Missouri Iowa Send 1,500 Cleaning Buckets to Louisiana
News
The Missouri Conference and the Iowa Conference teamed up to provide 1,500 Cleaning Flood Buckets to Louisiana to help in the recovery efforts. The Missouri Conference sent about 1,100 buckets, and 400 buckets that were brought to the Missouri Conference Center from Iowa were also sent down. UPS shipped the buckets free of charge to Sager Brown, a disaster response depot in Louisiana. Dan Steska, Associate Director for Disaster Response for the Missouri Annual Conference, said it would be good for Missouri Conference to replenish its supply of Cleaning Buckets so they are on hand, ready to go when the next disaster occurs.
“We know it is likely that Missouri and the surrounding states will experience late winter or early springtime flooding,” Steska stated. “We like to have 300 flood buckets on hand to supply urgent needs.”
The value of a cleaning bucket is roughly $65 each. To view a video on bucket contents and assembly, go to http://www.umcor.org/UMCOR/Relief-Supplies/Relief-Supply-Kits/Cleaning.
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.
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.