Stokely said he received commitments for 250 metric tons of rice from farmers and mills. Humanitarian Aid Inc. The ship will leave for North Korea in November or December. There's good and bad news regarding the well-being of U.S. children, according to a United Methodist bishop who is leading a churchwide initiative on children and poverty. More infants are surviving their first year, the report said, and 77 percent of toddlers are immunized. In particular, help is needed to repair the homes of low-income people who had no insurance and didn't qualify for federal aid.
Assistance is needed in Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Tennessee.
The United Methodist Board of Discipleship is sending churches free copies of a new guide to help plan programs for older people in the coming year. The U.N. General Assembly has declared 1999 the International Year of Older Persons. Fifteen United Methodist annual conferences voted this summer to focus on older people next year. On July 7, United Methodist News Service reported that the United Methodist Church lost 42,000 members in 1997, based on recent annual conference data. However, Oregon-Idaho lost 2,078 members, bringing the church's projected 1997 membership loss to 46,000.