• Who We Are
    • Who We Are
    • Mission
    • History
    • General Synod
    • Leadership and Ministry
    • Staff
    • United Church of Christ Board
  • What We Believe
    • What We Believe
    • Worship Ways
    • Daily Devotional
  • What We Do
    • What We Do
    • Office of the General Minister & President
    • Justice & Local Church Ministries
    • Wider Church Ministries
  • News
  • Church Finder
  • Donate Now
  • Search
UCC Logo United Church of Christ
  • Church Finder
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Store
  • Frontline Faith Portal
  • Donate Now
  • Search
  • Who We Are
    • Column
      • About
        • Mission
        • Constitution and Bylaws
        • History
          • UCC Archives
        • UCC Brand Guidelines
        • General Synod
          • Synod 33 Worship Videos
          • Past General Synods
        • Abuse Prevention
    • Column
      • Structure
        • Conferences
        • Affiliated Ministries
    • Column
      • Team
        • Elected Officers
        • Staff
        • United Church of Christ Board
          • Board Minutes
        • Office of General Counsel
        • UCCOSSN
    • Column
      • Career Opportunities
      • Annual Reports
  • What We Believe
    • Column
      • Worship
        • Statement of Faith of the United Church of Christ – La Declaración de Fe de la Iglesia Unida de Cristo
        • Worship Ways
        • Daily Devotional
        • Sermon Seeds
  • How We Serve
    • Column
      • Office of the General Minister & President
        • Welcome to Human Resources
          • Employee Relations Resources
        • Center for Analytics, Research & Development and Data (CARDD)
          • General CARDD FAQs
          • About The Center for Analytics, Research & Development, and Data (CARDD)
          • Authorized Minister Opt Out
          • Access UCC
          • Archived Reports
          • Assessment Resources
          • Information Policies and Requests
          • Faith Communities Today (FACT) Survey
          • MissionInsite
          • Statistics and Reports
          • Vital Signs and Statistics Blog
          • Data Hub FAQs
          • Data Hub
          • Yearbook and Directory
    • Column
      • Justice & Local Church Ministries
        • Justice
          • Faithful Action Ministries
            • Environmental Justice Ministries
            • Economic Justice
            • Racial Justice
          • Office of Public Policy & Advocacy in Washington D.C.
            • Justice and Peace Action Network
            • Our Faith Our Vote 2020
            • Justice Training Resources
            • Action Center
          • Health and Wholeness Advocacy
            • Disabilities and Mental Health Justice
            • Encuentros Latinx
            • UCC HIV & AIDS Network-UCAN
            • LGBTQ Ministries
            • Our Whole Lives
            • Overdose and Drug Use Ministries
            • Scouting
            • Wellness Ministries
          • The Pilgrim Press & Stillspeaking Publications
    • Column
      • Justice & Local Church Ministries
        • Local Church
          • The Faith Education, Innovation and Formation (Faith INFO)Team
            • Weekly Seeds
            • Youth & Young Adults
          • Worship Resources
            • Worship Ways
            • Sermon Seeds
            • Synod 33 Worship Videos
            • Music and Liturgical Arts
          • Stewardship & Generosity Resources
          • Ministerial Excellence, Support & Authorization (MESA)
            • History, Polity, and Theology
            • Search & Call
            • Ministerial Profiles
            • Ministry Opportunities
            • Manual on Ministry
    • Column
      • Wider Church Ministries
        • Global Ministries
        • Global H.O.P.E.
          • Volunteer Ministries
          • Refugee and Migration Ministries
          • Disaster Ministries
          • Recovering Hope
        • Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations
  • Resources
  • News
    • Column
      • News
        • United Church of Christ News
    • Column
      • Columns
        • Witness for Justice
        • Into the Mystic
        • Getting to the Root of It
        • The Pollinator: UCC Environmental Justice Blog
        • UCC Roots
        • Encounters at the Well
        • Reflexiones
    • Column
      • Upcoming Events
        • Webinars
      • Changes & Deaths
  • Giving
    • Column
      • Donate Now
      • Ways to Give
        • Giving Tuesday
        • General Synod 2021 Thursday in Black Offering
        • General Synod 2021 Racial Justice Offering
        • Disaster Ministries: How to Give
        • Our Church’s Wider Mission
          • Our Church’s Wider Mission Basic Support
          • Strengthen the Church
          • One Great Hour of Sharing
          • Neighbors in Need
          • Christmas Fund
          • 5 for 5
    • Column
      • Ways We Give
        • Scholarships & Grants

  • Home
  • News
  • Disaster Updates
  • UCC seeks gifts for partners where ‘pandemic is far from over’
SEAsiaWHOStatsW/CASApic

UCC seeks gifts for partners where ‘pandemic is far from over’

by Staff Reports | published on May 27, 2021

In the United States, COVID-19 cases are going down as vaccination numbers go up. People are planning summer activities.

But elsewhere, “the pandemic is far from over,” said the Rev. Josh Baird. He leads the United Church of Christ’s Global H.O.P.E. team, which wants to raise $150,000 to help partners respond to the ongoing crisis.

To that end, the UCC issued a special “COVID-specific relief” appeal May 26. Details are here.

Baird said the funds will help meet specific requests from longtime church partners who are working hard to react to a stubborn and changing pandemic.

Supplies and support

A World Health Organization web page shows current COVID statistics for Southeast Asia on May 27.

In Southern Asia, for example, countries struggle with:

  • Vaccine supplies
  • Mutating strains of the coronavirus
  • Shortages of hospital space and protective equipment
  • Lockdowns and losses of jobs

Globally, Baird said, “vaccine distribution is highly unequal.” In many places, health infrastructure adds to the challenge. “Those who are already vulnerable, including older adults, people living in rural areas and in impoverished communities, are increasingly at risk. This was made clear in India where an alarming surge has strained healthcare infrastructure and professionals beyond capacity.

“As the virus continues to spread, gifts to this appeal will enable the church to be immediately responsive, offering help and extending hope with affected communities. Through long-standing relationships with mission partners, the Church is able to support the purchase of necessary medical supplies, furnish protective gear and provide counseling and support services, among other services.”

‘We want to journey with partners’

“While we here in the United States are making choices about whether or not we want to take the vaccine, many of our partners are working in communities where COVID-19 is spreading rapidly,” said the Rev. Karen Georgia Thompson. As a UCC associate general minister, she heads Wider Church Ministries, which includes Global H.O.P.E.

Health-care workers with Church’s Auxiliary for Social Action, a Global Ministries partner, conduct a COVID-19 awareness training in India.

“The UCC responded to COVID-19 in a variety of ways last year, providing resources to assist with hygiene, food and funds to communities and individuals struggling through the pandemic,” Thompson said. “Last year, we knew we needed to do something without knowing the full extent of what the world was dealing with. Now that we know more and have a greater awareness, we believe there will be longer-term issues to address, even as we deal with current needs. We want to be able to journey with partners through these troubling times.”

“We will continue to stand with the hardest-hit and often most-overlooked communities around the world while pressing for a just vaccine distribution,” Baird said.

People can give online by using the special form at this page. Gifts made there will be directed to the COVID Relief Fund. Instructions in how to give by check also appear there.

Categories: Disaster Updates United Church of Christ News

Get the UCC in your inbox!

Sign up for the weekly UCC News Digest

Privacy Policy
 
 

Related News

PensionBoardsMFVIlogo2022
United Church of Christ News

Fresh cycle of grants will aid ministers hit financially by COVID

Pastoral leaders in the United Church of Christ who took a financial hit because of COVID-19...

Read More
Candles
United Church of Christ News

Texas UCC leader: ‘God is waiting for us to do something’

The night of a May 24 school attack that killed 19 students and two teachers in Uvalde, Tex.,...

Read More
UvaldeTXschoolshootingprayer
United Church of Christ News

‘End the cycle of violence,’ UCC officers pray after deaths in Texas school shooting

The three national officers of the United Church of Christ issued a prayer of grief after a...

Read More
  • Column
    • Local Church and Conference Resource Directory
    • Mission
    • Justice & Local Church Ministries
    • Wider Church Ministries
    • General Synod 33 Resolutions
  • Column
    • Contact
    • News
    • Store
Content on ucc.org is copyrighted by the National Setting of the United Church of Christ and may be only shared according to the guidelines outlined here.
  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on Instagram
  • Subscribe on YouTube

Donate Now


UCC Crest
© United Church of Christ 2022. Privacy Policy.
Crafted by Cornershop Creative