Shortly after Hurricane Helene inundated communities in Western North Carolina with 12 inches to nearly three feet of rain in just a few days late in September, Spruce Pine United Methodist Church in Spruce Pine, North Carolina, became a hub for disaster relief. It wasn’t their plan, but God needed a way to send help to this community, and this congregation provided that way. Though the church had neither electricity nor water, it was spared severe water damage, and on the third day after the storm, members of the congregation joined their pastor, Rev. Holly Cobb McKim, at the church, assessing their own situation and turning to help others.
Lilla Marigza, a freelance reporter with United Methodist News Service, notes that for weeks following Hurricane Helene, every square foot of Spruce Pine UMC was in service to the community. It offered a food pantry, water, a clothing closet and baby supplies. The Western North Carolina Disaster Response office asked if the church would be willing to host Early Response Teams (ERTs) already making plans to travel to the region to serve. Within days, the United Methodist Committee on Relief sent the conference a grant to help with relief efforts.
Your gifts on UMCOR Sunday helps support the foundation for the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) to share God’s love with communities everywhere.
The church set up dormitories in children’s ministry rooms and constructed a temporary shower facility outside for what turned out to be literally hundreds of UMCOR-trained ERTs coming from conferences across the country. They visited for a week at a time to serve the people in this area of Western North Carolina who have seen tremendous devastation, loss of property and natural habitat and worst of all, loss of family members.
On Friday Sep. 27, Trinity UMC in Greenville had no power or water, but the church was in good shape. Pastor Sara Varnell said she didn’t know what to do, but members of her congregation called and were certain they should do something. She connected with another UMC and asked a lot of questions.
People from the wider UMC connection started showing up with water, food, diapers – and people from the community soon learned where they could find these things they desperately needed. Before long the church was a major hub. UMCOR sent clean-up supplies, volunteers from church within and outside the conference showed up with supplies and stayed to help organize and distribute them.
Spruce Pine and Trinity churches were two paths God found to reach people after Helene struck. This scenario was repeated in other communities and churches, in other states affected by Helene’s broad reach. Today, as the relief operations wind down, United Methodist disaster coordinators in the affected conferences are planning recovery strategies for weary communities.
As 2025 unfolds, three hard-hit United Methodist conferences are working with UMCOR to assess recovery needs and set-up long-term disaster management programs. Western North Carolina Conference, South Carolina Conference and Holston Conference are each receiving grants averaging $100,000-$200,000 to begin this assessment, which includes fact and resource gathering to discover where needs are already being met by government and nonprofit agencies and which communities have not received what they need. Finding these gaps in services and resources is an UMCOR objective.
The role of the UMCOR is to help fund disaster response efforts, train volunteers and provide the expertise and resources that empower annual conferences across the nation to respond to disasters. UMCOR’s real strength, however, is found in the hands and feet of local church members who bring help directly to their communities.
excerpt from a story by Christie R. House, consultant writer and editor with Global Ministries and UMCOR. With thanks to the communicators of Western North Carolina, South Carolina and Holston conferences for their story coverage used here: Aimee Yeager, Annette Spence, Jessica Brodie and UM News reporters, Lilla Marigza and Mike DuBose.
One of six churchwide Special Sundays with offerings of The United Methodist Church, UMCOR Sunday calls United Methodists to share the goodness of life with those who hurt. Your gifts to UMCOR Sunday lay the foundation for the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) to share God’s love with communities everywhere. The special offering underwrites UMCOR’s “costs of doing business.” This helps UMCOR to keep the promise that 100 percent of any gift to a specific UMCOR project will go toward that project, not administrative costs.
When you give generously on UMCOR Sunday, you make a difference in the lives of people who hurt. Give now.
