feed America First needs from 5,000 – 15,000 square feet of warehouse space to allow us to continue this important work. We need access to at least two loading docks, so that we can load and unload our two box trucks and two refrigerated trailers, and a flat paved floor to operate our forklifts. We want easy Interstate access since we pick up food every day in the Metropolitan Nashville area, and we prefer to be in or near Rutherford County. We also own a portable office and racking which we can erect in a warehouse, and neither is permanently anchored so that we do not damage our facility. We are highly adaptable to the space we occupy, and we require no build-out.

Lease terms are negotiable, including short-term leases. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Feed America First may provide your company with some tax benefit for using your space. We would be happy to share warehouse space with another company or agency. Our funding comes from donations, grants, and special events, so resources are limited. However, we pride ourselves upon our efficiency: for each dollar donated we can provide enough food for 12 -15 meals, and our overhead is around 4%.

We chartered Feed America First as a nonprofit organization in June 2000 because we believe that the solution to hunger in America lies within us, on the grass roots level, rather than from the top down. We believe that hunger will cease to be a problem when we, you and me, refuse to allow our neighbors to go hungry.

Small agencies exist in every community, no matter how poor or rural, which are devoted to helping their neighbors. We choose to help these agencies in their work by directing food supplies to them: a loaf of bread, given as an act of love by a neighbor, will open doors! In 2007 we supported 150+ of these small agencies every month, distributing almost 3 MILLION POUNDS of food at no charge! And now the need is greater. We invite you to participate in helping to meet this most basic of human needs.

If you have interest in helping us find a new base of operations, please contact Tom Henry at tomhenry@feedamericafirst.com, or call (615) 512-5915.

Sincerely,
Tom Henry, Director

Pittsburgh church helps amputees in Sierra Leone

Amara Lappia, coordinator of the limb outfitting center in Sierra Leone, fits Mustapha Koroma with an artificial leg. The center is supported by The United Methodist Church. A UMNS photo by Christopher Heckert.

By Barry Simmons*

PITTSBURGH (UMNS)--For four years, Mount Lebanon United Methodist Church has sent money to a little-known prosthetics clinic in Sierra Leone to help amputees of the West African nation's civil war.

But it wasn't until a Sunday morning in June when the Pittsburgh congregation began to realize how their gifts have brought new life to people ravaged by violence and abuse.

Bishop George Bashore thanked the church for sending more than $100,000 to the limb outfitting center in the seaside town of Bo. Mount Lebanon is the clinic's only full-time supporter and, without the money, the clinic almost certainly would have closed, he said.

Bashore presented a video produced by United Methodist Communications on the clinic's work.

"It brings tears to your eyes," said church member Sara Mercer. "I don't think I understood it until I saw that film--seeing those children running around needing limbs and knowing that we were helping to provide them is marvelous."

Workers use common materials like aluminum and wood to fashion the limbs, which hardly resemble the high-tech, brushed titanium prostheses available in developed countries. Here, arms and legs are shorn from sheets of aluminum, hammered and welded into shape, and fitted onto one of several sizes of wooden feet.

Amara Lapia, who runs the clinic, holds up a leg he is working on to show the simplicity of his design. There are just three pieces: a leather strap, an aluminum calf and a wooden foot. Though not showy, they make all the difference in the lives of amputees who hobble into his clinic.

"When they have the … artificial leg," he says, "some of them will cry because this is the first time using the leg. They think they are nobody in society. But when we give them the limbs, they think they are part of us."

Most of Amara's patients, like Mustapha Koroma, are victims of Sierra Leone's decade-long civil war. "They captured me," he says, referring to the country's rebel forces. "I refused to join them, so they decided to amputate my foot."

He is one of thousands in Sierra Leone who have met similar fates. The war's toll on its young men has been so widespread that the country recently organized a national soccer league just for amputees.

The clinic is funded through the The Advance, the second-mile giving program of The United Methodist Church, which funds mission projects across the globe.

Built in 2003, this project serves about a dozen patients each day but is chronically short of funding. Annual expenses run up to $25,000, but the clinic desperately needs to hire and train more help.

Since 2005, Mount Lebanon's 1,400-member congregation has donated about $27,000 a year and wants to continue contributing at the same level. After the video, the church announced it would take up a special offering the following Sunday.

"It really gets to you," said member Sheldon Roush. "You want to go there yourself because they could do so much more if they had more funds."

While the video played during the service, several members in the congregation wiped their eyes.

"To hear the stories is one thing," said senior pastor the Rev. Oden Warman, "but to see the stories is another."

*Simmons is a freelance producer based in Nashville, Tenn.

United Methodists provide artificial limbs in Africa

Dr. Eugene Muembo fits Donald Gabba with an artificial leg at Kissy Hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone. The prosthetics were made at a United Methodist-supported clinic in Bo. UMNS photos by Phileas Jusu.

By Phileas Jusu*

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (UMNS)--A limb-fitting center in Bo has provided more than 200 artificial limbs for amputees since the end of Sierra Leone's civil war.

Most of the center's patients lost their limbs during the West African country's 11-year conflict. The center receives funding from the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries through its Health and Welfare Department.

During a March workshop at the Kissy Hospital in Freetown, 12 of 30 registered amputees received artificial legs. Amara Lappia, limb-fitting technician and head of the center, said the workshop was successful "because amputees who have been longing for artificial limbs, some for four years to no avail, now have new ones free of cost.

"Those who have received will pass on the good news to their colleagues, and I'm sure this place will be full to capacity the next time we are around," he said. "Some of the amputees, I'm told, did not come because they thought they had to pay for the service."

Needing miracles
Francis Koroma, an ex-soldier in the Sierra Leone Army, was injured after a bomb fragment hit his left foot in a battle to defend the diamond-rich district of Kono from rebel forces. His foot was amputated at the military hospital in Freetown after several unsuccessful operations. Koroma was hopeful to secure a job at a security agency that made acquiring an artificial limb a prerequisite for his employment.

Like Koroma, Donald Gabba needed an artificial foot to qualify for a job in security. He had walked about 12 kilometers from his home to a limb-fitting organization but gave up after several attempts because the demand exceeded the supply.

This time, he was encouraged to get one free. "That is my miracle, and I do not have words to express how grateful I am," Gabba said. "These young guys caught up with me on the street and invited me to come here and receive what I have spent the past six years running after. I opened up my arms right there and prayed for them for God's blessing."

Afterwards, Gabba was so excited that he would wake up in the middle of the night, pick up his artificial limb and start learning how to use it. "At times, I danced in my room while my wife looked on with delight," he said. With a new foot and a new job, Gabba believes he no longer will have to beg on the street for a living.

J.T.T. Johnson, a retired Anglican from the Church of the Holy Spirit in eastern Freetown, has been a beneficiary of the limb-fitting center since its establishment in 2002. That year, he received his first artificial limb at the United Methodist Church's Kulanda Town Limb Fitting Center from the same staff members participating in the Freetown workshop.

For "Pa Johnson," as he is called, the staff members are his brothers because they have been nice to him throughout the past six years. In March, he was at the Kissy workshop to replace a limb that had become damaged.

His left foot was amputated after rebels shot him in 1999 during a battle in Freetown at the height of the Sierra Leone civil war. His house at Kissy had been burned down, so he went to a mosque to take refuge, believing that the rebels might not enter a place of worship. The rebels found him, however. A shot pierced through his left foot into the right foot, "but the force of the bullet had reduced considerably by the time it flew into my right foot. That is how I did not lose the right foot as well," he explained, showing the scar on the right foot.

Found later that day, Johnson was taken by his children to the Kissy Government Hospital, where he spent three days in the hospital kitchen without treatment. Eventually, he was taken to Connaught, the main government hospital in Freetown, but it was too late to save his foot.

Restorative ministry
Saa Bundu Kamara, a Muslim from an amputee resettlement home in Grafton, an eastern Freetown suburb, also had an artificial limb that became damaged. Kamara said his new limb from the center "restored more meaning" to his life.

Bomb fragments hit his left foot during a 1996 fight between pro-government forces and rebels who had invaded the city. "I suffered for two weeks because almost all international and local medical agencies had fled the city," he recalled. "By the time I received medical attention, my foot had gone terribly bad and needed to be amputated to save my life."

The limb-fitting center in Bo uses a process from Jaipur, India, and is the only place in Sierra Leone where that type of prosthetic is available. Patients can wear normal shoes and clothes. The government hospitals use a foam material that gets heavy and mildew-ridden in the heat and rain.

The center receives financial support from The Advance, the second-mile giving program of The United Methodist Church. Donations can be made through the Landmine-Prosthesis Program, Advance No. 982580. Make checks payable to a local church and drop in the offering plate or to "Advance GCFA" and mail to P.O. Box 9068, GPO, New York, NY 10087-9068. Write the name of the ministry and the Advance number on the check. Credit card gifts can be made by phone at (888) 252-6174 or online at http://secure.gbgm-umc.org/donations/advance/donate.cfm?id=3019065.

*Jusu is a United Methodist communicator in Sierra Leone.

Sunday school hits links to build wells for Africa

Golfers line up their carts for the St. James United Methodist Church Golf Classic in Little Rock, Ark., to raise money for a new water well in the Congo. UMNS photos by Jane Dennis.

A UMNS Report
By Linda Green*

Proceeds from a golf tournament sponsored by a Sunday school class in Arkansas will provide a well with clean water for a village in Africa.

The June 21 golf classic, hosted by the Stepping Stone class of St. James United Methodist Church in Little Rock, netted $10,000.

The money will go to build at least one well in Kamina, a village in the North Katanga region of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Rick Layton, a golf enthusiast who proposed the tournament, said the event was a way to respond "to God's tugging at my heart to do some type of activity" that involved the entire 3,700-member St. James congregation in a mission that would "make a life-long impact to save lives."

The tourney included 19 four-person teams from area churches and community and business organizations. "We had participation that we were not anticipating, and we were very pleased," said Paige James, who helped organize the fundraiser.

The 25-member Sunday school class learned about water needs in Kamina from a delegation from the church's Arkansas Annual Conference that visited the village last July. James said church members have witnessed poverty through mission projects in Mexico and other Third World countries "but it is nothing like Kamina," which is made up of "people who just have nothing … but they have spirit."

James said it quickly became clear that the $6,000 cost to construct a well "seemed like nothing when it would make a huge difference in the lives of so many people."

Water is a life-source
Kamina's 300,000 people now have only five wells to provide clean water. A river is the nearest and easiest source of water but is contaminated and filled with harmful bacteria. In North Katanga, women and children walk miles daily in search of water, even dirty water. Water is a life-source and, without it, disease and death run rampant, according to the North Katanga Conference Web site.

Led by Bishop Nkulu Ntanda Ntambo, United Methodists in North Katanga are working to dig additional wells for clean water.

"To be able to provide this one little well and increase the total from five to six is huge," James said.

Since the class exceeded its fundraising goal of $6,000, members are considering raising additional money for a second well and other needs.

"Members of the Stepping Stone Sunday school class feel passionate about the call to do what they can to save lives by providing something many of us take for granted: good, clean, safe drinking water," said Jane Dennis, a class member and editor of the Arkansas United Methodist, the newspaper of Arkansas United Methodists.

The idea of tapping into a fresh and accessible water source right there in the village was appealing to the 24-year-old class. "We couldn't imagine not having water readily available, or children getting diseases or even dying for lack of clean water, as they do in places like the Congo," Dennis said.

The Arkansas Conference has a mission partnership with the church's North Katanga episcopal area that includes developing relationships, mission efforts and educational scholarships, as well as supporting clergy and laity in ways such as purchasing Bibles or bicycles.

The well project supports one of four areas of focus approved for the denomination at the 2008 General Conference: to improve global health and fight killer diseases of poverty.

The conference's goal is to involve at least 10 congregations in supporting ministries in the Congo by 2013. Money already had been raised to build 12 wells, and the St. James' effort increases the number to 13.

UMCOR project
Providing clean water is one of 11 projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo by the United Methodist Committee on Relief, annual conferences and churchwide agencies. UMCOR states that the water project (Advance Special #127730) is an answer to "prayer for those women and children who must carry water for miles so their families can drink, bathe, and cook with clean water." The relief agency recently opened an office in Kamina and is seeking funds for additional wells.

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

United Methodists gear up for Missouri flood relief

The Rev. Karla Cunningham (left) and Dawn Martin discuss flood response at Asbury United Methodist Church's family life center in Foley, Mo. UMNS photos by Susan J. Meister, UMCOR.

A UMNS Report
By Susan J. Meister*

Dawn Martin pointed out one flooded home after another in Winfield and Foley, Mo. "One of 'my kids' lives there," she said, sadly.

For the two weeks in June before the earthen levees failed in the river towns along the Mississippi River, residents anticipated the coming floods and packed, moved and stored as many of their possessions as possible.

Martin, youth director at nearby St. Stephen United Methodist Church in Troy, wanted to make sure the kids in her youth group got out of their homes and had a place to stay. Now that floodwaters have inundated their homes and so many others in the area, she is motivated to be part of the long-term recovery effort.

"I want to help find the families that need help but might not ask," she said. "I want to help them find the resources they need."

The United Methodist Committee on Relief, in close cooperation with the denomination's Missouri Annual (regional) Conference, has begun the long process of recovery in the river towns of Lincoln County. The effort will draw on people like Martin as well as resources and organizations throughout the community.

Regional disaster
The flooding, about 45 miles northwest of St. Louis, occurred in late June as the Mississippi River rose above flood stage. Missouri's overflow was part of a region-wide pattern of heavy spring rains that also caused severe flooding in Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana.

Water spilled into hundreds of homes and thousands of acres of farmland in the 13-mile stretch along the river between Elsberry and Winfield. Residents were waiting for waters to recede to begin damage assessment, cleanup and repair. And, with levees no longer protecting the towns, they anxiously watched forecasts for additional heavy rains.

Jeff Baker, staff with the Missouri Conference Office of Creative Ministries, is ready to deploy volunteers when the time is right. "Because this area has been declared for (FEMA) individual assistance, we don't want to just run in and help because we could jeopardize the families' ability to receive funds," he said. "When the long-term recovery committee is in place, we will begin asking for volunteers in mission to help rebuild."

Long-term recovery
In the meantime, Martin, Baker and others are cooperating with Sts. Joachim and Ann Care Service, the lead agency for long-term recovery in Lincoln, St. Charles, Warren, Montgomery and Pike counties. Sts. Joachim and Ann has a long association with UMCOR, most recently as one of the agencies funded by Katrina Aid Today, a case-management program that helped local families displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

"Lincoln County was the most affected (by recent flooding)," said Miriam Mahan, executive director. "We are educating all the officials and organizations. Things are coming together beautifully. We are meeting with the 'movers and shakers' in the community, recruiting volunteer case managers, and finding places to distribute food and cleaning supplies."

As long-term recovery begins, the work of case managers is critical as they encourage families to register with FEMA and other agencies to access assistance. They help connect those affected with resources and volunteer labor.

UMCOR is recognized as the leader in the techniques of disaster case management. Karen Benson, Missouri Conference disaster response coordinator, will conduct the first training class for case managers in Hannibal on July 12.

Connecting and responding
"Of course I had heard of UMCOR, but I didn't realize how the connectional system worked until the floods," Martin said. "Within two hours, nearby United Methodist churches delivered 350 meals to sandbagging crews. And UMCOR is so respected in disaster response circles. It is amazing."

"Missouri is following a proven path of local response with UMCOR partnership," said the Rev. Tom Hazelwood, executive for domestic disaster response. "UMCOR brings money, consultation, training and volunteer coordination to the table.

"While other volunteer organizations focus on rescue and initial relief, UMCOR takes a holistic approach that tries to touch people's lives throughout the process. United Methodists are involved in everything from delivering meals, to helping with sandbags beforehand to mucking out the houses and focusing on long-term recovery after the disaster."

Donations to help those affected by floods can be made to UMCOR Advance #901670, Domestic Disaster Response, Midwest Floods. Drop checks in church offering plates or mail them directly to UMCOR, P.O. Box 9068, New York, NY 10087. Write Advance #901670 Midwest Flooding Relief on the memo line. Credit-card donations can be made by calling (800) 554-8583 or online at http://www.givetomission.org/.

Up to 10 percent of gifts for Midwest flooding may be used to repair United Methodist churches and their facilities that were not insured for catastrophic losses.

*Meister is domestic disaster response correspondent for UMCOR.

Flooded Cedar Rapids church offers witness in crisis

A volunteer removes items from flooded-out Salem United Methodist Church, a pillar in downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa, since 1873. City officials are reviewing which structures will be allowed to be salvaged and rebuilt in the flood-prone area. UMNS photos by Marta W. Aldrich.

By Marta W. Aldrich*

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (UMNS)-The congregation of Salem United Methodist Church isn't accustomed to being on the receiving end of ministry.

Whether feeding the homeless, dispatching mission teams, hosting sports leagues or collecting special offerings, the historic downtown congregation has lived up to its moniker of being a "warm heart in the center of the city" for more than a century.

However, after the floods of 2008 filled its basement and sanctuary June 13, as well as damaging thousands of homes in surrounding working-class neighborhoods of Cedar Rapids, the mission-minded church is learning to be "on the receiving end of the body of Christ," according to the Rev. Linda Bibb, pastor.

"We need not fear the future because God is already there," says the Rev. Linda Bibb.

Now that the waters have receded, volunteers converge daily near the now-gutted church building to receive cleanup assignments for the church and its residential neighbors, most of whom have no flood insurance. More than 4,000 homes were partially submerged in an area that Bibb calls "the worker bee side of town."

"All in all, (the floods) left us speechless to begin with, me included," said Bibb, standing in the church parking lot as volunteers scurried around her. "But it's given me more sermons than I can preach because every person has been a sermon. So we went from speechless to shouting in great witness, and now that people are starting to come to help us … it's overwhelming."

Among those volunteers was the Rev. Scott Meador, part of a 15-member volunteer team from Solon United Methodist Church in south Cedar Rapids. "This could be my church," said Meador, as he carried soggy planks of wood to the curb. "If it were, I would hope people would come to help our church out as well."

Part of another group, 14-year-old Ali Robinson had quit her softball team so she could help clean up her community. "I just didn't see any point in playing ball when I could be here," said the teen, a member of St. Paul's United Methodist Church.

Continuing ministry
Throughout the disaster, Bibb and her congregation have ministered to members and neighbors displaced when the nearby Cedar River overran its banks. They ensured people were evacuated to safety and helped to sandbag both the church and many homes as the river level inched upward. When they laid the last sandbag at the church property on June 11, however, Bibb decided Salem would be the last place they would come once the water receded. Instead, "we discover who needs us most in the community and we go there first because the church is not the building," she said.

The needs have been widespread in Iowa's second largest city.

"When I say that people have lost everything, that's not a euphemism. That's not being melodramatic. That's true. It's honestly true," Bibb said. "… Every single person at Salem either has been impacted themselves personally or their close family members have, or they worked at a business that is no longer viable."

Despite the upheaval, the church's daily ministry has continued. A wedding ceremony was moved to a local hotel. Sunday worship services have shifted to Lovely Lane United Methodist Church. An infant was baptized using water from a dehumidifier, since city officials restricted the use of drinking water in the wake of the floods.

'God is already there'
Meanwhile, as city leaders decide which buildings will be allowed to be rebuilt in flood-prone areas of Cedar Rapids, the future is uncertain for Salem and its location on First Avenue. The church was established there in 1873 as an Evangelical United Brethren congregation and today has 331 members.

"This old building has been through … at least five floods where water has gone into the basement, and it does have a sandstone foundation. And we're not sure if this is the last time that this dear old lady," said Bibb, her voice cracking with emotion as she gestured toward the building, "that this dear old lady will be able to house the Emmaus walk.

"We have housed 134 consecutive Emmaus weekends in this facility since 1987 … (and) 17 Chrysalis flights that we have held here. … There's been so much ministry that has been poured out."

No matter the outcome, Bibb declared that God is steadfast and urged the church to be faithful in all things.

"We need not fear the future because God is already there," she said. "God's already made those plans for us. And if we're faithful, we'll be in line with those plans."

After nine years at Salem, Bibb was reassigned to Asbury United Methodist Church in Webster City prior to the floods and preached her final sermon to the Cedar Rapids congregation June 29. The Rev. John Louk of Des Moines became Salem's pastor this week.

For information about how to help in Iowa, visit the Iowa Annual Conference Web site at www.iaumc.org/storms2008. To donate to the United Methodist Committee on Relief's work in the Midwest, drop checks in church offering plates or mail them directly to UMCOR, P.O. Box 9068, New York, NY 10087. Write Advance #901670 Midwest Flooding Relief on the memo line. Credit-card donations can be made by calling (800) 554-8583 or online at http://www.givetomission.org/.

*Aldrich is news editor of United Methodist News Service.

Flood disaster includes 'serendipity moments'

By Marta W. Aldrich*

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (UMNS)--In flooded-out Cedar Rapids, United Methodists are talking about "serendipity moments"--those times when God offers small encouragements and assurances to people in unexpected ways.

The encouragements take many forms. A church team from Ohio had planned a mission trip to Virginia but, when housing arrangements fell through at the last minute, ended up going to Iowa instead. A United Methodist pastor, whose Cedar Rapids church was flooded, discovered that the waters stopped rising right at the foot of the sanctuary cross hanging on the wall, so he "took up his cross" and carried it to safety.

The Rev. Beth Straw is pastor of St. James United Methodist Church, one of three Cedar Rapids, Iowa, churches badly damaged by severe flooding in recent weeks. A UMNS photo by Marta W. Aldrich.

The Rev. Beth Straw's serendipity moment came Friday, June 13, after the Cedar River crested almost 20 feet above flood stage and filled the basement and first-floor sanctuary at St. James United Methodist Church. Thousands of homes in the surrounding neighborhoods also were partially submerged.

Opening The Upper Room devotional guide, the Scripture for the day was Isaiah 43:2-3: "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; … the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you … For I am the Lord your God … your Savior."

The Scripture's placement, said Straw, was not by chance.

"I preached on that the following Sunday," said Straw, who moved St. James' worship services to St. Marks United Methodist Church, also in Cedar Rapids.

Straw said the Holy Spirit put that passage "way ahead of time in The Upper Room … (so that) these people will know they will not be overcome--that God is with them."

Launched in 1935, The Upper Room is a publication of Upper Room Ministries at the United Methodist Board of Discipleship, which provides tools for spiritual formation and development.

The writers of the daily meditations are Christians of various denominational and non-denominational backgrounds, both laity and clergy, and come from around the world. The writer of the June 13 devotion, called "Depending on God," was Philip Polo of Nairobi, Kenya.

The Upper Room is translated into 40 languages and circulated in more than 100 countries.

*Aldrich is news editor of United Methodist News Service.

UMCOR Sager Brown in Urgent Need of Flood Buckets

UMCOR Sager Brown Depot has nearly depleted its supply of flood buckets after shipping thousands of buckets in response to recent floods. This low inventory is a serious concern especially when the Atlantic hurricane season is just beginning.

Depot executive, Kathy Kraiza, reports, “Since June 17, we have shipped more than 5,000 flood buckets in response to requests from annual conferences in the mid-west. We are down to only 200 flood buckets in stock and we are only two weeks into the hurricane season.” Sager Brown distributed 4,008 buckets in all of 2007. Increasing the supply of flood buckets has become the most urgent need at the Depot, as communities in the Midwest continue the clean-up process.

These five gallon buckets are filled with supplies to enable people to begin the overwhelming job of cleaning up after a flood or hurricane. UMCOR Sager Brown Depot and other United Methodist depots in the connection collect, package and ship buckets to flooded areas all over the United States.

UMCOR needs your help to ensure this kind of support continues to be readily available. The many emergencies over the past months have depleted response supplies with 6,624 flood buckets shipped to emergencies around the country in the past six weeks.

How You Can Help
Pleasant Hills UMC in Middleburg Heights, Ohio recently raised $700 to purchase flood buckets. They contacted Wendell Procter of Asbury UMC in Franklin, La. who then used the money to purchase supplies, assemble the buckets and deliver them to the UMCOR Sager Brown Depot.

Laura Fiffick, secretary at Pleasant Hills, explained, “We wanted to purchase as many flood buckets as possible and knew that if we were to send the supplies directly, a lot of the money would be spent on shipping.” She continued, “People were so excited to know their donations would be put to direct use that we exceeded our goal by $200.”

Congregations and individuals are urged to send completed buckets, bulk materials or a contribution to purchase supplies. A list of the contents can be found here [MH1] , or you can give $45 towards the purchase of these items for each bucket.

Your cash gift will enable UMCOR to purchase needed relief supplies. Checks can be mailed to UMCOR, PO Box 9068, New York, NY 10087. Write “UMCOR Advance 901440, UMCOR Material Resources” on the memo line of your check. Online gifts can be made at www.givetomission.org. One hundred percent of every donation to any appeal, including appeals for flood buckets, goes to support recovery efforts.

Couple make food deliveries for people - and pets - in need

By Reed Galin"

Gail (center) and Dick Buettgenvach deliver food to people and pets in Jackson County, Mich. UMNS photos by Reed Galin.

CONCORD, Mich. (UMNS)--The old van needed a jump-start this afternoon. Dead battery.
Now it plows along an old country road, with 400 pounds of groceries and pet food providing ballast in the back.

"We'll be fine," Dick Buettgenvach assures his wife, Gail. "Just remind me not to shut off the engine when we stop." Then he jokes about how neither will remember that precaution, since they're both 76.

Gail isn't worried. She's been making do all her life, and today is no different. There's a job to do. People and animals depend on them and will not be let down, not by Gail and Dick Buettgenvach. Not ever.

The Buettgenvachs, hunger relief coordinators for Concord United Methodist Church, have loaded the van with food from the North Parma United Methodist Food Pantry of Jackson County, Mich., along with 40-pound sacks of pet food from businesses willing to donate.

As they set out on their rounds, Gail gazes out the window at old farms and new subdivisions that weren't on this road when they started making deliveries 10 years ago. Sunlight sprays through a canopy of trees, illuminating her face like a flickering old movie as she talks about the people to whom they will deliver this Friday, as on countless others.

"I figure I can't judge other people. You don't know what someone else's hardships are. Their face doesn't always show what things really are. So you don't judge them because someday you'll be judged yourself."

God's grace
The first house is small but well kept. As Gail observed, from the street you cannot tell what is going on inside. Dick does a 76-year-old version of spryly leaping from the van and calls out a loud "hello" as he opens the tailgate. A woman about their age-like most of the recipients on their route-emerges with a smile that seems to convey relief. Her dog greets the visitors familiarly as they carry food up to the porch. Sniffing the bags, tail wagging, the pup understands what this visit means.

Food recipient Gerald Fisher thanks the Buettgenvachs.

The exchange of food and pleasantries takes only a few minutes.

"Thank you, faithful people!" exclaims the woman as Gail and Dick climb back into the van. "It's more helpful than you know."

But she's mistaken. They do know.

"There but for the grace of God," says Gail, as Dick adds, "go I."

'A very sinful thing'
They raised six kids and never made a lot of money. They have no health insurance, and Gail is putting off knee surgery because it will inhibit her ability to help with the food deliveries. If not for a generous relative, they explain, they could be reliant on a food bank and unable to get around themselves.

"I still worry," says Dick, who grew up dirt poor. "We watch our pennies." Because, Gail adds, anyone who thinks they couldn't end up needing such help--especially if they must rely solely on Social Security--is foolish.

"I feel great sadness for the financial and personal situations, and it just bothers me no end to see them so alone and segregated from the mainstream of society," Gail says.

She gets angry if she focuses too much on the big picture. "It's horrendous that we pay so little attention to our senior citizens. ... To me this is a very sinful thing." So, she doesn't think so much about it, she says. She and her husband just keep doing what they can.

When they realized that people were sharing their food deliveries with hungry pets, Gail and Dick started buying pet food with their own money. Over time, they found businesses that would donate.

Driven by faith
Gail limps out of the van at each stop to chat for a moment, love on the animals, and help with the smaller bags. It is faith that drives her, Gail says. "Feed his hungry. That's what he (God) expects of me. We breathe the air. We eat the food. And we don't get it for free, we have to repay it."

Dick jokes that it is Gail who drives him. "I'm just labor. She's the brains of this outfit."

His great blessing, he says, is Gail. "The least I can do is try to share my good fortune with people who aren't as lucky." He has battled cancer and has lost strength, but that just means the 50-mile route takes a little longer than it used to.

The farther from town they get, the more obvious the need becomes. People seem less able to keep up appearances, even if they were so inclined. By the time Gail and Dick get to an old trailer hidden in the trees, the last of eight deliveries, they are struggling to get the bags out of the van, but they don't complain. They offer another cheerful hello to a resident who is unable to stand and greet them.

Uncertain future
The couple are very much aware that they can't keep this up forever, but no one has been found to take over the deliveries.

As one food recipient humbly observed, "Without them, I would have to do without. But, I don't think I could have the patience to do what they do, dealing with folks like me. Guess most of us are just more selfish."

About to turn for home, Dick realizes they forgot about the battery problem and shut off the engine, but it turns over slowly and starts. With admiration, he observes that the van has been through a lot of hard miles since they began the deliveries. A few lights are taped on, dents are numerous, another new battery is needed, "but it's still perking along" he says, his comments an obvious metaphor.

"We'll keep it going. We'll do what we have to."

*Galin is a freelance producer based in Nashville, Tenn.

UMCOR presence is 'sign of hope' in Midwest floods

(From left) United Methodist Barry Cuvelier talks with Bishop Gregory Palmer and UMCOR representative Sandra Kennedy-Owes about the impact of a May 25 tornado and June 8 floods on New Hartford, a small farming community in northeastern Iowa. UMNS photos by Marta W. Aldrich.

By Marta W. Aldrich*

NEW HARTFORD, Iowa (UMNS)-Marcia Young looked left, then right, at piles of household debris as her minivan crept down Main Street in this small farming community.

"You can smell flood," said Young, disaster relief coordinator in Iowa for The United Methodist Church.

She was referring to the smell of dirty water, even though the sun was shining on this day and the latest floodwaters had mostly drained away. Left behind were piles of musty-smelling Sheetrock, insulation, couches, refrigerators and sludge.

Sandra Kennedy-Owes, with the United Methodist Committee on Relief, sat beside her in the passenger seat. As UMCOR's executive secretary for U.S. disaster response, Kennedy-Owes was getting a firsthand look at her agency's next big domestic project: helping the church's Iowa Annual (regional) Conference assist storm-weary residents.

At the request of the conference, Kennedy-Owes arrived June 22, following weeks of severe weather that began May 25 when a tornado bounced through nearby Parkersburg and the New Hartford area. Heavy rains and flooding followed, and more than 200 homes were impacted in New Hartford, population 659. Across the state, 70 of Iowa's 99 counties have been declared federal disaster areas due primarily to floods.

Kennedy-Owes and Young joined United Methodist Bishop Gregory Palmer in a tour of the state's northeastern counties, where swollen rivers spilled into neighborhoods and towns.

They visited First United Methodist Church on Water Street, where the basement was still being mopped out, and spoke with the Rev. Betsy Piette, whose own belongings were destroyed in both the tornado and the flood. They walked along Saratoga Street with Barry Cuvelier, a church member and school teacher, who told how more than 200 townspeople cleaned up the local school-as well as the baseball field so that Little League season could resume--even though most of the volunteers could have stayed home to muck out their own houses.

"That's the beauty of small-town Iowa," Young said. "Everybody helps everybody."

UMCOR on the ground
UMCOR has provided two $10,000 emergency grants for mobilization, and this week 1,500 flood buckets were to be distributed in Iowa to help with cleanup. Long-term recovery work lies ahead.

"People on the staff of UMCOR have been available to us at every turn," Palmer said. He called UMCOR's presence a "sign of hope" in the Midwest.

"It is a huge symbolic reminder because UMCOR means something to a lot of United Methodists that The United Methodist Church is here and will be committed connectionally as well as in the annual conference across a long span of time."

Iowa Gov. Chet Culver has said the floods of 2008 will be remembered as "one of the five worst natural disasters in U.S. history, given the scope and magnitude of the devastation," including an estimated $3 billion in crop damage. Flooding from heavy spring rains also has damaged parts of Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Nebraska.

Kennedy-Owes emphasized that UMCOR is first and foremost a resource for local response and long-term recovery. "We partner with the local conference, and the conference takes the lead," she said.

Its resources include money, consultation, training and coordination with the denomination's Volunteers in Mission program. The first VIM teams were expected to arrive in Iowa this week.

"We also have a spiritual and emotional component, training pastors as well as lay people to address those spiritual and emotional needs of families impacted by disasters," Kennedy-Owes said.

The Rev. Mary Gaudreau, UMCOR's spiritual and emotional care consultant, was to arrive in Iowa this week to tour damaged areas, consult with conference leaders and plan a local training for late July.

Local ownership
Young said it's important for the Iowa Conference and local churches to take the lead in responding to flood damage. "UMCOR's philosophy is that the conference and the town own the disaster, and they're here to help the conference walk through that ownership," she said. "It's not UMCOR's disaster; it's Iowa's disaster. … UMCOR partners with us."

And while many volunteer organizations focus on helping in the rescue and initial relief phase, UMCOR's focus is long-term recovery.

"After FEMA goes, after the insurance company goes, after the Red Cross is gone and the Salvation Army and other voluntary organizations, The United Methodist Church will be there to turn off the lights," Young said.

For information about how to help, visit the Iowa Conference Web site at www.iaumc.org/storms2008. To donate to UMCOR's relief efforts in the Midwest, drop checks in church offering plates or mail them directly to UMCOR, P.O. Box 9068, New York, NY 10087. Write Advance #901670, Midwest Flooding Relief, on the memo line. Credit-card donations can be made by calling (800) 554-8583 or online at www.givetomission.org.

*Aldrich is news editor of United Methodist News Service.