Long Island now has three UM Disaster Relief Centers that are receiving, orienting, and deploying teams of volunteers to help individuals and families clear debris, clean out muck, remove damaged cabinets and wallboard, and perform mold treatment.
The centers are headquartered at the St. Mark’s UMC, Rockville Center, the Freeport UMC, and Community UMC, Massapequa. Below are contact numbers and email addresses for the three centers:
St. Mark’s UMC (516) 766-2080 pastorbob.grimm@gmail.com
Freeport UMC (516) 655-6528 nyacdisasterfreeport@gmail.com
Community UMC (516) 795-1322 UMDisasterRelief@cumcmassapequa.org
Volunteers from outside of the area are being housed at the St. Mark’s in Rockville Center and at the Hicksville UMC. For the LI West District, contact Pastor Bob Grimm at St. Mark’s. For LI East, contact Warren Ferry, District Disaster Response Coordinator at (631) 875-5204.
We Need Volunteers!
The demand is much greater than the volunteers currently available to meet it. Churches are encouraged to recruit volunteers from among their members as well as from their communities. Volunteers do not need to be skilled. However, we are grateful for those with carpentry, plumbing, and electrical experience. In addition to physical work in home, we also need volunteers to staff the command centers, serving meals to volunteers, do counseling with homeowners. Volunteers and teams should register on the NY Annual Conference website: www.nyac.com and also contact the District Coordinator or the site through which they want to volunteer.
Regarding Donations…
The best form of donation is money, which can be used to purchase the specific tools and supplies that we need. Donations can be made to UMCOR through www.nyac.com. Please do not collect or deliver material donations without first checking with the District Coordinator and/or the Disaster Relief Site Manager beforehand. We have limited space to store cleaning products and our sites are focusing on sending out work teams, leaving food and clothing distribution to other houses of worship and agencies.
