GALLIPOLIS — Thousands of relief workers from the United States have poured into Haiti since the devastating earthquake on Jan. 12, providing aid and support for citizens who are now trying to rebuild their lives.

While the relief efforts have focused mainly — and rightly so — on helping the Haitian people, the United Methodist Church is also reaching out to first repsonders working in the country. According to the Rev. Kandy Nuce, pastor of Christ United Methodist Church in Gallipolis, the denomination recently called on member congregations to compile health kits for first responders that contain basic items, such as hand towels, soap, nail clippers, toothbrushes, band aids and combs as well as a couple of dollars to purchase toothpaste and help pay for shipping.

Nuce said Christ UMC members put together 100 kits to send to Haiti. Altogether, Nuce said, about 1,000 kits were compiled and shipped by churches located in the denomination’s West Ohio Conference, which includes Gallia County’s 11 United Methodist churches.

The kits were shipped on Jan. 26 to the UMC warehouse in Illinois. The denomination also has warehouses in Louisiana and Utah. All three are operated by the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR).

“We had a such a short time to do it in, because they needed them so quickly,” Nuce said. “It costs about $12 per kit to put together. A lot of the churches, instead of sending kits, took up donations (of money) because of the short time.”

Nuce said United Methodists compile kits similar to the ones being sent to Haiti during the Festival of Sharing, which is held in September.

“We also make these kinds of kits for the world church,” she said. “We make health kits, school kits, baby kits and flood buckets.”

In addition to sending the kits, Nuce said her congregation at Christ UMC collected $400 to support the relief effort. Nuce said other UMC congregations in Gallia County also sent monetary donations.

“Every pastor that I called in Gallia County said they were sending money,” Nuce said.

Nuce said UMCOR currently works in 80 nations. The organization is still conducting relief efforts along the U.S. Gulf Coast that was ravished by Hurricane Katrina and in east Asia where a tsunami killed thousands some five years ago.

“UMCOR is a long term relief organization,” Nuce said. “They stay and help rebuild.”

Nuce said three UMCOR workers were in Haiti at the time of the earthquake and two were killed. She said UMCOR is currently training more volunteers to send to Haiti and other areas where aid is needed.

(On the Internet: United Methodist Committee on Relief, new.gbgm-umc.org/umcor.)