Pakistan: Emergency Continues To Unfold as UMCOR Takes Action

More than three weeks after flooding began in Pakistan, the emergency continues to unfold, with no end in sight. While entire villages and towns remain submerged in floodwaters, the fear of starvation, illness, and disease is compounded by the continual threat of fresh rains.
United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) partners in Pakistan report that thousands of people are still stranded and cut off by floodwaters. More than 1,600 have died and some 20 million have been impacted by the crisis, including, according to UNICEF, 6 million children.
Hundreds of roads and bridges have been destroyed, and the World Bank estimates that a billion dollars in crops have been lost. Damage to the country's economy and to individual livelihoods is incalculable.

UMCOR grants are providing clean drinking water, food, temporary shelter, and medical aid to tens of thousands of people affected by the crisis.
Your gift to International Disaster Response, will help UMCOR address the needs of the most vulnerable populations affected by the flooding. Make your check out to UMCOR Advance #982450, indicate "Pakistan Emergency" on the memo line of your check and place it in the offering plate when it is passed.

The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is the not-for-profit global humanitarian aid organization of the United Methodist Church. UMCOR is working in more than 80 countries worldwide, including the United States. Its mission, grounded in the teachings of Jesus, is to alleviate human suffering—whether caused by war, conflict or natural disaster, with open hearts and minds to all people.

UMCOR responds to natural or civil disasters that are interruptions of such magnitude that they overwhelm a community's ability to recover on its own. In partnership with local organizations, UMCOR helps survivors rebuild their livelihoods, health and homes. In times of acute crisis UMCOR mobilizes emergency supplies, fresh water, and temporary shelter to stricken areas, and then stays as long as it takes to implement long-term recovery. UMCOR Relief efforts are still underway in many parts of our world, including Haiti. You may also designate gifts to Haiti by indicating UMCOR Advance #418325 on your check.

Every dollar you give to UMCOR goes to the program you designate. UMCOR is 100% efficient.
When you give through our local church, University Circle United Methodist Church receives credit from our East Ohio

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Hawken School to open new learning center in University Circle | cleveland.com

Chris Ronayne, president of University Circle Inc., is happy to put out the "Welcome back" mat.

"This is going to add tremendous value as the Circle tries to advance as a true Ohio hub for education and innovation," he said. "Over the last few years, we've really ramped up an education model that uses Circle institutions as learning laboratories."

Hawken will join a number of schools taking advantage of the neighborhood's museums, hospitals and colleges, Ronayne said. That includes fixtures such as Cleveland School of the Arts and John Hay High School as well as newcomers like Montessori High School, located just a few doors down from Hawken's center.

The official name is the Sally and Bob Gries Center for Experiential and Service Learning, in recognition of the couple who provided the lead gift to pay for it.

The project will cost an estimated $6.6 million, which covers buying and renovating the building as well as operating the program. About $4.6 million has been raised so far, Looney said.

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St. Peter vs. Bishop Lennon: A leadership disaster

St. Peter vs. Bishop Lennon: A leadership disaster

Published: Sunday, August 22, 2010, 4:05 AM

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The year is 2010. It is a world in which thousands are dying in Pakistan and religious extremism is making the world a very dangerous place.

Here in Cleveland, with corruption still unresolved and many social problems, we have a bishop of the Roman Catholic Church who has single-handedly done four destructive things: proved why a Protestant Reformation was necessary, cheapened the legacy of openness of Vatican I and II as well as the legacy of Pope John XXIII and former Bishop Anthony Pilla, eradicated all interfaith relationships between himself and others in the region, and reinforced theological absurdity by suggesting that a person's immortal soul may be in jeopardy from receiving Communion in episcopally unauthorized spaces.

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Talk about relevant leadership.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth W. Chalker, Cleveland

Chalker is the senior pastor of University Circle United Methodist Church.

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Tudor Arms renovation is bringing a highly visible piece of old Cleveland back to life | cleveland.com

Like tens of thousands of East Side commuters, I've driven past the looming mass of the 11-story Tudor Arms building for years without any idea of the grandeur of its interior spaces. Located on the southwest corner of Carnegie Avenue and East 107th Street, the building is a highly visible landmark that stands sentinel over a major traffic gateway to the city.

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Young Adults Are Invited to Special University Circle UMC Get Together

People who are ages 25-40 (ish) are planning to get together on September 18th, 4pm, at the home of Shawn and Megan Hufendick in Willoughby. Plans include a cookout/potluck, playing cornhole, roasting marshmallows and hopefully enjoying good weather outside on the deck. Directions and more details will be sent to those who respond. Please email Megan at mglzb@yahoo.com if you are able to join us.

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Willow School Needs You! Drop your donations off at University Circle United Methodist Church

Willow Elementary School is a Cleveland Public School which our church has supported for more than a decade with needed supplies, tutoring, and special gifts. A new school year is about to begin.

TUTORING: If you might be interested in tutoring this year, please contact our Willow School liaison, Dan Maly, at dnmalyATyahoo.com for more information.

SCHOOL CLOTHING: Students must dress according to school code every day. The children include boys and girls in Kindergarten through 8th grade. New or very clean and gently-used clothing will be gratefully received.

Shirts: White or light blue only. Sleeves may be long or short. Collars are absolutely required.
Bottoms: Pants, shorts, skirts or jumpers in navy, blue or khaki.
Shoes: Tennis shoes are required for gym class.

SCHOOL SUPPLIES: If you are able to contribute items from the following list, boxes will be placed near the church office to receive donations.

Pocket folders
Wide-ruled spiral notebooks,70-page
1-subject spiral notebooks
Wide-ruled looseleaf paper
White Elmer’s glue bottles
Glue sticks
Children's metal Fiskar scissors
Pointed scissors
Crayola crayons,boxes of 16
Crayola crayons, boxes of 24
Laddie pencils
Pencils with #2 lead
Pencil erasers
Pencil-top erasers
Covered pencil sharpeners
Yellow highlighters
Red pens
Black or blue pens
Dry erase EXPO markers
Pencil pouch
Pencil box, plastic
Facial tissues (Kleenex)
Hand sanitizer
Paper towels
Algebraic calculators
Flash drives
Backpacks

The children, their families and the staff at Willow School are truly grateful for our support. The primary goal of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District is to become a premier school district in the United States of America.

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Cleveland school district, Cleveland State University team up to open new school

Cleveland school district, Cleveland State University team up to open new school

Published: Thursday, August 19, 2010, 7:00 PM     Updated: Friday, August 20, 2010, 5:22 AM

Thomas Ott, The Plain Dealer
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View full sizeMarvin Fong, The Plain DealerCampus International School students participate in morning stretching exercises Thursday. From left are Nyja Grays, Dion Sorrells, Greyson Hankins and Isaiah Payne.

A new Cleveland school opened Thursday, easing its first students into a program that will supplement the basics with Mandarin Chinese.

The Campus International School, a joint venture between the school district and Cleveland State University, welcomed 60 first- and second-graders a week before most other city students resume classes. Sixty kindergartners will arrive Wednesday, bringing the school to capacity.

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About a fourth of the students come from the suburbs.

Campus International, the latest addition to the district's "innovation" portfolio, will grow by a grade each year until it extends through high school. It's in leased classrooms at the former First United Methodist Church, on Euclid Avenue at East 30th Street, but officials hope to move eventually to a building at the neighboring university.

The school will emphasize world culture, instilling a global perspective in children whose experiences sometimes don't reach the shore of Lake Erie. Students in the lower grades will learn some Mandarin, though the school does not expect them to speak it fluently.

CSU President Ronald Berkman said Campus International can test new teaching methods while helping to rejuvenate areas neighboring the university. Kindergarten teacher Daniel Ogilvy likes being part of a program that's just getting started and fits his style of instruction.

"Trying to use education to make the world a better place was always something I've tried to do in my classroom," said Ogilvy, who previously taught pre-kindergarten at Memorial Elementary School in Cleveland's Collinwood neighborhood.

Berkman pushed for the school after being hired in April 2009, but it didn't gain momentum until early this year, a turnaround so sudden that renovation still needs finishing touches. The university has agreed to pay for facilities, while the school district pays most of the staff.

Principal Julie Beers, formerly principal of Noble Elementary School in Cleveland Heights, signed on in April. She said the chance to be the school's first leader and collaborate with the university drew her to the job.

The school has six classroom teachers, a full-time physical education teacher and part-time specialists in art, music and media. It is bringing in two teachers of Mandarin Chinese, the school's initial foreign language offering.

Christine Fowler-Mack, the school district's chief of staff, recruited the teacher from Beijing in July, during a trip financed by Hanban/Confucius Institute Headquarters. The agency, affiliated with the Chinese Ministry of Education, will pay the teacher's salary.

Campus International is applying for International Baccalaureate accreditation, a distinction belonging to only a few Northeast Ohio schools. The process has just begun and will take up to two years.

Campus International students will visit Cleveland State University laboratories and recreation facilities. Meanwhile, CSU students from different majors will come to the public school for purposes such as student teaching, research, giving speech and hearing tests or conducting psychological assessments.

Ronald Abate, an associate professor of teacher education, has taken a one-year sabbatical to serve as a full-time liaison to the school. His main job is developing the curriculum, but anything is game.

"I like to say my principal responsibility is 'other duties as assigned,' literally what needs to get done," Abate, pronounced ah-bah-tay, said Thursday. "Last night we were wiping off the tables in the cafeteria."

Beers and Abate scrambled to recruit students but now have a waiting list that stands at 20.

Cleveland, which has an open-enrollment policy and hopes to attract more out-of-district students to its innovation schools, gets state aid for the suburban students that would have otherwise gone to each child's home district.

Christopher Sedlock of Garfield Heights, associate athletic director at Cleveland State, hovered at the school Thursday morning before kissing his 6-year-old son, Adam, goodbye.

Sedlock said he and his wife wanted a school that would challenge Adam, a first-grader who is reading at an advanced level. He said he was impressed by teachers who exhibit a "genuine interest in teaching and learning."

"You want the best fit for your kids," Sedlock said. "We're confident that Cleveland State's resources and the staff they've assembled here is the right combination."

With the school growing in popularity, officials will develop an admissions policy to settle questions about who gets in. Berkman said he will push for giving preference to people who live around the university.

The opening of another innovation school is likely to draw renewed criticism from those who say the schools' unique resources and more highly motivated students give them an unfair advantage. Abate said programs like Campus International are not a panacea for the problems of urban education but can hone strategies for other schools to replicate.

"We'll hopefully learn from this experience," he said.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: tott@plaind.com, 216-999-5739

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