An official with the United Methodist Committee on Relief shared what the organization is doing in the state with the Eupora Rotary Club last week. Rotarians met at the Whites Creek Lake pavilion May 19 to socially distance and hear from Chris Zirlott of Mathiston, the Starkville District disaster response coordinator in the Mississippi Conference of the United Methodist Church. UMCOR partners with the United Methodist Disaster Response in the Mississippi Conference to provide the best possible relief to survivors of the disaster. The mission of UMDR is to provide a caring Christian presence in the aftermath of a disaster that begins with response and ends with long-term recovery. The disaster response effort of the Mississippi Conference is primarily focused on natural disasters such as floods, fires, tornadoes and hurricanes. The Disaster Response Committee assists any time disasters are so large that the resources of the local community or the district are not sufficient to meet the needs. This response can take many forms. Expert advice can be provided to help the local community as it meets immediate needs or as it plans for recovery from a disaster; UMCOR kits such as cleanup kits and health kits are distributed; and, volunteers can also be recruited by the conference. Early response teams are deployed to assist with cleanup and other tasks needed by the community in the period right after the disaster. In the long term, United Methodist Volunteers in Mission recovery teams help with home repairs or, in some cases, rebuilding homes that have been completely destroyed during a disaster. In addition, spiritual and emotional care teams can provide support to individuals and congregations as they cope with the loss caused by a disaster. “About 95% of our work is done by volunteer labor,” Zirlott said. “Because of that we’re able to do a lot with a little.” The Federal Emergency Management Agency has declared 15 major disasters in Mississippi in recent years, according to Zirlott, and UMCOR has responded to all them plus other undeclared disasters. He said over 2,000 families have been helped through grants. “It (financial assistance) can go from someone needing gas to complete rebuilds of homes,” he said. It costs about $52,000 to rebuild a home with volunteer labor, he said. “We want to put people back in safe and sanitary houses,” Zirlott said. Noting that many UMCOR clients are uninsured or underinssured, he said, “There are good outcomes to bad situations.” Zirlott said UMCOR has about 405 clients in the south Delta counties where major flooding occurred last year and has spent about $600,000 in those counties. In late April, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency in partnership with UMCOR served more than a 100 Mississippians at MEMA disaster assistance centers in the federally declared disaster counties of Jones, Jefferson Davis and Covington, which were ravaged by tornadoes.
