Dick Stafford's the kind of guy who wants to act, not talk.
That's why he was drumming his fingers last week while waiting to find out just how he and others in Greenwood could help get relief boxes to victims of the Dec. 26 tsunamis that wiped out hundreds of thousands of lives in Southeast Asia.
He said he'd like to be packing boxes of supplies to send, but that's not the most effective way to help at this moment. So he's looking for monetary donations, instead, and he is doing it through his church.
The Southern Baptists' International Mission Board "has assessment teams in the area now," Stafford explained. Food, water and blankets are being distributed in south Thailand, he said.
Money being collected will allow the relief organization "to purchase supplies as close as possible to, or in country" where people need help, Stafford said.
Others in the Greenwood religious community are doing the same. They naturally turn to their churches, and many of these already have relief organizations in place.
Stafford and the Rev. Glenn Seefeld, pastor of First United Methodist Church, both point out that all money donated to tsunami relief through their churches will be used for aid, not for administrative expenses.
Seefeld explained, "The operational expense of the United Methodist Committee on Relief is paid by our local church giving. So when they put out an appeal, 100 percent of the funds is going to disaster relief."
He said, "We have already made an appeal in our church, and we will continue to do so."
The Rev. Warren Coile, pastor of St. John's United Methodist Church, notified members that tsunami donations are being collected and wrote in the church's newsletter this week, "A report came out recently that said Mississippians are among the most giving people in the United States. Even with the lowest per capita income, we still outrank wealthy states like Connecticut when it comes to charitable contributions."
"The news reports are haunting, and the human suffering seems almost overwhelming," he wrote.
The nationwide United Methodist Church on Monday ran a full-page advertisement in USA Today on Monday that asks, according to Coile, "for everyone to give to relieve that suffering."
A press release from the United Methodist Church on Saturday said the Committee on Relief has sent an initial contribution of $750,000 to the international relief effort. The release also reported that United Methodist leaders were on their way to Indonesia with 100,000 doses of antibiotics and diarrhea medicine. The United Methodist Church has collected more than $1 million for tsunami relief through a new Web site, www.methodistrelief.org.
Other churches appealing for donations through their relief organizations include the Episcopal Church of the Nativity and Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church.
A special collection was being planned at Immaculate Heart of Mary. Catholic Relief Services reported earlier this week that the organization has committed an initial $25 million for its relief operations.
Episcopalians are sending donations via Episcopal Relief and Development. Nativity Church's weekly newsletter appealed for aid "for our brothers and sisters affected by the recent earthquake and tsunami." A mail-in contribution form will be published by the Mississippi Episcopalian, the newspaper of the state diocese.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) reports on its Web site that Presbyterian Disaster Assistance has set a goal of raising $2.5 million for tsunami aid.
