Team Insurance is a MUST!

All Church Teams should carry Team Insurance! This will cover emergencies and evacuations. There are two sources for information:
The WNC Building Teams: Contact Don Newman at dnewmankt4ts@hotmail.com for more information.

• $10,000 Medical Coverage for Illness/Injury ($100 deductible)
• $100,000 Emergency Medical Evacuation
• $5,000 Trip Interruption/repatriation
• $250 Loss of checked baggage
• Emergency Medical Reunion coverage upto $50,000 (includes cost of a round-trip economy air fare, and reasonable travel and accommodation expenses for up to 10 days).
• If traveling with a child, pay up to $50,000 to reunite the child to the USA.
• $50,000 Accidental Death & Dismemberment
• Cost: $1.51 per day for international and $2.02 per day for US teams. Cost for non-Building Team Committee teams for application is $10.00 per team.

The SEJ UMVIM Insurance: Contact http://www.umvim.org/ for more information.

• $10,000/$25,000 Medical Coverage for Illness/Injury ($50 deductible)
• $100,000 Emergency Medical Evacuation/Repatriation
• $5,000 Trip Interruption
• $250 Loss of checked baggage
• Emergency Medical Reunion coverage for one personin case of Medical Evacuation or Repatriation
• Return of Minor Children traveling with a parent
• Cost: 0-4 days would be $12/$14, 5-10 days would be $16/$18, 11-14 days would be $20/23, and 15-21 days would be $27/$30. Registration costs per person are $12 for domestic teams and $17 for international teams.

For additional information contact Mike at mcollins@wnccumc.org

Funeral Arrangements for Tom Wilson

Ruth Wilson called. Tom died shortly after midnight (Sunday) at Duke Hospital. A memorial service will be held later this week at Christ UMC in Greensboro. No specific arrangements have been made at this time, since Tom Jr's wife will not arrive from Taiwan until late Monday.

While this is very sad news to us, we continue to be thankful that Tom was our dear friend and Sue's mentor in UMVIM building team ministry.

Here is Tom’s address if you want to send a card:
1711 Hobbs Road
Greensboro, NC 27410
336-218-8633

Update:
Here's the info about Tom Wilson's arrangements.
The family is gathering for lunch followed by interment (columbarium) at 12:30 Wednesday. A Memorial Service is at 2:00 at Christ UMC, Greensboro.

United Methodists' Volunteers' in Mission (UMVIM)

In 2008 the leaders of the Building Team Committee, the Medical Volunteers in Mission Committee and the Disaster Response Committee agreed that we needed a central structure to better keep our United Methodists' Volunteers in Mission on task.

The following concerns were shared:

1. Most of the Teams going out are “individual Church Teams.” Many lack leadership training, financial accountability in-country and within the foreign country and many lack Insurance and Safe Sanctuary policies;
2. Many individual Church Teams have not connected their work with the Conference work and some have gone without knowledge of the country’s leadership;
3. No control by local church in countries;
4. Need to establish contacts world-wide;
5. Many teams have no “future” plans once they return and no connections for future teams to other areas;
6. There is a need for some type of team registration and need, at times, for additional persons on church teams;
7. There is a need for persons from other areas (i.e. Medical or Education) on Building Teams, and vice-versa. There is also a longing for new types of teams from churches.

Following discussion, the following suggestions were made:

1. Establish a Volunteer In Missions Web page that will be the key page for all types of volunteers in mission. The Building Teams’ Link, the Medical Teams’ Link, … will fall UNDER this area in the Ministry Links, but all will continue to be shown. Where it says “Sign up today” change to say “Inquire”;
2. In addition to the example shared, the web page on VIM should include the following:
   - what to do in case of emergency
   - include link to insurance coverage
   - link to the State Department for alerts
   - a way to register the teams (send team’s information to Mike who will then send information to Marty for the webpage, with a notification sent to the Country Coordinator, if there is one) and to share if the teams are OPEN for additional members. Also, shared that there needs to be a listing for US Teams/projects as well;
3. Directed Sarah Watkins-Davis to form an official Education VIM Committee;
4. Recommended that a Volunteer In Mission Committee be established to coordinate efforts between the following: Conference Disaster Response Committee, Building Teams Committee, Medical VIM Committee, and Education VIM Committee;
5. Directed that a letter be sent out from my office (if agreeable, from the Bishop) noting the need for churches and groups to register teams for emergency, safety and coordination reasons. The Building Teams Committee and Disaster Response Committee will defray this cost. This letter will go out immediately following the August 23rd meeting of the Commission on Missions/Outreach (COMO);
6. Recommended that the Country Coordinators of the Building Team Committee be listed on the web according to the country they represent and that they be resources for all types of teams going to their represented country;
7. Recommended that Disaster Response in foreign countries continue to be done through the Country Coordinators;
8. Directed that a “Letterhead” for Volunteers In Mission be developed and that it be used by the Building Teams, Disaster Response, Medical VIM, and Education VIM Committees