| VIM group fights floods in West Virginia COCKEYSVILLE Eleven members of Epworth UMC spent the last week of June on a Volunteers in Mission trip to help flood victims in West Virginia. The area of Pineville in Wyoming County has been f looded three times in recent years, said Ed Fishel, head of the churchs video ministry. The congregation provided flood buckets filled with needed supplies and cleaning materials for each team member. The mission team slept on the floor of the Pineville Middle School at night, said the Rev. Bill Brown who was one of the team members. Church partners with police for security HYATTSVILLE When a young man was stabbed to death on May 17, the first homicide in Hyattsville in four years, the Rev. Vance Ross of First UMC, organized the community. It occurred to me that we needed to respond, he said. Hyattsville business owners, police and residents in the West Hyattsville area met June 5 to discuss the homicide, gang activity, police presence and ideas for deterring crime, reported the Hyattsville Gazette. The meeting was held in a space the church will share with police when the police open a satellite office, not far from where Ludwin Gonzales, 22, was stabbed and killed. Wards 4 and 5, the area west of Queens Chapel Road, where First UMC is located, has been home to most of the citys violent crime, according to police statistics. In the first quarter of 2002, 76 percent of the citys 21 robberies took place in the area. End of an era as Sibley guild dissolves  WASHINGTON, D.C. For 100 years, thousands of women provided spiritual and material support to Sibley Memorial Hospital through the Womens Guild. They were honored May 23 in a celebration that also marked the dissolution of the Womens Guild. There is much to be thankful for and to celebrate. Foremost has been the spirit and dedication of the guild whose gifts have touched so many lives, said the Rev. James D. Nenninger, director of pastoral care at the hospital.  Sibley Memorial Hospital first opened in 1895, the only Methodist hospital in Washington, D.C. The womens guild formed a few years later to rescue the hospital from financial difficulties. As they met for the last time, the guild members were asked, Do you recognize and accept the completion of your ministry with this hospital? We do with thanks to God, said Faye Howell, guild president and a member of Good Shepherd UMC in Silver Spring. West River hosts deaf, blind campers CHURCHTON Thirty-five adults participated in the Deaf-Blind Camp 2002 at West River United Methodist Camping Center June 9-14. They came from seven states but more than half were from the conference area, said the Rev. Peggy Johnson, coordinator for the yearly camp, that first began with six adults in 1998.  Each camper had two people assigned to them as support-service providers. Campers participated in a number of activities from praying and singing to boating, wall climbing and swimming.
The camp is made possible by contributions from Baltimore-Washington Conference churches, Johnson said. Though the $150 fee is modest, several campers received full scholarships to enable them to be present. | 
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