How about a Haiti Hot Lunch Christmas???

  I have good news to report on the Haiti Hot Lunch Program.  The program is not only alive and well; it is expanding, and more importantly, helping children to thrive.  I’d like to challenge the churches of the Detroit Conference to make the Haiti Hot Lunch a part of Christmas this year, but first, please read of the important innovations to the program:   Eight regional and 2 national coordinators are now trained and training the cooks with an emphasis on the...

Detroit Conference Honored For Haiti Relief Efforts

  The Detroit Conference has been recently honored by the General Board of Global Ministries for its efforts in the relief efforts in Haiti. Below is a letter received by Bishop Jonathan D. Keaton offering gratitude to the conference for its generosity:   Dear Bishop Jonathan D. Keaton,   Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.  As the presidents of the General Board of Global Ministries, the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) and The...

Jan. 28 Letter from the Rev. Gesner Paul, Haiti Methodist Church President

Jan. 28, 2010   On behalf of the Methodist Church in Haiti and the Haitian people, we thank you. Thank you all for your outpouring of love, support and Christian brotherhood in our great hour of need. Haiti has suffered a great tragedy, and to rebuild, recover and strengthen, it will take us all.   You have kept us in your prayers and we are grateful. You have sent donations through the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). We thank you for your generosity. You have...

Conference Health Kit Collection Drop-Off Sites, Dates Established

Drop-off sites will open beginning Monday, Feb. 15, in each of the seven districts of the Detroit Conference for local churches to deliver their UMCOR Health Kits.   Detroit Conference churches have been asked to aide the relief effort in Haiti by collecting as many UMCOR Health Kits as they can by Sunday, Feb. 14. UMCOR Health Kits provide basic necessities to people who have been forced to leave their homes because of human conflict or natural disaster. Health kits are also used as...

Local Churches Encouraged to Collect UMCOR Health Kits

The Detroit Conference is asking all local churches to aide in the Haiti relief effort by collecting UMCOR Health Kits to be shipped to the region. Churches are being asked to collect as many UMCOR Health Kits as then can by Sunday, Feb. 14. At that time, they will be delivered to predetermined drop-off sites in the conference and then shipped to the Midwest Mission Distribution Center in Chatham, Ill.   The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is on the ground in Haiti and has...

Detroit Conference VIM Team Safely Airlifted from Haiti

A United Methodist Volunteers-In-Mission team from the Detroit Conference has landed in the Bahamas after being safely airlifted from Jeremie, Haiti, this afternoon (Monday, Jan. 18). The 17-member team, led by the Rev. Don Gotham, pastor of St. Clair: First United Methodist Church, has been in Haiti since January 1 and was stranded in Jeremie following the earthquake that devastated Port-au-Prince and its surrounding areas. “We are grateful that we got our team safely out of Haiti,...

Letter from Haiti Methodist Church President Provides Update on Haiti

Dear Friends of Haiti & of the Methodist Church in Haiti,   We thank God who has spared our lives!   We wish to thank you for your concern and prayers expressed on the occasion of this big shock that has struck our country on Tuesday, January 12, 2010, in the afternoon.   We thank God that all our Haitian Ministers are in good condition with their immediate family members. Broadly speaking, the manses where they live have resisted well though in many cases things inside...

United Methodist TV Message Encourages Prayer and Action to Help Haiti

In response to the devastating earthquake in Haiti, The United Methodist Church will air a specially produced television spot on CNN Headline News starting today and continuing through Monday, January 18. The 15-second spot will air 17 times during general news programming during the 4-day period. Banner advertisements will also appear online on CNN's home page.   Produced by United Methodist Communications, the commercial’s message is a simple, but powerful one. Imposed...

Detroit Conference VIM Team Safe in Haiti Following Earthquake

(for updates to this story and the conference response to the Haiti earthquake, please visit www.detroitconference.org/haiti) A Detroit Conference Volunteers in Mission team in Haiti led by the Rev. Don Gotham, pastor at Saint Clair: First UMC, has reported in safe following a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that was centered 10 miles to the west of Port au Prince, the capital city of Haiti. The 17-member VIM team was working in Jeremie, Haiti, which is approximately 120 miles west of the...