Humanitarian Relief & Recovery News & Stories

Sustaining faith partnerships with Latin America
Through small grants, the Encounter with Christ fund has nurtured Methodist mission and relationships in 26 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.
UMCOR provides home sanitation units for Alaska’s Yu’pik community as first residents relocate to Mertarvik
Mertarvik, Alaska, the relocation site for Newtok, a Yu’pik village that lost much of its land to rising sea levels and eroding coastline, receives its first residents in newly built houses, complete with UMCOR-funded PASS sanitation units in each home.
UMCOR partners with a community in the Philippines that practices “Bayanihan,” the spirit of communal unity, in the face of landslides and relocation
The community of Tamac in the Philippines partners with UMCOR through the Baguio Episcopal Area Disaster Management Office to shore up needed water sources after typhoons and a landslide destroy homes and fields.
Church and Community Workers biennial gathering focuses on immigration and substance abuse ministries
United Methodist Church and Community Workers gather in California for their biennial meeting to celebrate and reconnect with their colleagues for mutual support and professional networking.
Church and Community Worker Janet Lynne Horman is on a mission to help migrants
Striving to embody the church in her own community, missionary and attorney Janet Horman directs Florida Justice For Our Neighbors and provides free legal services to migrants in the U.S.
Focus on global migration: “What could be our ship?”
In his report to the board, general secretary Thomas Kemper named hopeful examples of mission the United Methodist people collectively do “in a fractured world and church,” with an emphasis on ministries surrounding global migration.
Hurricane Dorian: From devastation to resilience in the Bahamas
Residents of Grand Bahama Island and Abaco are receiving relief in the form of shelter, meals and hygiene items. Some are also taking great joy in being a part of the volunteer effort, serving their neighbors in the midst of their own tragedies.
Global Migration grant list
2021 Global Migration grant list.
From integration to transformation: multicultural ministry in the midst of migration
Highlights of the August session of the Institute for Multicultural Ministry in Germany.
Puerto Rico recovers from 2017 hurricanes, aided by UMCOR, UMVIM
The month of September marks two years since Hurricane Maria brought widespread destruction to Puerto Rico. The recovery has progressed steadily, thanks largely to the Methodist Church of Puerto Rico, and with the help of UMCOR training and funding and more than 200 Volunteer in Mission teams.
UMCOR support scales up Arkansas River flood recovery
Although it didn’t receive much national attention, the spring floods of the Arkansas River wiped out property and devastated some communities. UMCOR and the Arkansas Conference Disaster Response Team have just rolled out a new phase to help with recovery.
Creation care gets traction as priority
A growing amount of grassroots climate change work is being done by graduates of Global Ministries EarthKeepers training.