Email 
Print 
In Today's Hotline:
- US: California Wildfires Recovery
- JFON: A Family Reunited
- US: Talk About Malaria
- INDIA: Empowered and Transformed
- UMCOR: Shop UMCOR's Gift Catalog
US: CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES RECOVERY
UMCOR is helping the California-Pacific Annual Conference with initial disaster recovery efforts in response to recent wildfires that consumed acres of residential property in San Fernando Valley and surrounding areas. UMCOR is focusing on helping those most vulnerable and is working with the conference as damage is assessed.
No churches or parsonages in the Santa Barbara or Santa Ana districts were reported damaged by the fires. However, families from San Fernando First UMC, Northridge UMC and North Hollywood UMC suffered losses. Area churches such as Brea UMC, Anaheim UMC, Light of the Canyon UMC under the leadership Mark Ulrickson, Santa Ana district superintendent, stepped in to serve during the ordeal - providing a place for firefighters, setting up shelter, offering prayer support, or simply lending an ear to evacuees.
UMCOR will provide the conference with additional assistance as needed. Please help with your gifts to Domestic Disaster Response, California Wildfires, UMCOR Advance #901670.
*Mali Mwando and her adopted son, refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo, were seeking asylum in the US. Mwando was separated from her husband for eight long years. Her husband, a Justice for Our Neighbors' (JFON) client, helped file petitions on his families' behalf.
The Vice Consul at the US Embassy in Zambia repeatedly rejected the family's asylee petitions claiming that Mwando had engaged in human trafficking and suspected that her son's adoption certificate and even her marriage certificate were not authentic. She was told that her husband would re-marry and that she would never enter the US.
JFON Attorney Thomas Mills worked with an attorney in DRC to authenticate all of her documents, discovering in the process many contradictions. After submitting a 70-page rebuttal, approved documents were sent to the Vice Consul and the Mwanda family was finally reunited.
Support the JFON ministry that provides much-needed free legal services and helps families reunite. Give to Justice for Our Neighbors, UMCOR Advance #901285.
*Name has been changed.
On Nov. 19, leaders gathered at the United Nations to discuss the malaria epidemic as part of a panel discussion hosted by the US Mission to the UN. An expert panel, which included UMCOR's top executive the Rev. Dr. Sam Dixon, discussed "Achieving Our Targets: Stemming the Tide of Malaria in Africa."
Dixon spoke about the United Methodist Church's ability to reach remote regions where diseases like malaria are rampant. Dixon referring to UMCOR's innovative training program that mobilized approximately 800 Ivorian United Methodist volunteers to provide net recipients with basic malaria prevention knowledge and assisted with the distribution of long-lasting insecticide treated bed nets. The panel was on one accord regarding the importance of community education, awareness and malaria prevention.
Download the latest church bulletin to learn more about the net distribution in Cote d'Ivoire or use to collect a special offering. Please give to Community-Based Malaria Program, UMCOR Advance #982009.
INDIA: EMPOWERED AND TRANSFORMED
Ratna is an AIDS survivor from India. When she arrived at the Comprehensive Rural Health Project (CRHP) in Jamkhed, India, her husband and young child had both died of AIDS and Ratna herself was near death. Because of the services at CRHP, Ratna's life was transformed - she is now in good health and manages the program's farm.
CRHP is a United Methodist Global AIDS Fund-supported program that provides HIV/AIDS education, treatment and rehabilitation, particularly to women, who are HIV positive or at risk of becoming HIV positive. CRHP also helps women affected by HIV/AIDS reintegrate into the communities through job skills training, counseling and personal development workshops.
Observe World AIDS Day on December 1. Visit UMCOR's World AIDS Day page for more information and downloadable resources that may help save a life like Ratna's. Please give to the United Methodist Global AIDS Fund, UMCOR Advance #982345.
UMCOR: SHOP UMCOR's GIFT CATALOG
The season of Advent begins on Sunday, Nov. 30. Consider shopping for gifts that serve others to honor the birth of Jesus. UMCOR's Gift Catalog offers many alternative gift suggestions that not only reflect the many programs and projects that UMCOR supports around the world, but reflect the hope received by others through our giving.
Each dollar amount in the catalog represents what your gifts could buy and determines the approximate cost of each item for that region. 100 percent of donations will go to the designated program.
Visit the Gift Catalog now and give a gift that changes the world.
UMCOR provides emergency relief in many areas of the world. To find out more about UMCOR's ministries, please visit umcor.org. You can donate to any project by placing a contribution in the offering plate at a local United Methodist church; by sending a check to UMCOR, PO Box 9068, New York, NY 10087-9068; or by calling 1-800-554-8583, where credit card donations are accepted. You can also give online at givetomission.org. UMCOR is exempt from tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of the United States and qualifies for the maximum charitable contribution deduction by donors.
United Methodist Committee on Relief
General Board of Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church
Room 330, 475 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10115
Voice Phone: 1-212-870-3816; FAX: 1-212-870-3624
Email: umcor@gbgm-umc.org
Web: http://www.umcor.org
UMCOR. Be There. Be Hope.
UMCOR's mission is to alleviate human suffering-whether caused by war, conflict, or natural disaster-with open minds and hearts to all people.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
