Summer Volunteer Opportunities
A lot of people are looking for summer volunteer options in Western PA this summer. If you have a team, or are an individual volunteer who wants to work with a team, check out our list of opportunities or register your team on the Mission Volunteer Opportunities page. You can also connect with one of the District VIM Coordinators and ask what’s going on.
Here are some regional ministries that have volunteer opportunities you might consider …
· The Erie United Methodist Alliance (see attached volunteer needs from April for contact info)
· Ramp Bulding – I have a number of inquiries from individuals and churches in need of handicap ramps. If you’ve got a team that is willing to build a ramp for someone in need, please e-mail me at Diane.Miller@wpaumc.org.
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For out-of-state opportunities, read on:
· New York – the Gowanda and Silver Creek area near Buffalo – working on recovery from last year’s severe flooding. Contact Tri-County Disaster Recovery … 716-254-1783.
· West Virginia – The Oak Hill UMC (South of Charleston, north of Beckley, off Route 19) runs an area-wide community rebuilding/rehab project. You can reach Tom Clark (W VA VIM Coordinator for details at tomclark@oakhillumcgroup.com or 304-469-4126.
· Tennessee … For the 42 counties declared to be a disaster area in the Memphis and TN Conferences, FEMA is currently working on inspections related to 22,000 households, which would include minor, major, or total destruction. Initial inquiries should be sent to DisasterResponse@tnumc.com. Once they've received that contact, they will email instructions and an electronic registration form. Teams and individuals should be prepared to be flexible as UMCOR and other organizations set up recovery efforts for this disaster.
UMCOR sent out this notice recently: Ashland, Carthage and Centerville, Dyersburg and Millington may be towns unfamiliar to many across the United States, but they are among the scores of towns in Tennessee that continue to deal with the aftermath of record-breaking floods earlier this month. Twenty-four people died and 45 counties were declared disaster areas.
While local churches open their doors to host volunteer work teams, the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is on the ground helping the Tennessee and Memphis Conferences develop processes for coordinating response to the disaster and for offering spiritual and emotional care.
Check out the blogspot for the Tennessee UMC: http://tnumcrelief.blogspot.com/
· Indiana Conf Disaster Recovery (recovery from past floods) … 219-447-3583 … Lakeshore Area Regional Recovery … check their web site: http://www.larri.info/
· Ohio … Cleveland (Nehemiah Mission); Canton (Calvary Mission); Steubenville (Epworth and Urban Mission); Mansfield (Blue Rose Mission) … each of these has a web site for contact info.
For those of you still looking for a place to send a youth team, check out U.M. Army Northeast: http://www.umarmy.org/conference/northeast/aboutus.php
Click on the Registration link to see where there’s still room. This United Methodist affiliated youth/mission program offers a lot of helps/lists/time line, etc on their web site.
Please keep me posted about your VIM activities. Let me know your success stories – or experiences that could have been better. I’ll use your input to help others decide where they might volunteer.
Diane Miller
Mission/VIM Coordinator
Western Pennsylvania Conference
United Methodist Church
136 Decker Drive
New Castle, PA 16105
724-652-9182
By: Diane Miller On 6/2/2010
Topics:
Mission
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