News and Views

In addition to prayers, several items are needed and you can help

As a result of the recent flooding in West Virginia, causing at least 23 deaths, the state was declared a disaster area. BWC Disaster Relief and Volunteer in Missions coordinators, the Revs. David Graves and Joan Carter-Rimbach, have been in contact with the West Virginia Annual Conference Disaster Coordinator, the Rev. Dan Lowther, who is working on the disaster response in the affected areas. At present, no outside conference Emergency Response Teams (ERT’s) or Volunteer in Missions (VIM) teams are being invited in to help until the situation is stabilized. The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) distributed 1,000 flood buckets last Saturday, and another 1,500 were expected to arrive on Monday, June 27.

Churches from throughout the Baltimore-Washington Conference are invited and encouraged to bring the following items to the BWC Mission Center during business hours (Monday through Thursday; closed on Fridays during the summer months), 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (There are other drop-off sites, noted below.) The items will be delivered to a newly-opened warehouse in Beaver, W.Va.

• Bottled water
• Shovels
• Mops
• Brooms
• Baby diapers
• Baby formula
• Baby wipes

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UPDATE from the Rev. Ed Grove, Western Region Strategist, on June 30:

For Work Teams:  Teams are needed as soon as possible.  Mucking out and removing debris is the largest task. Arden United Methodist Church is organizing a team for next week. If others would like to participate contact Brittany Young, Coordinator of Mission at Arden UMC at .

For financial contributions, please use The United Methodist Foundation, P.O. Box 3811, Charleston, WV 25338 (or 2207 Washington Street, East, Charleston, WV 25311–either address will work) and memo WV Flood-VOAD. This is the most expedient and safe fashion for transferring funds to needed areas. I encourage an offering from churches this Sunday.

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Note from the Rev. Ed Grove, Western Region Strategist, on June 28:

I continue to urge you to use the West Virginia resource facilities to focus your financial and resource offerings. Please use The United Methodist Foundation, P.O. Box 3811, Charleston, WV 25338 (or 2207 Washington Street, East, Charleston, WV 25311–either address will work) and memo WV Flood-VOAD. This is the most expedient and safe fashion for transferring funds to needed areas.

It is important that folks do not go into the area without clear directions and coordination: contact Jenny Gannaway at .

While the Baltimore-Washington Conference Center is a drop off point for supplies, there aremore efficient drop off points in the Eastern Panhandle of W.Va. The Berkeley County Sheriff’s Department is equipped with storage, separation/categorizing and transportation facilities. It is the most direct line of getting resources to a wide variety of areas. Simply drop off supplies and they will be delivered in an efficient fashion.

Oakland United Methodist Church is collecting and transporting supplies specifically for Webster Springs and Bergoo, W.Va. Anyone wanting to help in this specific effort can contact the church at 70 Oakland Terrace, Charles Town, WV 25414, (304) 725-3737 or email .

Those wishing to volunteer for damage assistance, muck outs, sheltering and other needs should request volunteers by submitting a form at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RequestforVolsWV.

The National Guard is not permitted to work in these areas. While we are working on housing and meals, let me know if a team from your church would be willing to participate in this relief effort. We will need to move quickly on this.

It is important that you let me know so that coordination can be accomplished. It is not helpful to go without participating in the over-all plan being led by WV VOAD.

» Learn more about what the West Virginia Annual Conference is doing to respond, and how you can help with monetary donations.