UMs needed after Katrina strikes
BY MICHELLE SCOTT
UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE
The United Methodist Church?s relief agency was already at work preparing for Hurricane Katrina before the Category 4 storm hit Louisiana.
Tom Hazelwood, disaster response executive for the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), had been in contact with the bishops and disaster coordinators in the Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama-West Florida annual conferences since before Katrina made landfall in Louisiana Aug. 29.
As soon as the storm moved out of those regions, UMCOR
began working with annual conferences to set up call centers and begin making assessments. 
CHRIS GRAYTHEN/GETTY IMAGES
Residents of New Orleans of wade
through flood waters following Hurricane Katrina Aug. 29.
'In the hardest-hit areas, it may be a week before we can get in to make assessments,' Hazelwood said. UMCOR has been working with the Florida Conference as United Methodists in the area continue to recover from Katrina?s initial strike Aug. 25 in southern Florida.
UMCOR?s center for relief supplies, UMCOR Sager Brown, in Baldwin, La., was closed Aug. 29 in anticipation of Hurricane Katrina. The depot is about 50 miles northwest of New Orleans. UMCOR officials said they hoped to reopen Sager Brown Aug. 30.
United Methodists can help by:
? Contributing to UMCOR Advance No. 982523, 'Hurricanes 2005 Global.' Contributions can be made online at www.methodistrelief.org, at local churches, or by phone at (800) 554-8583. Checks should be written to UMCOR with the Advance number and name written on the check and sent to 7178 Columbia Gateway Drive, Suite D, Columbia, MD 21046.
? Volunteering to help in Hurricane Katrina recovery. Write to Mission Volunteers at for contact information for United Methodist Volunteers in Mission jurisdictional and conference coordinators. In the Baltimore-Washington Conference, contact Sandy Rowland at .
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