UMCOR Update: Progress in Haiti

The board of directors of the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) approved three large grants for Haiti at their semiannual meeting, held in Stamford, Connecticut.

Two of the grants support UMCOR partners working in the area of decentralized, integrated, community-driven health care. Decentralizing health care is a priority of the Haitian government, since the January 2010 earthquake drove many survivors from the capital, Port-au-Prince.

“It is important to create a system of medical access and referral—to bring health care to the people where they are,” said UMCOR International Disaster Response executive, Melissa Crutchfield.

A third grant provides scholarship assistance to 12 Haitian students and supports them both in their professional studies and in their leadership development.

At the board meeting, UMCOR staff announced that they would convene a Health Strategy Forum in Haiti from May 3 to 5, bringing together partners in the field with the aim to develop a long-term health strategy in post-earthquake Haiti.

During the last week of April, UMCOR also called together potential partners for a Forum on Reconstruction and Pure-Water Supply in Haiti. The upshot of the meeting will be to develop a holistic pilot project in two villages that would benefit 40 families.

Read more about UMCOR’s Spring Board meeting, and download UMCOR’s Haiti July-December, 2010 report.

UMCOR provides emergency relief in many areas of the world. To find out more about UMCOR's ministries, please visit umcor.org. You can donate to any project by placing a contribution in the offering plate at a local United Methodist church; by sending a check to UMCOR, PO Box 9068, New York, NY 10087-9068; or by calling 1-800-554-8583, where credit card donations are accepted. You can also give online by clicking on any of the "Give Now" links.

UMCOR is exempt from tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of the United States and qualifies for the maximum charitable contribution deduction by donors.

And, please pray for those who are hungry, displaced, sick or in poverty because of these and other natural and human-made disasters, and for the workers who minister to them.

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