By: Bill Conrad w/planostar
With hundreds of thousands of Japanese citizens left homeless by last week’s earthquake and tsunami, Plano churches are stepping up and doing what they can to help.
First United Methodist Church Plano is partnering with the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), a worldwide humanitarian aid organization.
“Our senior pastor has been talking about the earthquake and tsunami in worship since it happened,” said Mark Buford, church spokesman. “We have also had information about the relief efforts on our website. We are encouraging church members to donate to UMCOR, since every dollar donated goes to the emergency relief efforts in the Pacific.”
According to the UMCOR website, the organization is partnering with the United Church of Christ in Japan (UCCJ), as well as first-responder GlobalMedic.
“A grant to the UCCJ will help the church respond to the most pressing humanitarian needs in the wake of the crisis, including clean drinking water, food, basic cooking and eating supplies, clothing and fuel for heating,” the website reads. “UMCOR is also working with first-responder partner GlobalMedic, which has offered three services to the government of Japan: deploy a rescue team with specialized dog units; use of an inflatable field hospital; and distribution of water purification units to the region.”
While FUMC Plano is partnering with UMCOR, Prestonwood Baptist Church is sending money as well as a victim relief team to northern Japan.
“The people of Prestonwood have a heart for the hurting, whether locally or across the world,” Pastor Jack Graham said. “Our Victim Relief Team will soon travel to Japan to help with the physical and spiritual needs of the people. As a church, we are committed to both short-term and long-term assistance. In Japan, we long to provide physical assistance and the hope that is found in Jesus.”
The Prestonwood Victim Relief Team will be heading to Japan as soon as possible, said Prestonwood Executive Pastor Mike Buster.
“Our team is made up of 177 volunteers that have been trained in victim relief,” Buster said. “A lot of the members are chaplains and crisis responders who have been trained in how to deal with people who need assistance with their mental and spiritual health.”
Buster said the team has been dispatched to other disaster areas such as Haiti and the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. While the church will collect an offering to help offset the team’s costs, Buster said the team members will have to pay their own way to and from Japan. An assessment team will be sent to Japan soon in order to identify the mental and spiritual state of survivors. After that occurs, a larger group will be sent.
“The team ministers to people who have survived the disaster,” Buster said. “We will bring food, water and other disaster relief, but our focus is more on victim relief. With as many as 10,000 dead, our team will go in and work with the government in villages that have been affected. They will provide emotional and spiritual care for the survivors.”
For information on the United Methodist Committee on Relief, visit gbgm-umc.org/umcor. For information on Prestonwood Baptist Church, go to www.prestonwood.org
