SYCAMORE – Twenty-four members of Sycamore United Methodist Church left on Saturday, Feb. 9 for a week of disaster-relief work in the area surrounding Sager Brown Depot in Baldwin, La., which is in the poorest parish of the poorest state.

In addition to rehabbing buildings ravaged by storm and wear, many of the group will work in the depot, one of only two shipping facilities of the United Methodist Church. Each year millions of dollars in disaster supplies are shipped from the depot to locations around the world at the request of the United Methodist Committee on Relief, or UMCOR. Supplies are also trucked to areas hit by domestic disasters such as Superstorm Sandy. UMCOR Sager Brown also reaches out to its local community by providing volunteer assistance to a shelter for abused women, a Head Start program and a food distribution center.

SUMC volunteers have been lending a hand in Baldwin for the past 10 years, finding the spiritual reward greater than the work itself. They work in the depot packing cleaning buckets, school bags, health kits, layette kits, birthing kits and sewing kits; in the sewing room making garments; or in community agencies, rehabbing homes or campus chores. Devotions are held every day and all groups are brought together for a vespers program summing up the week. Participants enjoy the camaraderie of meeting the home residents and other volunteers. Dorm life is rich with three meals with a Southern flair and much friendly conversation.