Disaster Ministries

UCC Disaster Ministries is supporting immediate response and long-term recovery from Winter Storms that impacted states from Texas to the Carolinas. Donate by April 30 to the UCC’s Winter Storm Recovery Appeal and have your contribution matched by the Retirement Housing Foundation (up to $50,000).

Among needs we are helping meet are replacement of burst pipes and restoration of church food pantries in Texas, and restoration of people to safe homes in Kentucky, where an ice storm and flooding totally destroyed 264 homes and badly damaged 741 more. UCC churches in Atlanta are sending potable water to Jackson, Mississippi. UCC Disaster Ministries, conferences and congregations are working together to identify recovery needs in Tennessee, Kentucky and Texas for longer-term repairs and rebuilding.

Volunteers tear out flood-damaged walls in a Johnson County, Ky., home. Photo by Kristina Rowles, Regional Coordinator, Appalachia Service Project, used with permission.

“We change lives with paint, a new floor, spackling, drywall.” Lynn P. Lampman, Havertown, Pa.

The Global H.O.P.E. team facilitates the UCC’s response to natural and human-caused disasters across the United States and its territories and around the world.

Hand in hand with our volunteers, congregations, conferences and partnerships, including a network of Conference Disaster Coordinators, UCC Disaster Ministries seeks to serve the most vulnerable populations, focusing on disaster preparedness, identifying and meeting unmet needs, and spiritual and emotional support.

The UCC is an active member of National VOAD (Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster), through which we partner with dozens of organizations, large and small, for holistic, community-based recovery.

Internationally, Global H.O.P.E. maintains direct relationships and partnerships with organizations and faith communities able to appropriately and effectively respond to emergency and long-term needs. Joshua Baird, Team Leader, works with Area Executives of Global Ministries and through organizations such as Church World Service and the ACT Alliance to direct financial support and ensure the United Church of Christ stands with vulnerable people during times of crisis.

Key Links

COVID-19

Did you pay funeral costs after losing someone due to COVID-19? FEMA may be able to help with those costs. Learn more at FEMA.gov or call (844) 684-6333 to get started.