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VOL. 14, NO. 10

United Methodists rush to help in wake of tornadoes

By Joretta PurdueUnited Methodist News Service

United Methodists are helping pick up the pieces, clean up debris and cope with devastating losses that occurred in a weeklong series of tornadoes and severe storms that began May 4.

Tom Hazelwood of the United Methodist Committee on Relief emergency services office in Washington visited affected areas of Missouri and Kansas May 8 and 9. UMCOR volunteers Bob and Cherri Baer are working with the Kansas East Conference disaster response coordinator, Julie Pohl, and Missouri disaster response coordinator, Joe Bartlesmeyer.

The tornadoes killed at least 18 people in Missouri, 13 in Tennessee and seven in Kansas. Two people were killed and at least seven injured May 6 in southern Illinois in a second round of severe storms. Flooding took at least two lives in Tennessee.

The Oklahoma City areas evening rush hour May 8 became another setting of devastation as at least one tornado did widespread damage and injured 118 people.

In southeast Kansas, Julie Gay Green, 50, of rural Columbus, died when a tornado struck her home May 4. She was a member of First UMC of Columbus and a nurse at St. Johns Regional Medical Center in Joplin, Mo. Her husband and two of her five children were seriously injured. Rescuers said the tornado had apparently dropped the family members in a field a quarter of a mile from home.

Besides Green, two other residents of Cherokee County were killed. In adjacent Crawford County, the four fatalities included Josephine Maghe, 87, of Franklin, Kan. A member of Arma (Kan.) UMC, Maghe was the one who organized expressions of sympathy when a death occurred in her community. She would ask the postmaster to put up a notice when someone died. Now the post office and dozens of homes are gone.

Wyandotte County in the Kansas City, Kan., area reported 88 homes destroyed and nearly 500 more damaged. The Rev. Rob Schmutz of Wyandotte UMC spent the first three days of the week loading the back of his pickup truck with beverages, food and cleaning supplies and delivering them to residents and workers in the damaged areas.

Stockton (Mo.) UMC canceled youth group meetings and bell choir practice when warnings were sounded, and everyone was sent home. When the Rev. Russell Maggard checked on the church building, he found two walls of the sanctuary were knocked out, and the family life center looked as if it had been under artillery fire. Despite that, people who lost their homes were able to take temporary shelter in the church.

John Cassel, a church member, was killed when his home was destroyed. His funeral was held May 8 at the Assembly of God church.

At Carl Junction (Mo.) UMC, near Joplin, about 20 people who were in the church for various events took shelter in the bathrooms. When they emerged, they discovered the roof of the 7-year-old building was gone.

'About every church in the district called to offer us their facilities and support,' said the Rev. Bob Simon, 70, interim pastor. 'Methodist churches and their pastors really responded quickly.'

In Jackson, Tenn., the historic Mother Liberty CME Church was destroyed, but members and friends took heart that the faade remained standing.

Mother Liberty is home to the original congregation of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. African-Americans who attended nearby First Methodist Church were among the first CME members. The CME congregation conducted its early services and meetings in the basement of what is now First UMC.

Volunteer teams, including workers organized through UMCOR, are helping throughout the affected states. United Methodists have been present, too, through their dollars. Past donations to UMCOR made possible the two emergency grants already awarded to the Memphis and Missouri annual conferences by May 8. Other grants are expected. Cleaning supplies were being shipped to Missouri from the Illinois-Great Rivers Conference Warehouse in Springfield, Ill.

United Methodists can give to the newly created Advance Special No. 901690, 'Spring Storms 2003.' Checks may be put in collection plates or sent to Conference Treasurer, 9720 Patuxent Woods Drive, Suite 100, Columbia MD 21046. Credit-card contributions are accepted at (800) 554-8583.

Fred Koenig, editor of the Missouri Review; Karen Robertson, editor of the Kansas East Connection; and the Rev. Joe Moseley and Cathy Farmer of the Memphis Annual Conference, contributed to this story.