By Annette Bender

If the remnants of Hurricane Ivan end up flooding parts of Holston, Western North Carolina, and Virginia Conferences, then disaster relief workers won't have to wait for clean-up supplies to be shipped here. The supplies are already here.
For a few weeks, the Rev. Harry Howe of Project Crossroads has been collecting "flood buckets" for United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). Instead of shipping the supplies to Florida or Louisiana, Howe is keeping the flood buckets handy, for use within Holston as well as nearby conferences.

"We're kind of in a central place and can actually have the buckets ready to go," said Howe, based in Abingdon District.

When the Wytheville District collected 163 flood buckets earlier this month, UMCOR officials told the Rev. Randy Frye to send the supplies directly to Western North Carolina. A truck left Dublin UMC on Sept. 16, headed for the flood-ravaged town of Mooresville, N.C.

All over Holston, churches and districts are joining in efforts to help victims of a catastrophic hurricane season. In Oak Ridge District, churches are collecting flood buckets as well as health kits. Knoxville District congregations are collecting gallon jugs of water to send along with the Oak Ridge District shipment, all destined for UMCOR's Sager Brown Depot in Louisiana.

Meanwhile, checks designated for hurricane relief continue to pour in to the conference treasurer's office. Since The Call reported that 35 congregations had contributed $11,911 as of Sept. 2, the totals have risen to 77 churches contributing $27,856 as of Sept. 16.

The Morristown District continues to lead all 12 districts in giving to help hurricane victims, with 18 congregations contributing $7,524. Among the top givers is Carter's Station UMC, sending in a total of $2,150. Carter's Station, led by the Rev. Mark Wills, has 22 in average worship attendance.

Holston congregations still have many opportunities to help, officials say.

Howe, along with Jubilee Project's Randy Hildebrant, will collect flood buckets through October. For more information, call Howe at (276) 782-3339 or Hildebrant at (423) 733-4195.

Church members wishing to make financial gifts to help hurricane victims may make checks to their local churches, designating "UMCOR/hurricane relief" on the memo line. The tax-deductible gifts may be placed in offering plates. To make credit-card donations, call UMCOR directly at 1-800-554-8583.

When submitting checks for hurricane relief, church officers may designate "Project 507" under "UMCOR" on their 2004 remittance forms.

For general information on how your group can help hurricane or flood victims - or to report your own church's efforts - contact the connectional ministries office at (865) 690-4080.
For a national report on United Methodist hurricane relief, see page 6.


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