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Middle East

The United Methodist Committee on Relief, through the World Hunger and Poverty Advance, awarded a grant in August 2024 to the Rural Women’s Development Society in the West Bank, the seventh in as many years. This project provides women with livelihoods, access to vocational training, business mentorship and a living wage in areas that have over 30% unemployment.

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Funding from “Where Most Needed” gives UMCOR the flexibility to reach people experiencing all kinds of disasters anywhere in the world.
UMCOR provides an initial grant for emergency relief in Turkey and Syria after devastating earthquake.
The situation of Palestinians in the Israeli-governed Holy Land is significantly worse today than it was a decade ago, according to an international delegation of Methodist leaders who just completed a five-day visit marking the 10th anniversary of the Jerusalem-based Methodist Liaison Office (MLO).
UMCOR partners with International Blue Crescent to provide humanitarian relief to displaced people living for eight months or more in informal camps, turned back from the Tajikistan border by the Taliban.
Thanks to a new $100,000 grant from the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), long-time partner Church World Service, a key organization in the welcome effort, will have funds that its nationwide resettlement network can use.
Through ecumenical partnerships on the ground, United Methodists continue to work to improve life for Afghans, as they have since the 1960s.
In collaboration with long-standing partners, UMCOR is providing humanitarian relief and is prepared to assist with refugee resettlement.
UMCOR’s work with Syrian refugees living in Lebanon and Jordan engages with four partners to provide counseling, rent and medical assistance and clearing of landmines.

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Have questions? Send us an inquiry and we’ll get back to you promptly. Please direct all media inquiries to Susan Clark, chief communications officer for Global Ministries and UMCOR.

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Susan Clark, Chief Communications Officer
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800-862-4246

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Six Years, No Solution: A 500-Gallon Tank Carries Hope to West Virginia’s Forgotten

McDowell County is one of the poorest in the U.S., and the communities of Anawalt, Leckie and Gary are some of the hardest hit by the current six-year water crisis. All have Methodist churches that are part of the Welch Charge.

To ease the burden of residents who have to purchase many gallons of drinking water weekly, the Welch Charge contacted the West Virginia Conference Disaster Response Coordinator, Jim McCune, for help. McCune’s United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) connection put him in touch with Global Ministries’ Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) program. 

A WASH grant allowed them to obtain a 500-gallon “water buffalo.” The conference disaster response team arranged to fill the portable water buffalo from the Welch water system, the county seat of McDowell, and transport it to Gary, where residents have been supplied with refillable containers. Residents of all three towns can come to get water, and volunteers will also continue deliveries for those who need it. Meanwhile, residents, including church members, continue to advocate state and local officials for a permanent solution to their aging, compromised water infrastructure. Full Story