News & Stories

Migration & Refugees

Explore how your gifts and our global partnerships connect local churches and communities in mission to alleviate human suffering around the world.

World Refugee Day reminds us of our personal, scriptural and theological roots to affirm and welcome refugees seeking safety today.

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A $250,000 UMCOR grant is providing more than 15,000 people in East Congo with food, hygiene kits and other essential support.
UMCOR supports host churches and agencies that seek to make temporary shelters into more permanent homes for refugees from Ukraine.
Caring for refugees from Ukraine who crossed into neighboring countries is the latest chapter of an UMCOR-CWS partnership that began in the mid-1940s.
Global Ministries/UMCOR wholeheartedly endorses the Immigration Law & Justice (ILJ) Network’s statement expressing serious concerns about the recent expansion of the Title 42 public health order regarding immigration.
The UMCOR Asylum Project (“Leading with Welcome”), a partnership that includes UMCOR, National Justice for Our Neighbors and Church World Service, helps a family from Honduras win their asylum case on the grounds of religious persecution.
UMCOR supports United Methodists in Slovakia, Romania, Poland, Hungary, Czechia and Estonia as they welcome refugees from Ukraine into their homes and houses of worship.
UMC churches in the United States can aid migrants in their local communities with the help of a $2,000 grant from the United Methodist Committee on Relief. 

Contact Information

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.

General Inquiries

Media Inquiries

Susan Clark, Chief Communications Officer
media@umcmission.org
800-862-4246

UMCOR Campaigns

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