“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you.” Isaiah 43:2

Let a great surge of prayer go out to the people of Texas and Louisiana as they face torrential rains and floods this week.

Dan and Sue Lowther, and JF Lacaria know how your hearts long to help your brothers and sisters who are even now standing up to the battering storms of Hurricane Harvey and longing to begin their work of recovery.

Here are some things you can do right now:

1. Pray for all those who are engaged in this storm: survivors, first responders, spiritual care providers, disaster agencies including UMCOR and the Texas and Louisiana Conferences and staff.
2. Send financial contributions – they are the most useful contribution you can make. To ensure that your gift reaches the disaster quickly, give through your church, and note “Hurricane Harvey #114” on the memo line. Church treasurers, make your checks payable to Conference Treasurer and please use remittance forms when sending checks to the WV Conference Treasurer’s Office, PO Box 2469, Charleston, WV 25329.  Donors, you can also send your check directly to the WV Conference Treasurer’s Office made out to “Conference Treasurer” with “Hurricane Harvey #114” in the memo line and mailed to the above address. If you prefer to use the UMCOR Advance special number, that is “Fund 901670.”
3. Assemble flood buckets or health kits. Remember, UMCOR Sager Brown Depot is in Baldwin, LA, very close to this disaster. Supplies are already flowing from this central depot of UMCOR. Eventually, their stocks will become depleted and our buckets and kits will help replenish UMCOR’s stock of these much needed items. You can make arrangements with the New Vision Depot to receive the materials you prepare. [Sue Lowther: wsuelowther@gmail.com; Dan Lowther: dclowther@gmail.com]Here is a link to UMCOR instructions for preparing flood buckets and health kits: www.umcor.org/UMCOR/Relief-Supplies/Relief-Supply-Kits/Cleaning OR www.umcor.org/umcor/relief-supplies/relief-supply-kits/hygiene
4. Assemble a team and stand by. Our conference will only authorize teams to go into the impacted area when we are invited. It may be in a few weeks, it may be in a few months. Teams will need to be certified to perform the work they want to do. It is beautiful and natural that your heart wants to jump in a car and head to Texas now, but many who do this will be the areas “second disaster,” i.e., managing self-deployed over-functioning teams and individuals. Rev. David Stilgenbauer, our conference VIM coordinator, can help connect you to a place to serve when the time is right. [RevDaveS@yahoo.com]Send your emails (secure email at txcumc.org and la-umc.org), Facebook posts (@TexasAnnualConference and @louisianaconference), tweets (@txumc) to the Texas and Louisiana Conferences using their online portals, remember some of the Texas Conference offices are in Houston.