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Hands-on help: United Methodists assemble health kits Mary Jacobs, Jan 29, 2010
PHOTOS BY BILLY REEDER
From left, Andy Jones, Spree Hilliard and Lori Williams, students at the Arkansas Tech University Wesley Foundation in Russellville, Ark., pack health kits to send to Haiti through the United Methodist Committee on Relief.
By Mary Jacobs Staff Writer
When the TV news stations began reporting from the earthquake in Haiti, Jessica Patton couldn’t just watch.
“When I see people on TV in such anguish, it’s hard to watch without doing something hands-on myself,” she said.
So Ms. Patton, a member of First United Methodist Church in Salt Lake City, Utah, sent out an e-mail to fellow church members and enlisted about 15 people to join her in assembling health kits at the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) West’s depot in Salt Lake.
The help was welcomed. UMCOR’s two relief supply warehouses have issued a request for United Methodists to provide health kits that can be sent to earthquake-devastated Haiti. The kits, valued at about $12 apiece, contain items such as towels, bandages and soap, and will be distributed to Haitians forced to leave their homes.
In response to the call, churches across the U.S. have mobilized their congregations as well as men’s groups, Bible studies, small groups and Sunday school classes to assemble health kits for Haiti.
Members of First UMC in Lubbock, Texas, spent Sunday morning, Jan. 17, assembling 1,000 kits. Volunteers at Grace UMC in Mount Juliet, Tenn., spent Sunday morning, Jan. 24, putting together 10,000 health kits.
First UMC in Towanda, Pa., set up a donation bin for needed items and invited members of the community to help assemble the kits. Members of Aldersgate UMC in Rockland, Maine, assembled 50 health kits as part of the church’s “Jesus and Java” coffeehouse program and Sunday worship.
“Everyone is so moved by the plight in Haiti,” said the Rev. Jackie Brannen, Aldersgate’s pastor. “We can’t all get to Haiti, but we can certainly do something for the people of Haiti.”
UMCOR officials say they anticipate a continued need for health kits, adding there’s no way that they will receive more health kits than can be put to good use. Kathy Kraiza, director of UMCOR’s relief supplies, estimates that hundreds of thousands of kits will be needed in the days and months ahead. A large shipment of health kits to Armenia had emptied most of UMCOR’s stock of health kits just before the quake.
Melissa Hinnen, director of communications for UMCOR, says churches have responded generously to the call for health kits. UMCOR hopes to send three shipping containers of the kits to Haiti very soon, most likely to areas outside of Port-au-Prince.
“We’re trying to reach out to areas where there are no news cameras,” she said.
UMCOR officials on the ground in Haiti are reporting that they will need layette kits as well, she added. The kits will provide basic necessities to new mothers whose babies will be born in Haiti in the coming months.
Within a week of the quake, about 100 volunteers a day turned up at UMCOR West’s depot in Salt Lake City to help assemble health kits. Some churches also sent already-assembled kits. On Jan. 21, the depot shipped 23,000 kits to Haiti, completing emptying out the depot’s supply.
The Rev. Brian Diggs, director of UMCOR West, says that dollar-for-dollar, UMCOR can provide more kits with donated cash. But there are other advantages when volunteers assemble the kits themselves.
“It gives people a more tangible feel for mission work,” he said. “And for local churches, it’s an avenue to invite people to come from outside of the congregation to help. “Making kits can be contagious, in a way that giving money might not,” he added. “And it helps more people to know what’s going on in our churches.”
Local TV news programs featured health-kit assembly projects at United Methodist churches; many local newspapers carried stories explaining how readers could donate items or help assemble kits at United Methodist churches in their communities.
“To feel that your hands are touching something that will help someone in Haiti—that’s the spiritual side of it,” said Ms. Hinnen. “This is a very basic way that we can care for people.”
The Rev. Bob Kaylor, pastor of Park City Community UMC in Park City, Utah, says his church of 350 members sent about 50 volunteers to UMCOR West to help assemble kits, including several families.
“We had a couple of families with 5-year-olds, and they helped too,” he said. “It gives everybody an opportunity to pitch in and help.”
Mr. Diggs issued an appeal to the Western Jurisdiction for at least 20,000 health kits to restock the inventory shipped out for Haiti. He says he’s focusing on replenishing the health kits.
Even after the initial rescue and relief efforts have been carried out, the depot will likely have a continued demand for the health kits and layette kits.
“We send these out to the most vulnerable populations, who are in constant need of these kinds of supplies,” Mr. Diggs said. “It won’t be long before the next story hits the news, and people will forget about Haiti. But this is a situation that will go on for years.”
UMCOR requests that the following NEW items be placed in a sealed, one-gallon plastic bag.
•1 hand towel (15” x 25” up to 17” x 27”). No kitchen towels. •1 washcloth •1 comb (large and sturdy, not pocket-sized) •1 nail file or fingernail clippers (no emery boards or toenail clippers) •1 bath-size bar of soap (3 oz. and up) •1 toothbrush (single brushes only in original wrapper, no child-size brushes) •6 adhesive plastic strip sterile bandages •$1.00 to purchase toothpaste (NOTE: Toothpaste is purchased in bulk to be added to health kits to ensure that the product does not expire before they are sent.)
The emergency kits are carefully planned to make them usable in the greatest number of situations. Strict rules govern product entry into international countries, so UMCOR requires that the kits contain only the requested items—nothing more. Health kits should be shipped in boxes (not exceeding 66 lbs. per box) to one of UMCOR’s two supply depots:
UMCOR Sager Brown Depot P.O. Box 850, 131 Sager Brown Road Baldwin, LA 70514-0850
UMCOR West Office and Depot 1479 South 700 West Salt Lake City, UT 84104-1605
PHOTOS BY BILLY REEDER
Members of First UMC in Lubbock, Texas, spent Sunday morning, Jan. 17, assembling 1,000 kits. Volunteers at Grace UMC in Mount Juliet, Tenn., spent Sunday morning, Jan. 24, putting together 10,000 health kits. 
