Update:
In at least two Massachusetts Conference churches, it was the youth who led the way in the effort to gather Clean-Up Buckets in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Here are their stories:
TRI-TOWN TRANSCRIPT: Faithworks youth program aids victims of Hurricane Sandy, 12/20/12
WICKED LOCAL HANOVER: Hanover students help victims of Hurricane Sandy, 12/20/12
Dec. 7, 2012
The churches of the Massachusetts Conference joined with UCC churches from Connecticut, Vermont and New Hampshire and with congregations from other denominations in the region to donate approximately 500 Emergency Clean-Up Buckets to Church World Service in response to Hurricane Sandy. The buckets were collected at various drop-off points, including four in Massachusetts, and a Church World Service truck picked them up on Tuesday for delivery to the CWS warehouse in Maryland.
"I'm deeply grateful for everyone's work and generosity, and for the hours of effort and work and cost that were invested in these buckets and kits," said Church World Service New England Director Bert Marshall. "Every one of these buckets and kits will help someone, somewhere."
Within days of the Oct. 29 storm, Church World Service had sent $480,000 worth of blankets, hygiene kits, school kits, baby kits and emergency clean-up buckets to local agencies in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. By Nov 27, that figure had climbed to $834,892. According to a recent CWS update, that effort had depleted supplies of the buckets at the Maryland warehouse, and so new kits coming in are being sent out to meet immediate needs.
PHOTOS:
(Above) Bert Marshall helps load Emergency Clean-Up Buckets into a truck for delivery to the Church World Service warehouse in Maryland. (Below) The buckets inside the delivery truck at the Massachusetts Conference office in Framingham, one of four locations where buckets were collected in Massachusetts.
LINKS:
Find out more about Hurricane Sandy relief efforts by Church World Service.
Learn more about Emergency Clean-Up Buckets.
Donate to the special United Church of Christ Hurricane Sandy appeal.
Read the UCC Frequently Asked Questions about Sandy.
Read a previous article on other ways to help Hurricane Sandy victims.