June 28 Update

Since my last update, Brandon and I have been crisscrossing the Conference coordinating teams and attending meetings of the community-based Long Term Recovery Committees that are in some stage of organizing or operating. Here is the list so far, Humphreys Co. LTRC, Perry Co. LTRC, Maury Co. LTRC (1st meeting this week), Hickman Co. LTRC, Houston/Stewert/Mongomery LTRC (may become separate), Cheatham Co. LTRC, Davidson LTRC, Williamson LTRC, Sumner LTRC, Rutherford/Cannon LTRC, and Upper Cumberland LTRC (Smith/DeKalb/Jackson/Wilson/Clay/Macon/Trousdale).

The groups represent local leadership taking ownership of the disaster recovery in their communities. They will be our link to the needs and provide us the ability to fairly and effectively provide money, materials, and volunteers to help survivors in their recovery. We have dozens of churches that are providing direct leadership in these groups and dozens more who are and will be able to provide housing, food, and volunteers of their own for recovery work.

We are following up on the outstanding cleanup and misc. small jobs as these committee get ready to help us get full swing into rebuilding work. Currently, we have more than 20 teams scheduled for the month of July, some from here in the TN Conference, but most coming from outside to come and give us a boost. THANK YOU!

We've held our 3rd UMCOR Case Management training this week, with 38 attendees from a variety of long term recovery groups in Cheatham, Davidson, Williamson, Sumner, and Upper Cumberland. While some of the case managers are directly connected to United Methodist work, we are providing this excellent training to other organizations with which we are partners. The next one will be July 19-20 to resource Hickman, Perry, Humphreys Counties and others on the "Westside."

June 17 Update (reposted)

We apologize that the slide presentation at Annual Conference included photos from so few communities that suffered flooding or tornadoes. Several weeks ago, we had a short window to get a joint TN/Memphis Conference presentation together and mostly only had photos on hand from one day we had a photographer visit Bellevue, West Nashville, and Carthage where we knew we had teams working. Before we publish for download, we'll be redoing the presentation to reflect that communities large and small that suffered in 28 counties, across all 7 districts. We were pleased to have UMCOR's Domestic Response head, Tom Hazelwood and UMCOR Consultant, Christy Smith to join us at Annual Conference this week.

Annual Conference absorbed a LOT of everyone's time this week, but we did still manage to coordinate a few teams and attend several Long Term Recovery meetings. A new entry to our team list is a Spiritual/Emotional Care team from N.C. The 2 person team will be with us a few weeks, visiting pastors and communities that have experienced trauma from the disaster or as a volunteer/professional serving survivors.

We still have cleanup/mold spraying in Antioch, North Nashville, and Cheatham Co., though they and many other communities are beginning to focus on getting long term recovery groups together to help facilitate rebuilding as it ramps up as we get farther into the summer. We don't have as many teams the next couple of weeks, so we're going to take this time to revise our registration process and establish some policies related to youth on teams, team size, etc. We'll also be putting together a registration packet with all of the many forms UMVIM rebuild teams should be accustomed to filling out.

UMCOR Case Management Training

We're holding our 3rd UMCOR Case Management Training on June 28 -29 at Hendersonville UMC. We are looking for organized, compassionate persons who live in affected communities who will be able to commit significant time over the next 1 - 2 years to work with survivors. For more information go to the registration page.

http://www.tnumc.org/DISASTER_RESPONSE_AND_RECOVERY/Case_Management_Training--June_28-29/

Flood Briefing Flyer

Download this flyer that gives a briefing on the scope of the disaster, some of the relief work details, and information on the recovery.

Download Flyer

June 13 Update

There still remains some cleanup and spraying for mold that we hope will be finished up mostly within the next couple of weeks, mostly in Antioch, North Nashville, and Cheatham Co. We are beginning the transition to rebuilding, which includes for me dozens of meetings across the conference helping communities set up Long Term Recovery Committees. For communities, some are beginning to connect volunteers with rebuilding opportunities where homeowners have materials, but maybe not money for labor. As we get later into the summer, more projects will begin to match donated materials and labor as well.

Our best estimate at this time would say our communities will have 2,400 families that will not recovery without significant spiritual/emotional support, financial support, donated materials, and volunteer labor. However, nearly 40,000 families have been affected in one way or another from the flooding, wind, and tornadoes of April 30-May5 across more than 28 counties in our conference. Given what we as a Conference and UMCOR have provided in the past, this need would easily mean we would be looking at needing more than a million dollars in donations and grants over 2 years. We'll have clearer picture of that as we move forward.

We have already scheduled 30+ teams from outside our conference who have already come or are on the calendar through the Spring of 2011. Some teams have already come more than once, or made plans to send rebuild teams down the road. If I get a quiet moment at Annual Conference the next couple of days, I'll try to estimate the number of volunteer hours, homes that have been assisted, etc. However, I can give you one example. Over 5 weeks time, a Holston Conference team of around 8 persons at any given time, logged nearly 1,200 hours working on dozens of homes in Smith, DeKalb, Jackson, and Clay Counties.

I'll also be trying to capture some of the reports from churches across the conference that have gone out in Christ's name to serve their neighbors. I would suspect if we can recreate it we'll see we touched lives of many thousands of families and see 10's of thousands of hours given in the effort.

We are currently scheduling local conference teams to help meet some of the remaining cleanup needs, as well as, assigning teams already "on the board" to help with those. If your church has a team that can spray for mold, do tear out, etc., for a day, week, or weekend, please contact us and we'll get you connected. For any teams within the conference or outside, we are also working to schedule rebuilding teams over the next 18 months to 2 years. Please contact us at DisasterResponse@tnumc.com to start the process.

Current and Future Needs

We've been blessed with lots of volunteers, cleaning supplies, food, hygiene, items and cash in meeting some of the immediate relief and cleanup needs. As we begin to transition to long term rebuilding and unmet needs, we'll be asking for new ways you can serve Christ and Neighbor.

Volunteers inside and from outside communities to do rebuilding, offer free counseling services, serve on local community long term recovery committees, serving at donation/distribution centers, and more are always key to the recovery process. Cash is always great as it enables us and local communities to address directly and timely unmet needs, whether it is building materials, counseling, medical care, or other urgent needs. When we get farther into the process of connecting resources and volunteers to rebuilding projects, we may have some ways persons or organizations will be able to donate building materials or household good for when people move back into their homes. Until we have a place to send them and a definitive list of what we would like to get, we ask you wait until you hear from us those needs.

If your church is looking for a weekend or week long project later in the summer, fall, spring, summer, fall . . . contact us at DisasterResponse@tnumc.com and we'll start the process of connecting dates, work projects, housing, etc. Financial donations can be sent to the Conference Treasurer to the TN Conference Disaster Fund.