Emergency Response

Updated: Wednesday, April 27, 2005

The United Church of Canada continues to respond in the wake of four devastating hurricanes that swept across the Caribbean in August and September 2004. This includes responding through Action by Churches Together (ACT) to requests from partner churches and organizations across the region that are providing relief and planning for reconstruction.

The area secretary, Jim Hodgson, visited partners in Haiti in February and saw the efforts of the Methodist Church in Haiti to rebuild houses and other structures damaged by the hurricanes and floods, as well as to build new ditches that will channel excess water away from populated areas. Additional financial support will allow for restocking of a network of community stores in agricultural areas that have been supported in the past with Mission and Service Fund grants and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). Renewed United Church and CIDA co-financing will allow the recapitalization of the Methodist Church's micro-credit program across the country.

Thanks to the generosity of many people across Canada, it has been possible to make the following new allocations (through March 24, 2005) in support of partners' work:

• Office of Development Coordination (COD), église méthodiste d'Haïti (EMH): $20,000 (in addition to $25,000 sent in two parts in 2004)
• Presbyterian Church of Grenada: $15,000 (in addition to $10,000 sent in 2004)
• Grenada Community Development Agency (GRENCODA): $15,000
• Methodist Church of the Caribbean and the Americas (MCCA): $5,000 for earthquake relief in Dominica
• Caribbean North America Council on Mission (CANACOM): $5,000 for flood relief in Guyana (divided to support efforts by three CANACOM member churches in Guyana)

Previous allocations (Sept. 23 and Nov. 19, 2004) to support to partners' relief efforts in the region:

• $25,000 to the Methodist Church in Haiti (EMH)
• $10,000 to the Caribbean Conference of Churches, primarily in support of its relief effort in Grenada
• $10,000 to the Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas (MCCA) in support of the overall MCCA response, for relief work as partner determines, noting that we made separate provision for the Haiti district
• $10,000 to the Cuban Council of Churches (CIC); and a further $20,000 sent to CIC for inclusion in the ACT appeal accounting and reporting (ACT appeal LACU 41-Appeal for Assistance to Victims of Hurricane Charley, Cuba)
• $10,000 to the United Church of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands
• $10,000 to the Presbyterian Church in Grenada (PCG) for relief work as determined by the partner
• $10,000 to ACT (ACT appeal LACA 41-Appeal for Assistance to Hurricane Ivan victims in Jamaica and Grenada)
• $15,000 to ACT (ACT appeal LAHT 43-Appeal for Assistance to Flood Victims in Gonaives, Haiti)

For more information about the ACT appeals, together with situation reports and photographs, please see the Action by Churches Together website*.

What You Can Do

• Pray for the people of the Caribbean and southern United States who are again facing fear, hardship, death and destruction because of a hurricane.
• Increase support to the Mission and Service Fund of The United Church of Canada. A portion of the M&S Fund is annually allocated for emergency response, and thereby enables the United Church to respond immediately to crises as they erupt.
• If you are planning to make a special donation (called a "supragift") the United Church will send it to ACT and partners named above to support the immediate relief efforts and the longer-term reconstruction work being carried out. Concerned United Church members can mail donations to the Justice, Global and Ecumenical Relations Unit of The United Church of Canada. Make your cheque payable to The United Church of Canada and mark it "for Hurricane Relief."

The United Church of Canada responds to emergency requests out of its annual emergency response budget line, made possible through your gifts to the Mission and Service Fund of The United Church of Canada.

Prayers

A worship service on September 15, 2004, in the chapel of the General Council Office of The United Church of Canada included the following prayers prepared by the Rev. Mark MacLean of the Support to Local Ministries Unit.

One: God of compassion,
you watch the ways of all of us,
and weave out of terrible happenings
wonders of goodness and grace.

All: Surround those who have been shaken by tragedy
with a sense of your presence and love;
hold them in faith and strength.
Though they are lost in grief and shock,
may they find you and be comforted;
through Jesus Christ, who died but lives again with you.
Amen.

Prayers of Thanksgiving and Concern

One: God of creation,
where both beauty and danger are found,
hear our prayers for those who have been overcome by the disastrous effects of punishing wind and torrential rains in Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, the Gulf of Mexico, and the entire Caribbean region.
Help heal the pain of those who are injured.
Strengthen with your presence all who are numb with fear and distress. Guide those who anxiously search or wait.

All: Be near those who are dying, and bless them with your peace.
Sustain and uphold those who grieve.
Grant tenderness, strength, and wisdom
to the doctors and nurses, police, and military,
to all who assist them to minister to human need.
May we be moved by compassion
and share willingly and generously in the recovery of these, your much-loved people.

One: Help of the helpless ones, our brothers and sisters are in need this day. They are so weary, we can only think and pray for them now.

All: You have known the toil, the grief, the strain of human suffering. You have felt the pain of utter weariness, the sting of tears and fatigue. You know their need. We have no words to say help; no words to ask for aid but those given by Jesus the Christ as he shared these words of prayer with us all:
Our Father ..... Amen.