First United Methodist Church Oak Ridge is well known for its humanitarian work both locally and internationally. FUMC has sent 82 mission teams to five countries representing more than 1,300 missioners since 2003. One of their prime venues has been the United Methodist Committee on Relief Disaster Relief Depot (called Sager Brown ) in Baldwin, Louisiana. This depot collects disaster relief kits from churches throughout the county, stages them and ships them to disaster sites (hurricanes, floods, fires and other natural disasters) on an as needed basis. The types of disaster kits include hygiene kits, flood buckets, and menstrual hygiene kits.
This year’s team was the 17th FUMC team to work at Sager Brown. With 197 hygiene kits, assembled and donated by the congregation in hand, six members of the FUMC congregation departed Oak Ridge to act as God’s hands and feet at UMCOR Sager Brown Saturday, Sept. 7. After attending church at Parkway Heights UMC in Hattiesburg, Mississippi the team arrived at the depot Sunday afternoon. They were assigned their dorm rooms and attended a kickoff briefing.