This is one of the stories told by Harry Harker, project manager for the UCC Disaster Response team that traveled to Princeville, North Carolina in January and November 2000 to help rebuild the small town that was nearly wiped out when water rose over the dike built to protect it during Hurricane Floyd in September 1999. People like the elderly woman in the shelter and the family in crisis whose house the team helped to repair are the reason Harker and others like him do what they do.

Harker’s group from Mt. Olivet UCC in North Lima (Ray Hurd, Dan Lacefield, Larry Wassem, Floyd Welker and Karl Heaver) were part of an ecumenical effort to assist the people in this low-income area where resources are scarce to repair and rebuild the hundreds of homes severely damaged or destroyed by flood waters. FEMA officials who are in the area to provide temporary housing, low interest loans, grants and other help have estimated that it will take at least five years for Princeville, Tarboro and the surrounding towns to recover from the flood. After more than a year’s work, there are still more than 300 homes waiting for repairs, the families who lived in them displaced and their lives disrupted.

Working at various times with groups from other Ohio Conference churches, Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists and members of the Church of the Brethren, the group from Mt. Olivet experienced a powerful sense of community and personal fulfillment as they created some order from the chaos left by Hurricane Floyd.

"When a home has been severely flooded," said Harker, "usually everything must be removed and discarded. Often the contents of the home have been contaminated by various kinds of waste, dead animals and other pollution in the floodwaters. The home’s interior must be stripped down to bare studs. Drywall, flooring, plumbing and electric wiring must be removed and replaced."

It is an overwhelming task, more than most families can do on their own. And that is where the Disaster Response Team gets involved. Trips are organized as often as possible, as a congregation or group of congregations assembles people who want to travel to North Carolina for a week or more to help out. Jim Ditzler, Ohio Conference Disaster Response Team Director, will connect the group with one of the denominational organizations that has set up accommodations and work projects for volunteers.

On their last trip, the group from Mt. Olivet was housed in an unused church that has been set up to sleep and feed volunteers. Each morning the group shared devotions and breakfast at the church, went out to work, had lunch delivered at the site, and came back to the church for dinner and relaxation in the evening. The church lacks shower facilities, so arrangements were made for workers to shower at the local YMCA on the way back to the church at the end of each day.

"We enjoyed being together at the end of the day," said Harker. "We met some wonderful people from other denominations, and we built a strong feeling of community within our own group as well. It’s a very positive experience, and people who make the trip usually want to go back. We just need more people to make that first effort, to experience what it feels like to be doing God’s work in the world in this way."

The Ohio Conference Disaster Response Team is challenging congregations to organize groups, large or small, who can give their time and talents to help people in trouble. Harker tells of the Johnson family, owners of the home where the Mt. Olivet group worked in November. "Bernard and Tonya were feeling the effects of the stress of their situation. Even before the flood devastated them, they had endured a fire in their home. So, in addition to pounding nails in drywall and stringing electrical wiring, the members of our group tried to offer friendship and a willing ear to these people who had lost so much."

"I called the Johnsons on Christmas Eve," said Harker. "I was very happy to learn that the family was together, back in their own home. It is immensely gratifying to have played even a small part in their story."

The Disaster Response Team is looking for more work teams, for financial support for the teams (work team members buy gasoline and meals for the trip to and from North Carolina) and for assembling a tool trailer that work teams can take with them to disaster sites. The trailer will contain equipment and supplies so teams are assured of having what they need when they arrive in areas that are dealing with the effects of a disaster. Church groups and Sunday School classes are urged to consider organizing to help the Disaster Response Team in any of these ways. For information, contact Jim Ditzler at 330-262-3242 or jditzler@bright.net.

   United Church News On Line                  

The Dalai Lama during Lent

The Rev. Dr. Richard A. Wing, Senior Minister, First Community UCC, Columbus
Reprinted from firstnews newsletter, April 2000

Article from United Church News, page 1, March 2001

Here in part is a mantra from the Dalai Lama that I think belongs in the hands of Christians during Lent:

1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
2. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
3. Follow the three R’s: Respect for self, Respect for others and Responsibility for all your actions.
4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
5. Learn the rules so that you know how to break them properly.
6. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
7. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
8. Spend some time alone every day.
9. Open your arms to change but don’t let go of your values.
10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
11. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.
12. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.
13. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
14. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

Peace to your Lenten path.

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Insurance Board website offers resources for churches

Article from United Church News, page 2, March 2001

The Insurance Board website (www.insuranceboard.org) contains information about liability issues that affect churches: property loss, safety, abuse prevention, church maintenance, emergency preparedness, and others. An excerpt from the IB’s Loss Control Manual is reprinted below. "The Slip, Trip and Fall Prevention Assessment" is intended to help congregations reduce the number of these accidents, which cause the most frequent and costly injuries on church property but are generally considered to be preventable in most cases. The complete manual is available online.

Slip, Trip and Fall Prevention Assessment 
(an excerpt from the UCC Insurance Board Loss Control Manual)

1. Are all walking surfaces clean, well maintained and regularly inspected? Are needed repairs made promptly?
2. Are all stairways with more than three risers equipped with handrails?
3. Are liquid spills cleaned up immediately?
4. Are hallways or stairwells used as storage areas?
5. Is illumination adequate along corridors and in stairwells?
6. Are all electrical/telephone cords properly secured?
7. Are "CAUTION-WET FLOOR" signs used during spill clean-ups or routine housekeeping?
8. Do inclement weather procedures include use of floor tracking mats/frequent mopping?
9. Are parking lots and sidewalks properly maintained? Is snow removal, sanding, or salting adequate?
10. Are non-slip coatings used in high traffic areas prone to moisture?
11. Are ladders equipped with non-slip safety feet?
12. Are visitors, especially children, discouraged from running?
13. Are stairways well lighted and equipped with emergency (battery-powered) lighting?
14. Are floors matted or carpeted with non-slip covering secured to the floor?

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Courage to be Christian

The Rev. Stephen Gehlert, Senior Minister, Bethany UCC, Cuyahoga Falls
Reprinted from The Bethany Letter, January 16, 2001

Article from United Church News, page 3, March 2001

So, though we are not called to battle communism, or fascism, or a military dictatorship, or apartheid, or slavery, we are called to be Christ’s people in a world that doesn’t know him. That witness is just as crucial to the future of the world as all those battles of the past. We witness by:

• Choosing to see ourselves in terms of who we are rather than what we have.
• Choosing to practice honesty and integrity rather than "whatever gets me what I want."
• Choosing to live simply with God’s abundance rather than acquisitively seeking more of what we want.
• Choosing to live generously rather than selfishly.
• Choosing to forgive rather than get even.
• Choosing to break down barriers rather than hide behind them.
• Choosing to speak to heal and reconcile rather than tear down and divide.
• Choosing to risk the fulfilling burdens of commitment rather than the empty ease of non-commitment.
• Choosing to practice Sabbath rather than ceaseless getting and spending.
• Choosing to teach our children faith and commitment rather than more ways to get what they want.
• Choosing to show what we believe and who we belong to rather than hiding who and whose we are.

The list could go on and on. But I don’t need to. It’s clear that in a given situation, doing even one of these things can require great courage. We may feel that we are completely alone. In terms of numbers at the office, or at school, or in our friendship circle, or in the shop, or on the team, that may be the most obvious conclusion. You and I may be the only one present who understands what Christ calls us to do.

Do we have the courage to do it?

What has given others courage to make this witness in the past, even in situations of mortal danger, even when captives in prisons or death camps, is the knowledge that we are not alone.

Desmond Tutu put it this way in regard to his participation in the fight against apartheid:

"In all the struggles we face, I am simply living out the victory God has already won."

Tex Sample put it this way in regard to our struggle to witness to our faith in modern America:

"We are not called to go anywhere that Christ has not already gone to open the way, so that we can move ahead confidently, trusting in the power of the Spirit."

Christ has already dealt with all the powers that assail us. He has taken their abuse, their scorn and rejection. He has suffered and died and has won the victory over them. We don’t have to be afraid! This doesn’t mean that we are exempt from suffering, or that nothing can touch us if we stand up for our faith. It means that the God who is with us cannot be defeated. So we may suffer but we will not be defeated.

Martin Luther wrote these words to give believers courage:

"The body they may kill, God’s truth abideth still, His kingdom is forever."

May we make our first aim to belong to that kingdom and trust that there we will truly be secure.

Email Pastor Gehlert at bethany@bethany.ald.net

SARA's gift of money

Excerpts from an article in the SARA Newsletter, January 2001
Marilyn Freeman, Editor                                     Read the SARA Newsletter online

Article from United Church News, Page 3, March 2001

Every dollar of American currency is worth approximately five dollars in Ukrainian currency. The average worker (if fortunate to have a job) earns about $20 per month—if they get paid. Many go to work not knowing if they will be paid. The doctors with whom SARA maintains contact have sometimes not received their paychecks from the hospitals.

SARA has given many monetary grants. The following is a partial list of those given on the most recent trip in July 2000.

• $500 to Erdeyi Home, Debrecen, Hungary. A Ronald McDonald-type home to lodge families of hospital patients from Ukraine and Romania.
• $700 for food for the State Children’s Orphanage
• $1,000 to buy bedding for the Children’s Hospital in Muchachevo
• $1,000 to Good Samaritan Orphanage for provision of fresh vegetables to the Children’s Hospital in Muchachevo
• $500 to Prof. Joszef Gyori in Debrecen for managing the shipping of shoes from Hungary to Gypsy children.
• $4,400 for two new washing machines for two hospitals
• $500 to build sanitary toilets in Gypsy neighborhoods
• $550 to build a chapel at the Children’s Hospital
• $1,400 to build two sets of swings for State Children’s Orphanage and Good Samaritan Orphanage
• $5,000 in support for the new free clinic established by the Christian Doctors Association
• $1,500 to buy farm animals for Gypsy families
• $4,170 bequest to Palo Hungarian Church from a person in Ohio
• $400 assistance for a child needing surgery
• $1,500 to Good Samaritan Orphanage for medical treatment for three children
• $300 to Hungarian doctor for his services to SARA children
• $500 to two Gypsy churches for support of their pastor

These monies were contributed to SARA by people like you, who are called by Christ to serve. In addition to this money, many of the individuals on the July 2000 mission trip and their respective churches also granted money to various persons and agencies. You or your church can make contributions through the UCC Ohio Conference, 6161 Busch Blvd., Suite 95, Columbus OH 43229.

Email SARA's Executive Director, 
Stephen Szilagyi, at  szilsara@suite224.net

SARA's Home Page

UC News On Line    

Hand crafted quilts headed for Prettyman

Article from United Church News, Page 4, March 2001

Twenty-one women arrived at Babcock Lodge carrying sewing machines, cutting mats, rulers and irons, turning the dining hall into a sewing room. The quilters chose from fabric supplied by Susan Towner-Larsen in the combination of bright colors and black that characterizes most Amish quilts. Towner-Larsen, the Ohio Conference Minister for Church and Education and an avid quilter herself, organized the event and provided the fabric and thread for the quilts.

The day was an opportunity for fellowship as well as service to the Ohio Conference. Groups of women worked together, measuring, cutting, stitching and pressing. Experienced quilters took the lead, sharing their expertise and their love of quilting.

By the end of the day, the quilters had made considerable progress, producing many completed squares ready to take home and sew together into complete tops. The quilts are scheduled to be finished by early May, in time for Prettyman’s "grand opening" at Camp Open House on Saturday, May 19.

Quilters were: Sue Smith and Reita Weitendorf, First UCC, Fremont; Janet Richardson, OC staff; Shirley Krcmar and Carolee Rafn, UCC Congregational, Medina; Janice Paden, Phyllis Casper and Helen Davis, Bethany UCC, Cuyahoga Falls; Lois Paul, Arlene Kaiser, May Palmer and Dorothy Haines, Avon Lake UCC, Milan; Helen Scherk, Alice Keen, Linda Ditzler, Shirley McDonald, Becky Grindstaff, Marleen O’Brien, Janet Burkhart and Ester Ledo, Trinity UCC, Wooster.

Ms. Ledo, one of the new quilters, is visiting Wooster from Ghana with her husband, the Right Rev. Japhet Ledo. Rev. Ledo is filling in for Trinity’s pastor Jim Christensen while he is on a sabbatical in Ghana.