The last few months have been an overwhelming time of natural disasters. Several severe storms struck the gulf and east coast with hurricanes at their highest level.  Fires devastated whole regions in the West.  We’ve continued to watch as the initial recovery and response work began and as it has emerged into the long term, long-haul work that lies ahead.

Thank you for your help with this. Throughout the months of September and October, churches and communities across our Commonwealth have risen with enthusiasm. Cleanup buckets, hygiene kits and school kits came pouring into our temporary depots. In all, we loaded onto the Church World Service truck 1,107 cleanup buckets (with a couple boxes of extra supplies), 628 hygiene kits, and 211 school kits. The response was so overwhelming as the truck traveled through New England that we weren’t sure that this 18 wheeler had enough space for all that you provided. It did.

Cleanup buckets have already been delivered to families devastated by the 50-inch flooding rains of Hurricane Harvey. Hygiene kits have already found their way into the hands of folks who have lost everything following the devastation of back-to-back category 5 hurricanes in the Caribbean.  School kits will find their way to families who have had to be relocated to cities throughout the U.S. because their island homes and schools are no more.

While our depots are closed, our efforts continue through the funds you have provided to our UCC Disaster Ministries. Ten thousand water purifiers (each of which can purify a million gallons of water) have been sent from the UCC to Puerto Rico in partnership with our on-the-ground agencies on the island.  You can learn more about the impact of your generosity here.  And keep watching our MACUCC weekly Emailing and our MACUCC Disaster Resource pages for further updates and ways you can help. 

Photos taken at Christ Congregational Church, Brockton by Katrina Clinton.