Society Of St. Andrew Needs Your Help Hosting Potato Drops In May!

Society of St. Andrew needs help with bagging and distributing 150 tractor-trailer loads (approximately 6 million pounds) of donated sweet potatoes during the next 3 weeks. We are very excited about this opportunity to feed the hungry in our communities, but this quantity far exceeds our current budget and distribution channels! We hope to partner with church groups and community organizations to do Potato Drops across the Carolinas.

Please review the time, space, and resource requirements listed below. If you can meet the requirements independently or in partnership with other churches and organizations, contact Anna MacDonald Dobbs at 919-683-3011 or: sosanc@endhunger.org to coordinate a Potato Drop.

• Your location must be an open, flat space large enough to accommodate the 18-wheeler, your volunteer work force, and the coming and going of agency vehicles.
• It takes 100 or more volunteers 4-5 hours to bag a 40,000-pound truckload of potatoes. Additional time is needed to oversee distribution and cleanup. Local grocery stores may be able to donate bags and boxes.
• Society of St. Andrew can help you coordinate with food banks, pantries, soup kitchens, shelters and other hunger-relief agencies to distribute bagged potatoes.
• You will need volunteers with trucks to deliver to agencies that cannot pick up the potatoes. A pickup truck can hold 800-1,000 pounds.
• Potato Drop sponsors are asked to help with the cost of freight, which is based on mileage (typically $1000 or less). The value of the donated sweet potatoes is $14,000-15,000 per load!
• Please keep in mind that Society of St. Andrew receives potatoes because they are not in perfect condition and there will be waste. You will need to have a way to dispose of the bad potatoeseither a dumpster or a truck to haul them to a dump or livestock farm.

Please let us know if you would like to participate in a Potato Drop and cannot meet all of the requirements. We may be able to coordinate multiple groups to distribute large loads in your area. Thank you for your responding to our need and the needs in your community!

Updated:  4-19-12 at 12:45 PM

Hurricane Irene Recovery

Waves break over railings of a home's raised deck. Storm surges were up to 8 feet in some areas.

The NC Conference continues to have an on-going operation for disaster recovery.  Over 27,000 homes were damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Irene in August 2011.  We have thousands of people who remain unable to move back into heavily damaged or destroyed homes.  We have deep need for work teams to do both repair/reconstruction and new construction.  The NC Conference disaster recovery call center can place your team in an area where people continue to desperately need your help.   We have had over 250 teams respond and we need many, many more.  We are deeply grateful for the efforts and gifts of these wondrous servants.  We have been staggered by the generosity of those who have responded in such manner.   Please join us.  Your efforts will make a difference.

Anyone wanting to volunteer should email disasterresponse@nccumc.org or call 888-440-9167.

For our NC districts and local churches, if you are willing to have your facility be used for work teams for this, or any, disaster, please fill out the Disaster Response Facilities Survey and send it to disasterresponse@nccumc.org .

We continue to need additional funds for the recovery work.  Please also consider reaching out financially by giving to NC Storms Emergency Response – NC Advance #S-00176. 100% of every gift to this Advance will go to storm response.  You can give online at:  Hurricane Irene Giving

You can also send funds to:  NC Conference, P.O. Box 60053, Charlotte, NC 28260.  Please be sure to note Advance #S-00176.

— Steve Taylor/Outreach Team Coordinator

Note from Outreach Team Coordinator:

Mary and Herbert Zigbuo are long term missionaries who have served Jesus and God’s people with passion, love, sacrifice, and courage.  Mary is now working here in North Carolina.  Herbert is now retired and is battling cancer.   In this current struggle, Herbert lives with courage, grace, and humor, the way he has always served God and those whom Jesus calls “the least of these.”  These servants of God are blessings to us all.  - Steve

Dear Friends,

In March, I was humbled to be part of a celebration of courage, hope and love!   The Fellowship Hall was filled with family, invited guests, volunteers, and friends!  The hall appeared like a scene of what I perceived the kingdom of God to resemble!    A diverse group of people from all walks of life sat around tables making small talk.   Symbols of Christ-like acceptance and support were demonstrated by pats on backs, hugs, embraces, laughter! Walking around the hall greeting people, Miss Bertie* held fast to baby boy Ti ‘Reem* as he sought to play with her glasses!   Talking came easy!  “My bad”, a young man said to an elderly gentleman as they conversed.  Then the young man quickly added “Oh, I mean…” but was interrupted by the elderly gentleman.  “I know what you meant” he said with a quick smile and a wink.  He was actually proud of his new attitude of comprehension and acceptance of what he used to negatively refer to as “street talk”!

A love beyond what the world teaches us was present in that Fellowship Hall!  A love where judgment is suppressed and acceptance is encouraged….. a love Paul spoke of in Romans 12:10: “Love one another with brotherly affection, giving precedence and showing honor to one another”.   That’s the kind of love United Methodist Church supported Anson County Circles of Hope portrays.

During the celebration, eleven persons were honored for their completion of an 18-week ‘Getting Ahead’ class that includes a comprehensive curriculum in which participants investigate the causes of poverty in their communities and Read more »

Today, through 10-Fold, we journey with our Missionaries serving in the U.S.  One serves here with us in the North Carolina Conference.    Read more of his story below, but before you do, please register at 10-Fold.  Today’s sponsor will donate $1 on your behalf toward the wondrous ministries of our U.S. based missionaries.

Gary Locklear is a General Board of Global Ministries Church & Community Worker and Home Missioner.  Gary is assigned to the Rockingham District Native American Cooperative Ministry in Robeson County North Carolina. Robeson County is one of the poorest counties in the US. Gary works with the thirteen Native American churches in the North Carolina Conference.

His primary responsibility is in the broad area of mission, living into the life of Jesus through Native American interpretation and communicating the story of the ministry.  Gary host’s numerous work teams during the year providing renovation to homes and churches in the community around Robeson and adjoining counties.   In such ministry, the lives of participants are transformed into a greater likeness of Christ, as they reflect on these acts of love and compassion, as they reach out and touch their neighbor, and as they discover Jesus reaching back to them.  It is disciple-making in the fullest sense.  And of course, Read more »

April 16 Tornadoes

Recovery Team Request

The Sanford District has moved into the repair and rebuilding phase of recovery from the April 16 tornadoes and is in great need of skilled recovery teams.

Skilled laborers in the areas of roofing, siding, ceiling tiles, drywall and flooring are asked to contact Heather Locklear at the San-Lee Interfaith Disaster Recovery Center.

Heather M Locklear
Sanford District Disaster Relief Coordinator
SLIDR Disaster Recovery Coordinator
2916 Wicker Street

Sanford NC 27330
(919)775-1724
slidr@windstream.net

When disaster strikes, the local church usually provides the first response. This basic understanding - that disaster response is local - helps form a foundation for UMCOR's national training and response. First and foremost, UMCOR is a resource for the local response. Photo: Bill KIoplitz/FEMA

Caseworker Training is October 7 and 8.  We need you!

Following any disaster, in order to provide long term recovery, one of the key components that needs to occur is the assessment of damage, the property owners ability to pay for recovery, and the need for charitable assistance.  Part of this process looks at the support received through private insurance, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and other financial resources.  This is an essential action in order for volunteer work teams to then begin the process of repairing/rebuilding damaged homes.

Case Management-the constellation of activity that really is family-by-family problem solving-is the vehicle through which UMCOR (you are UMCOR!) provides long-term recovery.  Local case managers develop relationships with survivors and connect them to organizations that can best help them.  They guide families and individuals through the labyrinth of forms, applications, and organizations they must work with to get the help they need.   Ultimately, case managers help survivors develop their own plan for recovery. UMCOR specifically seeks to help survivors who have the least resources, who are often hiding in the missed spaces of the community and need to be found.

We have a deep need for trained volunteers who can carry the love of Christ through casework.  These folks are a key component of the recovery process and are the face of the NC Conference disaster response family.  Perhaps the small voice of God is nudging you to join in such ministry.  If so, we need you trained and have created a venue for such training.

Casework Training will be held October 7th and 8th at Elizabethtown Presbyterian Church, 800 W. Broad Street, Elizabethtown, NC. Course will be taught by Ricky Hill of UMCOR.  Contact Jim Smith of Bladen Crisis Long Term Recovery Team (H)910-588-4217 or (C) 951-415-8486 or jsmith8716@aol.com.

Maybe God is calling you.  It could be the best ministry you have ever done.  Thank you for responding and more, thank you for sharing the love of Christ.

For more information on UMCOR Domestic Disaster Response and case management, please follow this link.  UMCOR Disaster Response

Tom Walden shows the flood level on one of the homes sitting on higher ground in Wanchese, NC. Flood levels in other homes were up to 7 feet. Photo - Bill Norton/NC Conference.

Hurricane Irene devastated the coastal areas of northeastern North Carolina.  Inland waterways such as the Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds and many of the rivers and streams running miles inland flooded with waters as high in some areas as 8 feet.  Thousands of families were affected.   The full scope of the need is still unknown.   In the 3 weeks since Hurricane Irene hit, over 15,000 people have filed FEMA claims.   Thousands of homes were flooded or damaged or destroyed by falling trees.  The I-95 corridor and areas east were serious impacted with scores of communities suffering serious tree damage.  Anecdotally, driving through the community of Pine Tops the day after the storm, we encountered trees down in almost every lot leading into and through the small town.  Multiple houses had tree damage.

Another example, in the small fishing town of Wanchese, just south of Manteo, all but 5 or 6 homes suffered severe to catastrophic damage from storm surge flooding.  Because of the track and slow speed of the hurricane, this story is repeated in almost every costal fishing village in the northeastern sound/inland water way areas.

As of September 20, the NC Conference has committed approximately $250,000 toward the response and recovery effort.  We assume more funds are yet to be donated.   In the response phase as we have sought to mitigate the initial effects of home flooding, we have provided over 8000 clean-up kits (5 gallon buckets containing bleach, brushes, 30 gallon bags, other cleaning supplies) across the coastal region.  A call/operations center was established to coordinate and deploy volunteer work teams through the District Disaster Response coordinators of the affected districts.  We have deployed 81 separate teams in the last 3 weeks, have 60 teams hard-scheduled in the next few weeks, and are in coordination with another 337 potential teams to be scheduled.  Teams have come from inside the NC conference, but also from Tennessee, South Carolina, Western North Carolina, Alabama, Florida, Virginia, and from other areas.

Several teams worked for several days through the I-95 corridor area in the Rocky Mount region and removed trees from dozens of homes.

Damaged items from flooded homes are discarded along the road ... a life-time of work gone in an instance.

In the Oriental area, because of the long-term where electricity was not available, the community had a significant shortage of food.  The Goldsboro District provided over 8000 pounds of food in the last 2 weeks.

Case work training is currently ongoing with the goal to train volunteer case workers to do need assessment work.

For recovery, the North Carolina Conference is proposing a recovery effort working in 4 primary areas.

Oriental, Aurora, Swan Quarter, and Wanchese.

If you have such a team or would like to volunteer, please email disasterresponse@nccumc.org or call 888-440-9167.

For our NC districts and local churches, if you are willing to have your facility be used for work teams for this, or any, disaster, please fill out the Disaster Response Facilities Survey and send it to disasterresponse@nccumc.org .

Please also consider reaching out financially by giving to NC Storms Emergency Response – NC Advance #S-00176. 100% of every gift to this Advance will go to storm response.  You can donate on-line at:  NC Storms Response

You can also send funds to:  NC Conference, P.O. Box 60053, Charlotte, NC 28260.  Please be sure to note Advance #S-00176.

Craig Parker - Elizabeth City District Disaster Response Coordinator unloads cleaning buckets at Bethany UMC in Wanchese. The buckets were delivered by the NC Conference United Methodist Men. Most homes in Wanchese were flooded by Hurricane Irene. Photo by: Bill Norton

Updated:  9-29-2011 at 11:00 AM

Hurricane Irene Response 

Click here for the latest update of activity and information of outreach scope.

We have an immediate need for Casework volunteers, please click here for more information.

The NC Conference has activated a disaster response call center in readiness for Hurricane Irene at the Methodist Building in Garner, NC.    Volunteers are to help with our coordination efforts.

Anyone wanting to volunteer should email disasterresponse@nccumc.org or call 888-440-9167.

We have an immediate need for FULLY assembled flood buckets.  Please see Cleaning Buckets.

The mid/northeastern portion of the NC Conference has been significantly impacted by Irene and we continue to need volunteers.  Due to the critical need and the level of response to date, volunteers, regardless of previous disaster experience or length of availability are needed and will be deployed as soon as possible as per the guidelines found here.

We ask that everyone apprise their local neighborhoods for damage and needed assistance.  Please make that information available to your District Disaster Response Coordinator.  You can find an up-to-date list of District Disaster Coordinators here.   If you have such a team or would like to volunteer, please email disasterresponse@nccumc.org or call 888-440-9167.

For our NC districts and local churches, if you are willing to have your facility be used for work teams for this, or any, disaster, please fill out the Disaster Response Facilities Survey and send it to disasterresponse@nccumc.org .

Please also consider reaching out financially by giving to NC Storms Emergency Response – NC Advance #S-00176. 100% of every gift to this Advance will go to storm response.  You can donate on-line at:  NC Storms Response

You can also send funds to:  NC Conference, P.O. Box 60053, Charlotte, NC 28260.  Please be sure to note Advance #S-00176.

Here are some reminders with regard to Read more »

Tornado Response – Yes we Still Need Your Help!  
Updated: 9-4-11 3:50 PM

Tornado on the ground in Raleigh

Multiple tornadoes slashed across the North Carolina Conference in April 2011, bringing extensive destruction and more than twenty deaths.  Scores of homes are destroyed or severely damaged.  Recovery actions are  in process across the NC Conference.

All twelve districts in the NC Conference suffered some storm damage and in five districts there are areas of extreme damage.  The NC Conference has now moved from early response to recovery.  If you have a recovery UMVIM Team and would like to help, please contact tornadoresponse@nccumc.org or call 888-440-9167.  If you have damage in your area and remain in need for recovery work, please contact your District Disaster Response Coordinator.

The NC Conference has activated a disaster response coordination center.  We continue to need volunteers and mission teams to assist with this effort.  If you would like to volunteer, please email tornadoresponse@nccumc.org or call 888-440-9167.

Please leave your contact information, your skill levels, your equipment capacity, and any other information you wish to tell us.  We will contact you and direct you to the area requesting the team.  We will have a form listed on our website for this information in the next day or two.

If you are willing to have your facility be used for work teams for this, or any, disaster, please fill out the Disaster Response Facilities Survey and send it to tornadoresponse@nccumc.org and cgoehring@nccumc.org.

Please also consider reaching out financially by giving to NC Storms Emergency Response – NC Advance #S-00176. 100% of every gift to this Advance will go to storm response.  You can donate on-line at:  Tornado Response

You can also send funds to:  NC Conference, P.O. Box 60053, Charlotte, NC 28260.  Please be sure to note Advance #S-00176.

NC Conference Congregations are requested to receive a special offering.  Information here.

This post will be updated as Read more »

“The mission of an Early Response Team is to provide a caring
Christian presence in the aftermath of a disaster.”

 It’s Saturday afternoon in Eastern North Carolina.

Since this time last Saturday, as each hour has passed, countless families in the small communities that make up the New Bern, Elizabeth City, Greenville and Rocky Mount Districts of our Annual Conference have been trying to begin the process of putting their lives back together.  But it sometimes appears to be an insurmountable task for the survivors.

Stress levels are high, hearts are broken and the destruction is widespread. For many of these folks, there is no one to help them remove the water-soaked furniture, carpet and personal belongings from their homes.  No neighbors. No family. No one.

Yet, as of this morning, few have responded to help.  The question has already been asked, “Where is the United Methodist Church?”

Due to the critical need and the level of response to date, volunteers, regardless of previous disaster experience or length of availability are needed and will be deployed as soon as possible as per the following guidelines.

GENERAL GUIDELINES Read more »