The survivors and those affected by the slide need money for the essentials of life - food, gas, utility bills, lodging, etc.  You can make a donation to the PNW Disaster Relief Fund by sending a check to:

PNW Conference Treasurer
P.O. Box 13650
Des Moines, WA 98198

If you want your donation to be used only for this event, put PNW Disaster Response Advance Special #352 on the memo line.

Please keep all of those impacted by the mudslide in your prayers.

Nominate Someone for the Kelsey-Shepard Scholarship

The Outdoor Ministries Committee awards a $200 camp scholarship each year that recognizes gifted leadership in the life of United Methodist Camping. This scholarship honors long-time Camping volunteers Claudia Kelsey and Bea Shepard. The nominee (can be a child, youth or family) should exhibit outstanding leadership and service to the local United Methodist Church and additionally meet one of the following leadership requirements: 

Check out this great article about how one of our churches is raising funds for Imagine No Malaria! First UMC in Fairbanks is taking their fundraising to a fun new level! What is your church doing?

The Youth Specialties "Ideas" books provide thousands of Youth Ministry Ideas for youth leaders for Games, Youth Group Leadership, Fundraisers, Group Discussions, special Holiday events and much more.  This set of Youth Specialties "Ideas" books contains volumes 1-53 and the index.  

A former youth minister is getting rid of his library and is looking for a church home who can use it.  The books are perfect for an adult trying to determine what to do in their youth group.  If your church doesn't have many youth resources and these could be helpful, please contact the conference office.   If you do not want to pay the shipping from Anchorage, you can pick it up at Conference.

History has been made.  Eleven Methodists from First United Methodist Church of Fairbanks were joined by twenty-three others from various faiths, ethnic backgrounds and ages to take Early Response Team training. Jim Truitt, the UMVIM Disaster Response Coordinator from the Pacific Northwest Conference spent three days training us to safely clean out a flooded house, do site assessments, and to be team leaders.  Jim also certified most of us as Alaska Early Response Team members who will provide a caring Christian presence in the aftermath of disaster.  Not all of the participants want to be ERTs but most (around 24) do.  Some want to be trained as United Methodist Volunteer in Mission (UMVIM) team members.  That training will be arranged. The excitement this past weekend was contagious. There is a lot more work for the team to do to get ready for a deployment, but this group is up for the challenge.  Keep your eyes open for future opportunities to help survivors of disasters.