Rev. Mary Gaudreau, L. P. C. National UMCOR Field Staff Consultant
405.820.4069; maryhgaudreau@earthlink.net
Oklahoma Early Response Team
Richard Norman
OKVIM
1501 N.W. 24th St.
Oklahoma City, OK 73106
(405)530-2070; RNorman@okumc.org
United Methodist Committee on Relief
General Board of Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church
Room 330, 475 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10115
Voice Phone: 212-870-3816; FAX: 212-870-3624
Email: umcor@gbgm-umc.org
Web: http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor/
Disaster Response Care Ministry Teams (“Care Teams”) are faith-based, on-going teams with standardized UMCOR training that provide spiritual and emotional care following disasters. Care Teams help disaster survivors connect with their personal and community spiritual, emotional, and basic life resources. Working in congregations, in neighborhood “walk-throughs,” in FEMA Disaster Recovery Centers and in other settings, Care Teams provide support, information and referral for a holistic disaster recovery.
To be on a “Care Team” you must complete the “Basic UMCOR Disaster Response Care Team” training and undergo a criminal background check. Contact Rev. Mary Gaudreau for more information at maryhgaudreau@earthlink.net or (405)820-4069.
More Helpful Links
There is something about using the word disaster in describing your own life experience that is daunting.
We may not choose to use that word, we may use it but not apply it to ourselves, or we may simply be trying to avoid the use of it in order to protect ourselves from the weight of a disaster experience.
The circumstances that you and your church families face will be so varied that some might actually wonder what is the big deal while others are overwhelmed.
The Oklahoma Conference Disaster Response along with UMCOR will be working with the Oklahoma Volunteers in Mission Office to encourage, support, and mitigate your responses to disasters that occur in Oklahoma.
UMCOR is providing emergency relief in many areas of the world. To find out more about current UMCOR ministries, please visit the UMCOR website link.
Disaster Help website is an initial deployment that will become part of a larger initiative aimed at greatly enhanced Disaster Management on an interagency and intergovernmental basis. Government Site
Disaster News Network (DNN)
is a news service that tells the story of disaster response and suggests appropriate ways the public can help survivors.
The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit research organization providing objective analysis and effective solutions that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors around the world. http://www.rand.org/index.html
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Emergency Preparedness and Response. Excellent authoritative resource for disease related information, as well as detailed information about public health response, the Strategic National Stockpile, and materials on CBRN agents (as well as mass trauma). www.bt.cdc.gov/index.asp
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), now a part of the Department of Homeland Security, remains as the premier disaster preparedness, response and recovery agency at the federal level. www.fema.gov
All-Hands.net is a user-supported community of emergency and continuity professionals. The goal is to make it easy to post articles, share files, and communicate with others in our profession. www.all-hands.net/pn/index.php
The National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism (MIPT) www.mipt.org/
