UMCSC disaster recovery efforts repair 287 homes

By Jessica Brodie

Thanks to the help of thousands of volunteers and millions of dollars in grant money and individual donations, South Carolina United Methodists were able to help hundreds of people devastated by the floods of 2015 and Hurricane Matthew in 2016.

On Tuesday at Annual Conference, Director of Connectional Ministries the Rev. Kathy James lifted up the help disaster recovery provided, including coordinating 3,664 volunteers, 251 teams and countless hours on homes. Disaster recovery completed work on 287 homes, served 468 clients through disaster case managers and made 2,069 outreach contacts. Their work was supported by $2 million in grant money from the United Methodist Committee on Relief, thousands of dollars from individual United Methodists across the state and nation, generous donations from One SC Fund, the United Way of the Midlands, the Palmetto Disaster Recovery Office and more.

James expressed strong gratitude to recovery director Ward Smith, whom James called a man with “a huge heart that never lost sight of the people in the process.” Smith led disaster recovery efforts for the hundreds of South Carolinians affected by these disasters. That work was completed earlier this year.

Now, the conference is focusing on disaster recovery to help people affected by Hurricane Florence in 2018. The recovery effort is being led by Tim Whitten, who began work in January.