Our church office has received information from the Elgin District’s Disaster Response Coordinator, John Sheely, in response to last week’s devastating tornadoes in Illinois. Please scroll below for further information.
“We pray that your church, your members, and your neighbors are all safe following last week’s storms. If you were impacted, we pray that God will watch over you as you begin the process of recovering and rebuilding after those storms. The purpose of this email is twofold: first, to ask whether you have been impacted by the storms, and second, to give you an update regarding what we should and should not do to help our brothers and sisters in places like Fairdale and Rochelle.”
First, John asks if any members of our church family were impacted or if any of our neighbors were impacted. If so, please contact Judy Lantinen in the Christ United Methodist Church office to let her know (847-669-9009, ext. 3, or send her an email at christumcalgonquin@gmail.com. Judy will need to know how you or your neighbors were impacted and the extent of the damage.
Second, here is what members of our congregation can do to help the people of Fairdale, Rochelle, and other impacted towns:
…at this time, none of these areas need donations of food or clothing. That would just create logistical problems for them. The Kirkland Fire Department is already overwhelmed with donations. What they will need is money. You can help by donating to the NIC Rainbow Covenant Disaster Response fund. The Advance Number for that fund is 50000148.
…connect to the NIC Disaster Response Facebook page.
…at this time, they do not want uninvited volunteers showing up to help. Please stay away. The first responders are still securing the area and are keeping uninvited volunteers out. Once the areas are secure, there will be a call for trained early responders to come and help people make their homes safe and secure. Soon there will be a call for volunteers to help with cleanup and rebuilding. When that happens, the process will be organized and deliberate. The Northern Illinois Conference of the United Methodist Church will be part of that effort, but we will carefully plan to provide the greatest impact with our volunteer hours. It will be connectional ministry in action. If people in our congregation want to volunteer their time and service, John asks that they be patient and wait for news to be provided about volunteer help.