1000 Boots 2010

Brothers and Sisters,

As you know last year we added “1000 Boots” to our mission efforts to help our friends in Galveston Recover, Restore and Rebuild from Hurricane IKE. We worked on 10 homes, 3 churches, the Galveston Food Bank and many other projects in the Galveston and Texas City areas. The Texas Conference Disaster Recovery Team has completed the restoration of over 100 houses and helped families move back into their homes and begin rebuilding their lives. That is great news coming out of the Conference office but there is still a lot of work to be done which isn’t getting as much attention. There are over 1,000 homes that are in the Conference pipeline to be worked on and restored.

1000 Boots is headed back to Galveston again from August 7 through August 14 and we need your participation. We will be working once again on homes and other projects just like last year. We will be installing flooring, sheetrock, painting, plumbing, cleanup, teardown, and most anything else the Conference will find for us to do. You can also sign up for Hospitality and as always all of you good cooks can bake cookies and bring them up to the church kitchen to store until we need them. This year we are doing a special project for families with young children. On Sunday, August 8 all of the children’s Sunday School classes will be bagging beans and rice for the Food Bank. We will have T-shirts for them and parents of these children are invited to participate as well. Also on each of the Sundays (August 8 and August 15) we will be having a food drive for the Galveston Food Bank so start shopping and bring your canned good and non-perishable items to the church during Boots Week and drop them off in the bins in Friendship Court.

There is work and fun for every one and I hope you will join MDUMC and other churches in this faithful effort of loving God and loving neighbor. You can signup in Friendship Court or online at MDUMCResponse.com. Donations and love offerings are always welcome to help offset the cost of our materials we will use during our work efforts.

If you have any questions please stop by the 1000 Boots table in Friendship Court on Sunday or email me at mdumcresponse@gmail.com.

If you have a t-shirt from last year start wearing them on Sunday to help us promote this year’s Boots Week.

Blessings and prayers and thanks to each of you for all you do for God’s Kingdom.

Randy Lee
1000 Boots

MDUMC Haiti Relief

January 14, 2010

Dear Friends,

As you know Haiti has been affected by a disastrous earthquake this week. MDUMC and UMCOR are already at work providing help to the people of Haiti. To find out what we are doing at MDUMC (Haiti Relief) click on the link below to find out our current plans:

http://www.mdumc.org/details/AnnounceDetails.aspx?AnnounceId=909

If you want to find out what you can do through UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief) click on the link below to go to their website:

http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umcor/

Do what you can to help but most importantly please keep the people of Haiti in your prayers. Also pray for the workers and helpers that are providing aid and assistance to the people of Haiti.

Blessings and prayers,
Randy Lee
MDUMC Response

1,000 Boots on the Ground

What is the excitement about 1,000 Boots on the Ground for IKE?

The idea for 1,000 Boots developed from a thought from Franklin Olson – you know how he can be when he starts thinking – he wanted to focus on a mission effort that could involve every member of MDUMC and help us all to serve God in a bigger way than just individual or small group efforts. So he tossed out the idea of 1,000 Boots, approximately 500 people, to be involved in something bigger than themselves. The idea to expand our Ike Recovery efforts seemed to be just the right ticket to use. As you know for the last few years we have been taking regular trips down to the coast to help those devastated by hurricanes Rita, Katrina and just last year IKE. So we decided to add a new initiative to our Disaster Recovery effort and make it something bigger than we have ever done. We want everyone to be involved – young and old alike, families, children, friends and anyone else you think might want to participate. There is a job for everyone. We need skilled and unskilled workers, people to help make lunches, cookies, second mile donations, prayer partners… there are so many opportunities to serve. Donna Reed and VBS are helping out by making crafts that can be shared with the people in Galveston, and I am pretty sure Steve Cragg and some of the youth will be coming down to help out, as well.

We will be working on homes that need to be restored, beach cleanup, landscaping and lots of other things. The dates are August 8 – 15. If you can, come for a day, two days or the whole week, we want you to be a part of this great cause. We will have transportation for if you need it and a place to stay if you want to spend the night, but you are free to come and go or stay in a hotel and help the Galveston economy.

Donations are welcome and you can help out right now by going to the website and clicking on the Donate button at the top of the page. Come and be a part of something really special and join with us as we Worship, Grow, Witness and Give in Galveston.

www.MDUMCResponse.com

2009 Trip Update

Dear Friends,


It has been a while since I last communicated about what we are doing in regard to Disaster Recovery and I apologize for the delay. We took a bit of a break during the holidays but Steve Cragg took a bunch of college kids down to Galveston for a few days and really helped out.






Last weekend Lesley Nordean led a team down to Hitchcock to muck out a house and completed their work. Lesley had recruited a few of her friends at her place of work that wanted to do something to help. Attached are a few pictures of their work. Thanks Lesley for all your help.








We have two Sunday School classes (Visions and Covenant) that will be taking a trips at the end of February. Both classes are expecting to enlist anywhere from 6-20 people to join in on the fun.

OGDOS 10 - March 7 - SAVE THE DATE

If you are interested in making a Recovery trip with us we will have an OGDOS 10 trip on Saturday, March 7. There will be a sign up table in Friendship Court this Sunday for you to sign up for this or other OGDOS opportunities. Leeza and Norman White will be leading OGDOS again this year so look for some wonderful things to do as we spread out around Houston to help our neighbors.






If you would like to join one of our trips or put together one with your group, feel free to let me know. You can stop by the Mission Table in Friendship Court on Sundays, email me or call me if you have any questions or would like to know what we are doing.






Blessings to all and thanks for your support of our Disaster Recovery efforts.






MDUMC Disaster Response Team

Giving Thanks

November 26, 2008

Dear Friends,

I hope this notice, although a little late, finds you preparing for Thanksgiving or having enjoyed a wonderful holiday. Each of us have so much to be thankful for - friends, family, church and a loving God that provides all that we need. I am most grateful to each of you and so many others for your support of our Disaster Relief ministry at MDUMC. Your love of God and neighbor is really making a difference in the lives of so many.

I know that during this Thanksgiving holiday you will take time to give thanks to God for all of his blessings and I especially ask you to remember those that have suffered so much from the storms along the Gulf Coast in recent years.

Blessings for each of you during this holiday.
Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow.

Our next trip will be in January, 2009, so start making plans to join us.

In His name,
MDUMC Disaster Response Team

Response from those we have helped

Dear Friends,

We continue our efforts to help those along the Gulf Coast and we receive a lot of thanks for the work we do. I want to share with you an email that was sent from David and Anita Green, pastor of St Paul's UMC in Bridge City, Texas. If you recall we sent a team over to help them clean out their home the first weekend after Hurricane Ike and a large group of college kids went over later to help other church members in Bridge City. Anita's email was so touching I wanted to share it with each of you.

From: David and Anita Green
Subject: Two Months Later, Aftermath and Life After Ike

As I write this I am in my parents' house in AL. It is 2:00am on Nov. 13. Exactly two months ago, I was also in my parents' house in AL, but Hurricane Ike was in our house in Bridge City, TX, flooding our house and our town with several feet of water for three days. Hurricane Ike and its aftermath left in its wake, death, destruction, decay displacement and despair. The church groups and other volunteers that have come in and done so much have brought help, hope and healing.

The change in our situation has been miraculous. We have been in family's homes, friends' homes and a FEMA hotel. We have been in a church member's travel trailer for over a month and will be there for at least another month or two. Every day and every night we have been provided for. Church groups and volunteers have worked so hard for days to move our belongings and the church belongings to the curb, gut our parsonage down to the studs and take all the debris to the curb. Debris trucks and a friend have moved away all our trash and debris. A friend and neighbor has even shuttled our sewage to his sewer drop several times a week.

Kingwood UMC has bought and built and taped and floated new walls. They have rented and brought in two PODS for the things we are trying to salvage and the things that people have given us. They are buying and putting in new doors, new cabinets, new tile, new carpet, new windows, new electrical wiring and outlets, new plumbing and new appliances. A member of Kingwood is even having my great grandparents' sofa and chair salvaged and redone. Two long time friends from Airline UMC have taken us to Florida and given us much furniture, household goods and clothes. A long time friend from Atascocita UMC has donated a five ton AC unit. A friend from Alexander UMC is taking David hunting. Two brand new friends are putting the kitchen cabinets in for free and donating granite for the kitchen countertops. Friends, families, churches and volunteers have given us food, clothes, water, ice, cleaning and storage supplies, furniture, household items, money, books, Bibles and hymnals and many other gifts and acts of love. People have given us love and support and help in so many ways in our great loss from Hurricane Ike and the tragic death of our beloved "child" and constant companion, comforter and comedian, Hunter. We have a nice place to worship and have Sunday School and we have a beautiful new church being built.

We have nothing put praise and thanks to God and all those who have done so much and given so much to us. We do not deserve all the good things we have been given and can never repay all the kindness, generosity and goodness that has been shown to us.

Love, Thanks & Praise,
Anita & David

Enough said…thanks be to God!
Blessings to all,
MDUMC Disaster Response Team

Friends,

One of our shower buildings has been delivered to Friendswood UMC and I believe it is all hooked up and in use by teams staying at Friendswood. The other two are committed to Louisiana and one will be leaving on Thursday to be delivered to Houma, Louisiana and the other will be delivered a few days later to Buras, Louisiana.

Our trips this week are scheduled for Galveston. Collin Taylor will be leading a team of about 15 to work on mucking out a house and Sheri Kelley will leading a group of singles to work on another home. These teams are made up of all ages - a real generational effort. We also will have a couple of people from Giddings UMC to join with that group and Ashford UMC has been working on Flood Buckets and they are going to give those directly to our Conference. If you would like to go on one of these trips contact Collin Taylor or Sheri Kelley at the church. 713.468.8356

Please keep these folks in your prayers this week as they head out on Saturday to do God's work and help those in need.

Don't forget about our next trip on November 15. John Adams will be leading that group. Let me know if you are interested in going on that trip and I will pass along the information to John.

Blessings to all,
MDUMC Disaster Response Team