| Flood annual conference with flood buckets for UMCOR BY LINDA WORTHINGTONUMCONNECTION STAFF  When you come to annual conference this year, bring along a flood bucket, said Sandy Ferguson, associate council director in the Baltimore-Washington Conference.
The plea is to help fill a big need to replenish supplies in the United Methodist Committee on Relief warehouses. Specifically, the Baltimore-Washington Conference is asking its member churches to make and assemble flood buckets. The buckets enable disaster responders and communities to begin the overwhelming job of cleaning up after a flood or hurricane. The floods, earthquakes and hurricanes that happened this past year have nearly depleted the supply of the carefully designed kits UMCOR provides by the hundreds in areas struck by disasters. UMCOR receives the kits, which in addition to flood buckets, includes health, sewing, school and layette kits and a bedding pack. Volunteers in churches throughout the nation donate the materials, assemble the kits and deliver them to the UMCOR warehouses in Pennsylvania and Louisiana. Like last year, the Northeast Jurisdiction is asking its 12 annual conferences, including the Baltimore-Washington Conference, to help replenish the UMCOR kits. The kits are one way we can act as the hands of God to bring some relief to people in their time of need, said the Rev. Larry Homitsky, director of connectional ministries for the Western Pennsylvania Conference, which is taking the lead for the Northeastern Jurisdiction. Last year the jurisdiction contributed a total of 36,402 kits. The need for these kits is constant and we challenge our Methodist brothers and sisters and neighbors to join us in going the extra mile to see that the need is met, said Mark Rehn, communications director for Western Pennsylvania Conference. According to Ferguson, theres a special connection for our church members to make flood buckets, since churches in our area received help when Hurricane Isabel struck, We distributed more than 1,000 flood buckets, she said. The buckets came from UMCOR and were made by members of local churches. They were used by the disaster response coordinators and case managers in such areas as Bowleys Quarters. We still need them, even today, to assist in the ongoing cleanup, Ferguson added. A collection space will be available at annual conference, expected to be in a room behind the display area, where the health kits were collected last year. Following the conference session, Curtis Brisbon, president of the conference United Methodist Men, and his volunteers will take over, loading their trucks and vans with the buckets and transporting them to the conference center, where they will be distributed as needed. Some will also be sent to the UMCOR warehouse. The following items make up a flood bucket: - 5-gallon bucket with resealable lid
- Bleach, two 1-quart or one 82 oz. bottle
- 5 scouring pads
- 1 scrub brush
- 18 cleaning towels (reusable wipes)
- Liqbwc_superuser laundry detergent, two 25 oz. or one 50 oz. Bottle
- 1 household cleaner, 12-16 oz. bottle
- Disinfectant dish soap, 16-28 oz. bottle
- 50 clothes pins
- Clothes line, two 50 ft. or one 100 ft.
- 5 packs dust masks
- 2 pair latex gloves
- 1 pair work gloves
- 24-bag roll of heavy-duty trash bags - 33-45 gallon (Remove roll from box before placing in bucket.)
- Insect repellant spray, 6-14 oz. can
- Air freshener, 8 or 9 oz. can
Please ensure that all cleansing agents are liqbwc_superusers (not powder) and in plastic bottles. Put all items in the plastic bucket and seal lid. For more information visit http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor/kits.cfm or call (800) 814-8765. | 
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