Bringing peace after storms
In May, tornado sirens screamed again and again in central Oklahoma. "We are pushed hard from all sides, but we are not beaten down; we are bewildered, but that doesn’t make us lose hope; we all suffer, but God does not desert us; we are knocked down, but we are not knocked out." (2 Corinthians 4:8-9) Bishop Robert Hayes Jr. of the Oklahoma Area offered those Bible verses when he reached out to Oklahoma United Methodists on June 1.
The Oklahoma and Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conferences are partners in the disaster recovery work, which is expected to take at least two years. The deadly storms on May 19-20 and May 30-June 1 seemed to bookend the Oklahoma UM Annual Conference on May 27-30.
As of June 19, total donations topped $1.04 million to the Oklahoma Conference special fund "2013 May Tornado Relief," according to the Treasurer’s Office. On June 20, UMCOR reported donations of $1.33 million, received since May 20, to the U.S. Disater Response Advance. UMCOR, the United Methodist Committee on Relief also sent two truckloads of supplies to Oklahoma. Updates about Oklahoma’s recovery efforts: www.okumc.org/tornado_response Facebook (Oklahoma United Methodist Communications) Email mass messages Volunteer to help in person, or request help, at: www.okumc.org/TornadoVolunteer Watch for the fall issue of Contact, the Magazine, dedicated to UM disaster response ministry. |