Disaster Survivors Need You! Volunteer for a Work Team in 2016

UCC long-term disaster recovery volunteer Betzi Yungclas gets the window area ready for new drywall in a Texas home that suffered flood damage.

Help wanted: United Church of Christ Disaster Recovery Volunteers!

With typically just a week of your time serving on a work team, you can help disaster survivors rebuild their homes and lives.

The need for volunteers is particularly acute right now in Texas, South Carolina and New Jersey.

TEXAS: Volunteers are urgently needed for Williamson County, which suffered flooding and tornados on Memorial Day weekend of 2015. UCC Disaster Ministries is seeking volunteer teams to assist with repair and reconstruction of homes impacted by these disasters. 

The work is being done in collaboration with the Williamson County Long-Term Recovery Committee, whose mission is to “address the disaster recovery needs of individuals and families affected by the Memorial Day Flood of 2015 in an effort to provide a safe, secure, sanitary, and functional dwelling when available government and social agency funding is exhausted while needs remain.”  

Texas scheduling: Contact karahricketts2015@gmail.com

SOUTH CAROLINA: Registration has just opened for work teams to Lexington and Richland counties, S.C., where heavy rains and flooding in October 2015 damaged more than 20,000 homes. Volunteers are needed to help repair homes for families who have been displaced and do not have sufficient means to hire a contractor. 

Doreen Warms from Mennonite Disaster Service with Bastrop County, Texas, homeowners Andi and Emily in their newly finished kitchen.

Teams will work with long-term disaster volunteers supporting the local recovery efforts with added support from the new Disaster Recovery Support Initiative (DRSI), a collaboration among UCC Disaster Ministries and its counterparts in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and Church of the Brethren. The goal is faster recovery following disaster.

South Carolina scheduling: Contact Lana Landis at SCprojectdrsi@gmail.com or 330-701-6042.

NEW JERSEY: There is ongoing need for volunteer work teams in New Jersey, especially in Monmouth and Ocean counties, where many individuals and families remain displaced as the result of Superstorm Sandy in October 2012.

Recovery has been slow due to survivors’ lack of personal funds, too few volunteers and delays in distribution of state and local grants. UCC Disaster Ministries has partnered with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance and Lutheran Disaster Response to continue the work in New Jersey.

New Jersey scheduling: Contact 866-732-6121 or pda.callcenter@pcusa.org

Click here for more information about these and other disaster sites ready for volunteers, and how to organize your mission trip group to help homeowners in the long-term recovery process.

“Just take the time and do it,” advises Ann Dunlap, a frequent participant in work teams deployed from New Covenant United Church of Christ in Williamsport, Pa. “It is a great feeling and a blessing to help a family get back into their house or a new place.”

Click here to support UCC Disaster Ministries work in the United States.