Missouri and Iowa Team Up to Send 1,400 Cleaning Buckets to Louisiana

News August 26, 2016

Dan Steska, Associate Director for Disaster Response for the Missouri Annual Conference, updated the totals for cleaning buckets shipped to Sager Brown, the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) depot in Louisiana to 1,400 today. UPS has agreed to ship the buckets free of charge to Louisiana.

A good portion of the buckets came from the call to action in the spring after significant flooding in Missouri. Iowa Disaster Response teams have been driving buckets to Columbia all week. The Missouri Annual Conference office warehouse serves as an Midwest depot for UMCOR. The shipment to Louisiana will drain the Missouri Disaster Response of their local supply, so Steska is inviting Missouri Methodists into action to replenish the depot with 300 cleaning buckets.

“We know it is likely that Missouri and the surrounding states will experience late winter or early springtime flooding,” stated Steska. “We like to have 300 flood buckets on hand to supply urgent needs.”

The value of a cleaning bucket is roughly $65 each. Volunteers can watch this video for bucket contents and assembly. Cleaning buckets can be dropped off at the following locations:

Missouri Annual Conference, 3601 Amron Ct., Columbia, MO 65202. (573) 441-1770. Mon.-Fri. 8:30-4:30 p.m. or by appointment.
Festival of Sharing*, Missouri State Fairgrounds, Mathewson Center, 2503 W. 16th Street, Sedalia, Missouri, 65265 Friday, Oct. 14 10-4 p.m. or Saturday, Oct. 15 9-11 a.m.

*Festival of Sharing's partner, Church World Service, has a national agreement with UMCOR. The two agencies are working together to alleviate the devastation in Louisiana and their emergency clean-up buckets are identical to UMCOR’s.

Missouri churches are also asked to consider the following mission and service efforts:

PRAY. Pray for the people of flood-infected areas, for the lives lost in Louisiana and for the first responders.
SERVE. Check out http://www.la-umc.org for volunteer opportunities or contact Louisiana Annual Conference Disaster Response coordinator at ladisasterpastor@gmail.com or 318-245-4410. For local service opportunities, don’t forget the 100 Day Blitz to restore 20 homes in the St. Louis area before Nov. 1. Contact Jen Weinstein in St. Louis: (314) 884-0083 bridgetorecoverycoalition@gmail.com or Jill Bryant in Springfield: (417) 720-4213 jbryant@ccsomo.org.
GIVE. Visit UMCOR.org for monies to be disbursed throughout the United States for disaster relief (US Disaster Response, Advance #901670). Consider giving a number of cleaning buckets ($65 each).
LEARN. Visit Missouri Annual Conference’s communication platforms to be informed of immediate needs: www.facebook.com/umcdisaster.
TRAIN. Be ready to respond. Contact Dan Steska at dsteska@moumethodist.org regarding future training events.