Members of Bethlehem United Methodist Church, Bena, gathered in the church fellowship hall after services on Sunday, Oct. 27, to practice their ministry of care.
The congregation worked together to assemble cleaning kits for the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). Each kit contains materials suitable for cleaning a disaster-ravaged building, from a variety of cleaning products to respirator dust masks and insect repellent, all packed into a five-gallon plastic bucket.
Contents of the buckets and the buckets themselves were purchased with church funds and assembled following detailed instructions provided by UMCOR. The kits, aka “flood buckets,” are kept on hand in UMCOR storage facilities, ready for quick shipment to anywhere in the United States when disaster strikes.
Working in assembly line fashion, the volunteers completed 40 buckets in less than an hour. Bethlehem Pastor Chuck Winner took time to mention those who did the preparatory work that facilitated assembly, “shop...