I like UMCOR (United Methodist Committee On Relief) and as a member of that (mostly) progressive, non-fundamentalist denomination I do give to them at times.

But I feel it’s important to let folks here know that a) UMCOR is the relief agency of a Christian church, because some may not want to donate through a religious agency; b) their international relief is not solely targeted at Gaza or Gaza+Israel; and c) some of its works are targeted there:

Long-time UMCOR partner International Blue Crescent (IBC) serving food to earthquake victims at the Kilis Community Center in Turkey. The community center is serving as a major hub for coordination and relief efforts, including cross-border response into Syria. UMCOR has provided an initial solidarity grant to IBC to provide basic supplies to earthquake victims UMCOR and its partners are responding to disasters across the globe every day. Please join us in prayer for the affected areas and consider giving to UMCOR International Disaster Response to support these efforts.

War in Israel/Gaza

Please join us in offering continued prayers for safety, comfort and peace for those in the Holy Land.

To date, UMCOR has awarded five emergency grants to local partners in Israel and Gaza. Partners are using funds for relocation support, food and hygiene kits for internally displaced people, psychosocial treatment and trauma counseling to women and children, and telemedicine services for disabled children in need of follow-up care, but without safe access to a clinic. We will provide additional updates as other grants are awarded.

In early October, Global Ministries issued a joint statement on the attacks with the World Methodist Council and the Methodist Church in the United Kingdom. On Friday, Nov. 11, The Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church issued a call for peace. On Monday, Nov. 13, Global Ministries General Secretary Roland Fernandes joined Churches for Middle East Peace and thirty American Christian leaders in calling for support of an immediate ceasefire, de-escalation and restraint by all involved.

You can give to UMCOR’s international disaster response and recovery efforts at: https://advance.umcmission.org/p-641-umcor-international-disaster-response-and-recovery.aspx[https://advance.umcmission.org/p-641-umcor-international-disaster-response-and-recovery.aspx](https://advance.umcmission.org/p-641-umcor-international-disaster-response-and-recovery.aspx).

(update as of Nov. 28, 2023)

Also I want to share that when I searched online for Palestinian NGOs, I got hundreds of results from an organisation called ‘NGO Monitor’ who claim to give unbiased information on NGOs. A lot of the information on their pages seemed quite emotive and unbaly, and did some digging. In reality they are a right wing Israeli organisation that just focuses on listing allegations of terrorism funding / sympathies against charities and NGOs that works in Palestine, they don’t back up allegations with good sources and they don’t give any other information on what the organisation does. So be mindful of that if you do any online research, they seem to have made sure searches for certain topics throw up loads of their pages, and they have a definite bias and reason for existence.

I’ve heard if you give enough money to Netanyahu, he’ll have it hand delivered to Hamas in a suitcase.

US State Department would like to know your location.

I’d like to know too so I can make a donation.