From my friend Rev. Matt Lacey, who is doing a wonderful job keeping with the updates:
Starting [today] (Wednesday, 4 May) at 7am, we are creating a Disaster Response Center at the North Alabama Conference Office.
You can reach the center at this number: 1-855-862-8657, starting Wednesday, May 4th, at 7am.
The past 6 days have been a long journey for many of us. As I have traveled to heavily affected areas, I am reminded of what it really means to be the body of Christ. Churches, from the minute the dust settled, reached out to those in need. We began organizing as soon as the storms passed, last Wednesday night, to get relief on the ground.
I want to make this clear: the UMC was on the ground, being the body of Christ the moment the storms hit. I want to thank all of our churches, districts, leaders, staff and volunteers. I cannot express what a difference you have made. Lives were saved, restored, and comforted because of you.
As we open the call center on Wednesday, I encourage you to phone in and ask what supplies you can give, where you can take supplies, what you can do to volunteer (ERT trained, or not), and for updates about affected areas. I want to express my thanks to all those who have helped me delegate and process information on the ground around the conference, so we could help those in this disaster over the past week. We could not have done this without you.
I hope you pay attention to the criteria we released just yesterday which opens up the volunteer base significantly. If you missed it, click here for that information.
If you are available, I would like to invite you to volunteer at the conference office, operating this important phone line. If you are interested in this, please contact Mary Simpson at (205) 226-7974 or msimpson@northalabamaumc.
Thank you again for all your hard work. In the times of deepest need, God makes God's presence known the most, and that is through all of us, the hands of feet of Christ.
-Matt
Rev. Matt Lacey, Director of Mission and Advocacy, North Alabama Conference
(Source, here)
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