ATLANTA – Shortly after Hurricane Helene inundated communities in Western North Carolina with 12 inches to nearly three feet of rain in just a few days late in September, Spruce Pine United Methodist Church in Spruce Pine, North Carolina, became a hub for disaster relief. It wasn’t their plan, but God needed a way to send help to this community, and this congregation provided that way. Though the church had neither electricity nor water, it was spared severe water damage, and on the third day after the storm, members of the congregation joined their pastor, Rev. Holly Cobb McKim, at the church, assessing their own situation and turning to help others.

Lilla Marigza, a freelance reporter with United Methodist News Service, notes that for weeks following Hurricane Helene, every square foot of Spruce Pine UMC was in service to the community. It offered a food pantry, water, a clothing closet and baby supplies. The Western North Carolina Disaster Response office asked if the church would be willing to host Early Response Teams (ERTs) already making plans to travel to the region to serve. Within days, the United Methodist Committee on Relief sent the conference a grant to help with relief efforts.

The church set up dormitories in children’s ministry rooms and constructed a temporary shower facility outside for what turned out to be literally hundreds of UMCOR-trained ERTs coming from conferences across the country. They visited for a week at a time to serve the people in this area of Western North Carolina who have seen tremendous devastation, loss of property and natural habitat and worst of all, loss of family members.

McKim noted: “I’ve been United Methodist all my life. How many times have we taken up special offerings for UMCOR? And we’ve sent money, and this is the first time it’s been right here in my own backyard! That’s actually a very humbling experience. Learning how to receive everything that everyone has given us has been extremely humbling and gives me hope in humanity.”

Specific areas of the Holston Conference in East Tennessee and Virginia were also affected by Helene, mostly through flooding. A dam gave way outside Greenville, Tennessee, causing massive flooding, power outages and road closures.

On Friday Sep. 27, Trinity UMC in Greenville had no power or water, but the church was in good shape. Pastor Sara Varnell said she didn’t know what to do, but members of her congregation called and were certain they should do something. She connected with another UMC and asked a lot of questions.

“Our church started saying ‘yes’ on Saturday morning,” Varnell said. “We didn’t know how to do this, but God did. This is God and a whole community and all the churches and people working together.”

People from the wider UMC connection started showing up with water, food, diapers – and people from the community soon learned where they could find these things they desperately needed. Before long the church was a major hub. UMCOR sent clean-up supplies, volunteers from church within and outside the conference showed up with supplies and stayed to help organize and distribute them.

Spruce Pine and Trinity churches were two paths God found to reach people after Helene struck. This scenario was repeated in other communities and churches, in other states affected by Helene’s broad reach. Today, as the relief operations wind down, United Methodist disaster coordinators in the affected conferences are planning recovery strategies for weary communities.

As 2025 unfolds, three hard-hit United Methodist conferences are working with UMCOR to assess recovery needs and set-up long-term disaster management programs. Western North Carolina Conference, South Carolina Conference and Holston Conference are each receiving grants averaging $100,000-$200,000 to begin this assessment, which includes fact and resource gathering to discover where needs are already being met by government and nonprofit agencies and which communities have not received what they need. Finding these gaps in services and resources is an UMCOR objectives.

Jim Cox, who recently began work as UMCOR’s new executive director, met a number of ERTs in the Asheville, North Carolina, area as they arrived to help Western North Carolina Conference mud-out and clean-up in surrounding communities.

“UMCOR has been in partnership with the conference here since day one,” he noted. “Western North Carolina Conference has done great work early on. We’re now looking at long-term recovery. We plan to partner together with the conference for several years.”

Long-term recovery grants from UMCOR help to cover expenses for disaster case management, construction management, volunteer management, material resource management, financial management and administration, depending on what the assessment determines. Recovery grants tend to be substantial and are usually implemented in time periods of six months to two years or longer after initial assessments are completed.

South Carolina sustained major damage from winds and tornadoes created by Helene. Jessica Brody, South Carolina Advocate editor, noted that nearly the entire western half of South Carolina—comprising 29 counties in total—was approved for individual and public assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

United Methodists in the conference have donated supplies, sent ERTs out and quickly arranged ERT trainings for UMCOR ERT certification.

Florida was also hit hard, particularly in the panhandle region, and received a series of relief grants, but it has already set up major recovery hubs in response to previous hurricanes and received an additional grant early in 2024.

“When disaster strikes, like the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene, many ask, ‘Where is UMCOR?’ The simple answer is: We are UMCOR,” wrote Aimee Yeager, director of Communications for Western North Carolina Conference. “United Methodist disaster response is embodied through the work of our local churches, teams, and volunteers.”

The role of the UMCOR is to help fund disaster response efforts, train volunteers and provide the expertise and resources that empower annual conferences across the nation to respond to disasters. UMCOR’s real strength, however, is found in the hands and feet of local church members who bring help directly to their communities.

“So, where is UMCOR? Right here,” Yeager continued. “We are UMCOR – each of us is a part of this essential ministry of love and relief. We have been here. We are still here. We will remain. Thanks be to God.”

Christie R. House is a consultant writer and editor with Global Ministries and UMCOR. With thanks to the communicators of Western North Carolina, South Carolina and Holston conferences for their story coverage used here: Aimee Yeager, Annette Spence, Jessica Brodie and UM News reporters, Lilla Marigza and Mike DuBose.

Learn more about Disaster Response in the U.S.

United Methodist Committee on Relief U.S. Disaster Response and Recovery serves as the primary channel for United Methodist assistance for disasters that strike within the United States.

Make a gift to help UMCOR provide for the basic needs of people and communities devastated by both natural and humanmade disasters.

GIVE: https://umcmission.org/advance-project/901670/

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ATLANTA – For more than 80 years, the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) has alleviated the suffering of individuals, families and communities affected by both natural and humanmade disaster.

UMCOR journeys with communities throughout a disaster’s cycle, including disaster preparedness, relief, response, recovery and mitigation. It focuses on disasters that overwhelm a local community’s ability to respond, such as storms and flooding, earthquakes, fires, volcanoes, war and civil unrest.

Through a strong network of worldwide partners, UMCOR quickly assesses needs in the wake of disaster. UMCOR comes alongside communities at their invitation and encourages their involvement in and ownership of their recovery. UMCOR works collaboratively with local partners to connect survivors to the help they need to rebuild their lives.

In the U.S., UMCOR works with disaster response ministries and coordinators in annual conferences. Internationally, UMCOR resources Disaster Management Offices in Africa and the Philippines and accompanies and equips other Methodist and faith-based partners. UMCOR’s primary channels of assistance are training, technical support, and both short and long-term grantmaking and programming.

From initial relief efforts such as distributing food, water, clothing and hygiene items, to long-term recovery projects like home repair, case management, psychosocial support and restoring livelihoods, UMCOR’s partners select beneficiaries based on need and vulnerability as opposed to other categories such as gender, race or religion.

UMCOR’s ministry would not be possible without the support of others who give generously of their time and resources. There are several ways you can join UMCOR in disaster response efforts:

Pray
Our work is undergirded by the power of prayer. Pray for disaster survivors, first-responders and those coordinating local responses. Pray that basic needs would be met and that communities would experience resilience. Follow UMCOR on social media to learn how you can pray for the latest disasters.  

Serve
UMCOR welcomes volunteers to both prepare for and respond to disaster.

Volunteer at a supply depot within the United Methodist Relief Supply Network like Sager Brown in Baldwin, LA.  

Make cleaning, hygiene and menstrual hygiene kits to be sent to disaster-affected communities in the U.S. (UMCOR does not ship kits internationally.)

Give toward the purchasing of kit items to keep supply depots well-stocked.

Consider Early Response Team (ERT) training within your annual conference. And please do not self-deploy. Visit the disaster response ministry section of your conference’s website to learn more.

Share
Tell others about the work of UMCOR! Visit our News Center for stories on UMC relief and recovery efforts around the world.

Give
Donations to U.S. Disaster Response and Recovery, International Disaster Response and Recovery or UMCOR Where Most Needed enable UMCOR to respond quickly and effectively to disasters as they arise. 100% of gifts made to UMCOR go directly to help those in need rather than funding administrative and operating costs.

Together, we can alleviate the suffering of those affected by disaster, bringing hope and healing to communities worldwide.

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CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA – In 1940, General Conference made a momentous decision to create a new organization for relief work among war refugees in Asia and Europe: the Methodist Committee on Overseas Relief, now the United Methodist Committee on Relief, or UMCOR. UMCOR is a vital part of Global Ministries’ work, bringing together the service and missional aspects of ministry.

Bishop Herbert Welch, who spearheaded the founding of UMCOR, called on General Conference to form this new body to distribute the proceeds of a special offering “for the relief of human suffering without distinction of race, color or creed.” Ever faithful to that commitment, UMCOR continues to meet the needs of vulnerable populations while maintaining the dignity of those with whom it works in relationship.

Early on, UMCOR was concerned primarily with the plight of war refugees and migrants, especially those impacted by the Second World War. Assistance for those impacted by war, along with natural disasters, has continued to be a priority for UMCOR. In 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, United Methodists responded with great generosity to help those displaced and otherwise affected by the war. UMCOR has also responded as best it can to the devastating situation in Palestine, despite little to no access to Gaza. As a Christian humanitarian organization, UMCOR asks that humanitarian organizations have full, immediate and safe access to Gaza, and calls on all in authority to establish an immediate ceasefire so that those who are starving can be fed and cared for.

UMCOR works as a part of Global Ministries to transform people and communities in ways that support holistic wellbeing. The four components of UMCOR’s work – providing disaster relief and recovery, assisting migrants, fostering environmental sustainability, and promoting sustainable agriculture – operate in holistic support of one another and other Global Ministries programs, such as Global Health, to support the wellbeing of the whole person.

But UMCOR isn’t just about sending help, and UMCOR does not do its work alone.

UMCOR is about helping one another through difficult times and circumstances through the power of partnership. UMCOR’s work is only possible because of the dedicated work on the ground of United Methodist episcopal areas and annual conferences, affiliated Methodist churches, and other partners. Together, we all share in the work of UMCOR.

In the video below, meet a few of our many amazing UMCOR partners.

As United Methodists, we can be proud of what we have accomplished together through UMCOR over the last 80-plus years.

But our work is not done.

UMCOR is committed to continue showing God’s love to those who are suffering.

Will you join us?

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Location —

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ATLANTA – Steve Elliott, the Conference Disaster Response Coordinator (CDRC) for the California-Nevada Conference, has heard many people describe what living through a fire was like and the deep anguish that stabs at the soul when all that is left of a home are smoldering piles of ash.

“It seems so overwhelming when you lose your home,” he wrote in one of his conference updates, “traumatizing in so many ways.” His conference disaster response team participated in six long-term fire recoveries last year, with most of the recovery programs continuing into this year.

“Our conference helped with 50 survivor long-term recoveries totaling $307,000, funded by UMCOR, an American Red Cross grant and our Conference Disaster Response fund. This funding primarily assisted survivors with establishing new living situations.”

One of the ways the conference participates in fire recovery is to join other churches, NGOs and government agencies at local assistance centers. They work with different long-term recovery groups depending on the path of the fires. The groups will often set up in spaces like local schools or churches to reach the affected populations.

The Cal-Nev team offers a ministry of presence, listening to people describe what happened to them and giving out gift cards, hygiene kits, cleaning supplies and other kinds of assistance to survivors.

In response to the Oak Fire, which burned nearly 20,000 acres in Mariposa County before it was brought under control, the conference spent three days at the local assistance center at the high school in Mariposa. They assisted 200 households at the center with volunteers from seven different churches of the conference.

“Sherry*” came to the table to talk with volunteer Susan Hunn. She asked about tools she would need to sift through the ash that was her home. Cal-Nev Early Response Teams (ERTs) are trained in this task and could send a team, but that wasn’t what Sherry asked for. She wanted to do it herself.

“When we offered what she needed – a sifting box, shovel, rake, protective clothing, gloves, masks and hand tools, she beamed with confidence,” Hunn noted. “Amid her losses was an antique teapot collection. She wanted to see if she could find just one teapot in the rubble. She believed she would. We helped her out with tools of hope.”

Farther north, the Pacific Northwest Conference has also gained experience in fire response and recovery. Dana Bryson is one of the co-CDRCs in that conference, which includes Washington state, the Northern Panhandle of Idaho and the greater Vancouver area of British Columbia in Canada.

“Partnerships are a key part of how we respond to disaster and coordinate addressing survivor unmet needs,” Bryson said. “We actively work with other NGOs through a leadership role in the Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD) and by working closely with FEMA, and the state and county emergency management agencies.”

The Pacific Northwest Conference is part of the Okanogan Long-term Recovery Group. The Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest is in 3.8 million acres of forested mountainous lands. It has been the site of multiple forest fires most years, making recovery long-term and ongoing. The conference has received about $360,000 from UMCOR from several grants, the most recent in 2021, which is still funding recovery for a 2020 Okanogan fire, while another large area has burned in 2023.

With the UMCOR funds and commitment, the conference advocated to expand the case management project to include home rebuilding. Mennonite Disaster Services then offered multinational volunteers from both U.S. and Canadian Mennonite communities who are skilled in construction. Red Cross stepped up with $500,000 to support rebuilding. This almost doubled the number of homes the Pacific Northwest project could build.

Case management, construction materials, volunteers and resources all came together for this project, which has now drawn to a close.

Bryson confirms: “UMCOR’s commitment really got the project rolling and leveraged the ability to get other funders involved and fully fund the project. Because UMCOR was willing to go on record with a letter of intent, we were able to show that we were serious, and the project was viable. It was a snowball effect from there. It also got volunteers involved, because they knew this was serious.”

Partnerships to help the Lahaina community in Maui recover from the fire that destroyed most of the coastal town on Aug. 8 are still forming. The United Methodist churches on the Hawaiian Islands are part of the California-Pacific Conference, headquartered in Pasadena. The conference has already received a relief grant from UMCOR to provide for immediate needs.

UMCOR has reached out to the Hawaiian VOAD to coordinate support for what comes next in the immediate response and recovery.

The Lahaina UMC church building was lost in the fire. Though no one from the Lahaina congregation died, members all know friends who did. Their pastor, John Crewe, estimates that about 75% of the church’s families have lost their homes.

One of those members, Rosalyn “Roz” Baker, is a former Hawaii state senator who played electric piano for the church services. “Even in all the stress, there are bright spots,” said Baker, who has found temporary lodging on the island. “It’s nice to see our congregation in particular has come together and is going to be doing whatever is necessary to rebuild.”

Across the United Methodist connection, funds are being collected, partnerships are forming, local and state responders are working, and a recovery plan is carefully being formed. The Lahaina community will not face the ashes alone. Partners will be with them, working alongside.

* Name has been changed.

Christie R. House is a consultant writer and editor with Global Ministries and UMCOR. Thanks go to Sam Hodges of UM News for his interviews and reporting on Lahaina UMC in Maui.

U.S. Disaster Response

United Methodist Committee on Relief U.S. Disaster Response and Recovery (UMCOR USDR) serves as the primary channel for United Methodist assistance for disasters that strike within the United States.

Make a gift to help UMCOR provide for the basic needs of people and communities devastated by both natural and humanmade disasters.

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ATLANTA – Sixty-nine-year-old Jane* sat under a tree with three piles at her feet: papers to throw away, papers to burn, papers to keep.

She fingered crayon drawings, her mother’s death certificate and stacks of birthday cards.

“I’ve been dreading this,” she said. “I was hoping another hurricane would come and blow it all away.”

Since Hurricane Ian made landfall near Cayo Costa, Florida, in Sept. 2022, Jane and her 31-year-old son have been living in a donated RV until their house can be made livable again. Household items are piled up under tarps in the yard. A shed and two trailers hold more belongings.

Hurricane Ian is the third-costliest weather disaster on record in the United States, and the deadliest hurricane to strike the state of Florida since 1935.

A $2 million UMCOR grant to the Florida Annual Conference of the UMC is assisting survivors like Jane and her son. It is also providing aid to people affected by Hurricane Nicole, which followed two months after Ian in Nov. 2022.

The grant helps provide long-term recovery to 165 households – nearly 400 individuals – who are among the most vulnerable members of the affected communities, including single parents, those with disabilities, the elderly and recent retirees without community ties.

Among other services, survivors will have their homes repaired, rebuilt or replaced, depending on their level of need. Some may be relocated. They will also get help fulfilling any remaining unmet needs through community partnerships and collaborative efforts.

Thanks to UMCOR’s informed and reliable infrastructure, expert leadership and experienced volunteers, every dollar received is leveraged to work as hard as possible.

For example, this past summer, the grant was buttressed by the sweat equity of 100 volunteer construction teams totaling a crew of about 600 volunteers. The value of their donated labor is approximately $380,000.

Forrest White, director of missions for the First United Methodist Church of Lakeland, Florida, was among the volunteers who reached out to Hurricane Ian survivors this past summer.

In addition to digging trenches, Forrest also took time to help Jane through the heartbreaking process of sorting through a lifetime of water-logged keepsakes.

Forrest listened to Jane’s stories and chatted with her son, who asked thoughtful questions about his faith in Christ.

“When the next big storm comes,” the son told Forrest, “I would like to help.”

“I believe we left them better than we found them,” says Forrest of his time spent with Jane and her son. “And, as always, we were better, too, because of them and what they shared with us.”

As extreme weather events intensify across North America – especially between May and November – UMCOR continues to empower volunteers like Forrest to be reminders of God’s presence in the world.

“Scripture tells us that we are called to nothing less than to show our Christian love in action,” says Forrest. “If we show up for people affected by disaster…we are tangible reminders of God’s love and God’s presence.”

*Name changed to protect privacy

U.S. Disaster Response

United Methodist Committee on Relief U.S. Disaster Response and Recovery (UMCOR USDR) serves as the primary channel for United Methodist assistance for disasters that strike within the United States.

Make a gift to help UMCOR provide for the basic needs of people and communities devastated by both natural and humanmade disasters.

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ATLANTA – The ninth chapter of Matthew describes Jesus and his disciples traveling from village to village, teaching in synagogues and announcing God’s good news, healing people. Through their travels, they likely saw and heard a lot of news, as in Jesus’ time, that is how news traveled.

Today, people don’t need to travel to see and hear the news, as we are often inundated with online, social media, television and radio news. We encounter so much news, in fact, we must shut it down occasionally for our own sanity.

But when Jesus saw the crowds of people and what was happening in the cities and villages, Matthew 9:36 reveals: “…He had compassion for them because they were troubled and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”

As followers of Jesus, how can our compassion expand across so many countries, in so many different circumstances? On a single day, we can see and hear about wildfires and tornadoes in the U.S., earthquakes in Turkey, war in Europe and the Middle East, and severe floods in Bangladesh. How should the church respond?

“When Jesus saw the crowds, he has compassion for them…”

Having compassion is the first response, soon followed by provision of food, water and shelter for those affected by sudden, devastating events. While no organization or agency can be everywhere at once, the strength of the United Methodist disaster network, which includes interfaith and ecumenical partners, is that the response and the responders are spread out across the world, and they start work when they are most needed, wherever they are.

Nearly two years into the war in Ukraine, UMCOR has approved millions of dollars of war relief and recovery grants to Ukrainian partners and others in surrounding countries, where various churches and organizations extend food, shelter and care to refugees from Ukraine. Yet, at the same time, UMCOR acted on several requests for assistance for an earthquake that severely affected parts of Turkey and Syria in February 2023.

In March 2023, UMCOR was able to assist United Methodist conferences in Mozambique, Madagascar and Malawi as they responded to devastation caused by Cyclone Freddy. In April, civil strife in Sudan and South Sudan broke out and UMCOR supported two partners in those countries.

Month after month, disasters happen and UMCOR responds, whether these disasters gain wide media attention and public awareness or not. UMCOR has the means to respond because people have supported UMCOR with their gifts, support that allows UMCOR to respond quickly when partners in affected regions ask for help.

In the United States, the United Methodist disaster network, including conferences, supply depots, and often responders from other denominations, functions differently than disaster response outside the U.S. The conference disaster response offices are UMCOR’s main partners at work in the U.S.

Some conferences repeatedly hit by major weather disasters, such as Florida, Texas, the Carolinas and New Jersey, have become experts at preparing, responding and providing long-term recovery help after major disasters. Most of them began with grants and training from UMCOR. Many are currently in various stages of UMCOR project grants to provide the long-term case management that UMCOR is known for…the last agents and volunteer teams to leave a recovery site even years after a major disaster strikes.

Today, recovery operations continue for populations affected by Hurricane Ida (2021) in New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania. Louisiana just completed project work from hurricanes Laura, Delta and Zeta, all of which struck in 2020, and currently moved right into recovery after Hurricane Ian (2022). Between 2004 and 2021, the Florida Conference developed recovery projects for 18 named events.

More than 20 smaller but essential grants were extended so far this year to U.S. conferences, including California-Pacific for Guam and Hawaii (Maui wildfires), Rio Texas, North Texas, New England and New York. Florida has taken on Hurricane Idalia response (Sept. 2023) in its current disaster work.

These quick responses as conferences step into new disasters are possible because donors directed their gifts to be used “where most needed.”

When Jesus saw trouble, he had compassion.

When we see trouble, we have ways to be with suffering people just when they need it. The “UMCOR – Where Most Needed Advance #999895,” can use the funds for UMCOR ministries highlighted above as well as for grants related to UMCOR’s Global Migration program area.

Christie R. House is a consultant writer and editor with Global Ministries and UMCOR.

About the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR)

Founded in 1940, UMCOR is the global humanitarian relief and development agency of The United Methodist Church. A part of United Methodist Global Ministries, UMCOR works in more than 80 countries worldwide, including the United States and its territories. The agency’s mission, grounded in the teachings of Jesus, is to alleviate human suffering with open hearts and minds to all people. Working in the areas of disaster response and recovery and migration, UMCOR responds to natural or civil disasters that are interruptions of such magnitude that they overwhelm a community’s ability to recover on its own.

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