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LA Conference of the UMC Disaster Response, Inc. (LCUMCDR)
Funded by a grant from the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), the Louisiana United Methodist Disaster Response Ministry was established in September, 2005, in response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. UMCOR is an international humanitarian aid organization that operates under the umbrella of the United Methodist Church (UMC).
Following Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma, UMCOR collected $65 million from the people of the United Methodist Church and the general public to be granted to several United Methodist conferences along the Gulf Coast for the purpose of hurricane recovery. Our Louisiana Conference UMC was among those recipients.
Almost immediately, the Louisiana Conference set up disaster response operations, placing executive staff at the Louisiana Conference office in Baton Rouge and establishing six stations of operations along the Louisiana Gulf Coast in Lake Charles, Abbeville, Slidell, and three locations in Greater New Orleans.
Functioning as the LA Conference of the UMC Disaster Response, Inc. (LCUMCDR) we have consolidated into four stations of operations (listed from west to east):
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Lake Charles Station in Lake Charles, serving southwestern Louisiana
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Abbeville Station in Vermilion Parish, serving the Acadiana region
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Dulac Station in Terrebonne Parish, serving the Dulac community and the surrounding area
Southeast Center in New Orleans east, serving Greater New Orleans and the North Shore area
BURKE LONGEST-SERVING STAFF MEMBER IN LOUISIANA DISASTER RECOVERY MINISTRY
By Susan J. Meister, Domestic Disaster Response Correspondent
Some years ago, Joe Burke participated in a life-changing bible study of Mark 10, which recounts the time when the apostles James and John asked Jesus for special treatment. “That day my faith changed,” he said. “I realized that I am to serve, not to be served.”
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Joe Burke has served Louisiana Disaster Recovery Ministry for nearly three years.
Photo by Susan J. Meister/UMCOR
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Burke has carried this attitude through the last three years of his work with the Louisiana Conference disaster recovery ministry, where he has served in numerous capacities and is the longest serving employee. Darryl Tate, who heads up the ministry, brought Burke on board as the first staff member to be “his right and left hands.”
“He helped us get things started,” Tate explained. “With Joe’s help, we set up the six stations (from Lake Charles to Northshore/Slidell). He served as my representative to find equipment, set up leases, and more. He has moved from position to position as-needed. He has been very important in this ministry!”
Volunteers from Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church in Tipp City, Ohio, work
on a home in Slidell, La., damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. UMNS photos by
John Gordon. Click on the image for more of the story!
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