The Servant's Journey

January 2017 Issue

Early Bird Rates in Effect for Academy!

Register for the 2017 Academy between now and February 26th and get a 15% discount on the registration fee. When you register and attend, you will have access to UMCOR classes like ERT 200-level, Train-the-Trainer, Connecting Neighbors, and a special workshop for Disaster Response Leaders. There will also be presenters from Global Ministries including Patrick Friday - Center for Mission Innovation and Dr. Olusimba Ige - Director of Global Health, as well as representatives from the General Commission on Race and Religion to help us with our Jurisdictional focus on systemic racism and white privilege. We'll even have a homegrown group of NEJ experts on the transition from Relief to Recovery to help us learn from disaster repsonses from Hurricane Sandy to the West Virginia floods. It's an event you won't want to miss! The event is open to anyone and CEU's are available. Don't delay - register today.

Sandy Rowland Binotto

Guest Column from our Board President:

For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

This is the scripture I have been leaning on the past couple of months. We all have seasons in our lives. Some we make for ourselves and others are made for us. I have been blessed to of been a part of the Volunteers in Mission Program for 20 plus years both in the B/W Conference and WV Conference. As of January 1, 2017 I will no longer be the WV Volunteer in Mission Coordinator.

Getting involved in Volunteers in Mission started out by my crossing paths with a former missionary pastor from Keedysville, Maryland. Rev. Roger Burtner. He and his family spent some years in Nigeria, West Africa. While attending Church Camp at Manidokan one summer in the Baltimore/Washington Conference where Roger and I were camp counselors he shared his experience as a missionary with the children. He told stories and showed slides along with artifacts of Nigeria. My heart was greatly moved. While helping him pack up the artifacts he asked if I would like to join the team he was organizing to travel back to Nigeria. Who Me? I had never been on a plane or hardly out of three states but God had other plans. To make a long story short I said yes and then started the long procedure of preparing myself for the journey along with 14 others, many who were strangers soon became dear VIM friends. I taught UMC History to students at the Banyam Bible College near Zing. As I look back I wonder how did we make that trip happen without email, skype and cell phones, but we did. It was one of the greatest journeys of my life... My eyes and heart were opened to a new part of the world that I never thought I would touch.

Since then I have been to Africa many times, it is stamped on my heart. The Lord has also made it possible for me to travel to many other countries and places in the US and Caribbean Islands doing disaster relief as well as being a Mission Volunteer to Puerto Rico and Bosnia. My heart was always touched by the women and children I worked with. Teaching English and starting a grief support group for women whose husbands had died during the Bosnian war, feeding homeless in Puerto Rico, VBS in Czech Republic where all the kids accepted Christ. Then there is the Living Hope High School in Bungoma, Kenya that is so special to me and my husband. So many stories. Who would have thought that God would have taken me to so many places around the world?

A book about of all the places I have been and the wonderful people I have met both on my teams and those we went to serve is on the horizon. Volunteer in Mission runs through my veins so I will continue to lead teams, do mission trainings and speak when invited.

Volunteers in Mission is one of the greatest Ministries in our United Methodist Church in my book. My prayer is that all Conferences see the great need to put it up there as a priority ministry. Some are doing that! It has been a wonderful part of my life along with so many other people. The journey is where we can use our gifts and talents that Christ has gifted us with to help the Least of These.

There are people praying and many have been praying for years for someone to come and answer their prayers. Maybe you will be the answer to a prayer that a church, school, clinic, mother, father or child has been praying. Are You that someone who will bring them Help and Hope?

I have been so blessed to be involved in VIM and I know you will too!

Rev. David Stilgenbaurer will take over as of January 1, 2017. I wish him well as the baton is passed. You can reach him at 304-645-5570 or revdaves@yahoo.com.

--Sandy

Insurance Rates Have Changed in 2017

In an effort to align insurance coverage across each Jurisdiction, the NEJ will adjust its rates beginning in January. Two new features of the coverage will be an expansion in coverage for accidental death and a new $50,000 policy. The rate structure will be as follows:

$10,000 policy - $2.00/person/day
$25,000 policy - $2.25/person/day
$50,000 policy - $2.50/person/day
Sports $10,000 - $2.50/person/day
Sports $25,000 - $2.75/person/day

The $15 per person application fee will remain the same.

For comparison, on a 14 day mission journey, the cost of insuring someone on a $25,000 would be $5.04 more than under the current rate.

The new rates will be in place January 1, 2017. Please make sure that you are using the most updated application forms and procedures, which can always be found at our website: www.umvimnej.org/mission-insurance.

Haiti Update

Teams are now welcome to organize to help with the recovery effort from Hurricane Matthew. Global Ministries and the Eglise Methodiste d'Haiti (EMH) have made basic plans for accommodating and utilizing volunteers and will continue to develop this plan as we enter 2017. All teams MUST have an UMVIM trained Team Leader with Haiti experience. Teams should be no larger than 8 people and at least 50% of the team should have prior experience in Haiti. In addition to transportation and room & board costs, teams are asked to raise $5000 for Project Funds, half of which will be subject to the EMH's Administrative Fee of 5%. This will allow us to work WITH the EMH, not FOR them by supporting the local purchase of construction materials and hiring of local labor at a 2:1 ratio.

Contact Brulan Jean-Michel to schedule a team and begin your planning.

Brulan Jean-Michel

Guest House Manager/EMH-VIM Coordinator

brulanj@yahoo.com

Haiti : 011-509-3384-4741

US: (954) 732-1750

If you are interested in leading a team to Haiti, but do not have experience in Haiti, contact NEJ Coordinator Rev. Tom Lank, who is planning a Team Leader experience for April 2017.

U.S. Disaster Response Update

West Virginia

The long-term recovery effort is well underway. UMCOR recently released a $500,000 grant for WV to assist in disaster case management, construction coordination, supplies and materials. The goal is to help at least 120 families in the next two years. Go to
http://wvumc.org/About/Ministries/Disaster-Response for all the information you need to donate or volunteer.

New Jersey

A Future With Hope is still working with a $750,000 grant from UMCOR to continue recovery from the 2012 Hurricane Sandy. There are many homes in Atlantic County that are still in need of volunteer teams. In many cases these are people who were swindled by contractors in the immediate aftermath of the storm and have now recovered their funds. The more teams, the further the grant money stretches and the more families we can help! Register here or join one of our existing teams.

New York

The NYAC Sandy Recovery ministry is still looking for Done in a Day teams to complete projects in Connecticut and in Brooklyn/Queens. If you are interested please contact Gina Grubbs, Volunteer Coordinator at sandyrecovery@nyac-umc.com, or Tom Vencuss at tvencuss@nyac.com. There is also a great need for rental assistance / mortgage assistance for those still displaced from their homes.

Connellsville, Pennsylvania

In late August over 150 homes were affected by flash flooding in the Western Pennsylvania community of Connellsville. Very little was covered even among those who had flood insurance. We welcome those who are willing to serve, willing to learn, and willing to care. Those interested in volunteering should fill out the online Request to Volunteer Form under the How To Volunteer post.

Lycoming and Luzerne Counties, Pennsylvania

Susquehanna Conference Disaster Response Coordinator Ron Salsman is asking for assistance from surrounding conferences to help with the flash flooding they experienced just before Halloween. He has arranged for housing, showers, and kitchen facilities. Teams should be trained and should contact Ron directly at rsalsman@susumc.org. In particular, folks with HVAC installation experience are needed as well as skid steers and backhoes.

Outside the Jurisdiction

North Carolina:

South Carolina: Early Response Teams are being requested from all Jurisdictions. ERT's must have a trained ERT leader. The South Carolina Conference can help coordinate housing and food, but self-sufficient teams are also needed and welcome. To volunteer, please call 1-800-390-4911.

Louisiana is recovering from two recent flooding events in different parts of the state. To send a team, visit www.la-umc.org.

Virginia: The Virginia Conference is requesting trained Early Response Teams to respond to flooding in the Hampton Roads area. Team members must have completed ERT training and have a current badge. To schedule your team, please contact Michele Michaelian, Conference ERT Coordinator, via email at mlskcs@aol.com.

The Methodist community in the Bahamas has suffered damage to several of their churches, and a major setback to the completion of the renovation work at St. Paul's Methodist College. The Bishop of the Bahamas/Turks and Caicos Islands Conference has requested assistance from UMVIM teams across the UMC connection. For more information, please contact the NEJ UMVIM office first at (919) 428-0461.

Did You Know?

UMVIM 4 Health

www.umvim4health.blogspot.com is full of great information, resources, and planning tools for UMVIM teams. It even has a list of approved sites that are looking for medical teams. Check it out for yourself!

NEJ Mission Advocate John Calhoun Returns to Ukraine

We wish Rev. John Calhoun well as he and his family return to the mission field in Ukraine. Thanks, John, for serving the NEJ as our Mission Advocate. You were a blessing! Global Ministries will be announcing his replacement in the role soon.

Mission Volunteer Training Opportunities in Eastern US in January and September 2017

The Missions Volunteers office, a part of Global Ministries, will hold its next training event in Nashville, TN on January 25-29, 2017. Anyone who is interested in serving as a long-term volunteer (two months to two years) should plan on attending this valuable training event. Opportunities to serve from around the world, as well as the application form, can be found at www.missionvolunteers.org. For more information, contact the Mission Volunteers office at mv@umcmissions.org.

Following the January training, there will be one held in the Northeastern Jurisdiction from September 13-16, 2017 at the beautiful Sky Lake Retreat Center in Windsor, NY near Binghamton.