February 23, 2023 | by JB Brayfindley
Mary Ellen Huey, pictured second from right with a flood recovery Early Response Team members.
“It’s who we are,” explains Mary Ellen Huey of Lynnewood UMC in Pleasanton about her work as a member of the California Nevada UMC conference Emergency Response Team (ERT). The ERT program exists through CNUMC Volunteers in Mission (VIM) and receives funding from the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). Huey recently led cleanup efforts in Merced working alongside her husband and other members of the team that came and went during the week. “It’s not about me, it’s not about any of us. It’s about what Jesus is doing through us to show the love of him.”
Dorothy Klisevich, treasurer at Sacramento First UMC and retired Chief Deputy District Attorney, had taken training for ERT in 2021 and was ready to serve. Now, along with all trained team members, Klisevich is notified when a team is needed any place in the North state. “I get a call for any disaster, primarily forest fires, floods and earthquakes—all of which we have,” explains Klisevich who although retired keeps a busy schedule and must rearrange her calendar to make it possible to go.
“It was pretty rough,” explains Klisevich after finishing her first stent as part of the team in Merced last month. She served several days alongside team members helping the community clean up after recent floods. Klishevich brought her sleeping bag and slept on the floor in the Merced UMC. She took a sack lunch to the work site and in the evening ate homemade casseroles—both donated by church members. According to Klisevich, she was “…repairing stairways, removing water-logged items from a shed, operating power tools, and stabilizing roofs—lots of heavy work.”
“I was going to have her go over to the Local Assistance Center so she could learn how to do that and experience that…” states Mary Ellen Huey explaining the location
where they provide cleaning buckets, hygiene kits, CAL-NEV totes, fire buckets with rakes and shovels, and the distribution of $50 VISA gift cards inscribed with the Conference label. All things given away are donations by the members of the UMC congregations in our Conference. “But she said, ‘No, I want to be out working!’ and… she did!”
“I’m happy to serve,” sums up Klisevich. “That’s what retirement is all about, I can give my time away. I was older than most of the recipients and people on the team, but if I can still do it, I will.”
“I try to go whenever I can,” states Raeanne Passantino, Lay Leader at Lynnewood UMC who recently retired and has more flexibility to participate. “I have time to do this when needed.” Passantino started volunteering with VIM after Hurricane Katrina in the summer of 2006. She went on several VIM trips over the years but only during pre-planned vacation time or holidays. In 2018, Passantino received ERT training to help during the disastrous fire season.
“When I help with the tabling for these events, I am super inspired by the people who were affected by the fires,” states Passantino,. “… most of them kinda go along with the flow. They are very positive. They are hopeful about the future despite having lost everything. It helps me put my whole life in perspective being able to provide support to these people.”
Passantino also enjoys seeing communities come together to help one another. “It’s amazing, especially over the last many years our country has been super divided and mean to each other, to see people—regardless of what their political leanings are, what their religious or spiritual leanings are… when it comes down to something like a fire that they seem to drop all that stuff and look out for one another,” explains Passantino. “It’s just really nice to see it. I love it.”
“My skills on these trips are more people oriented,” states Huey, a retired psychologist. “I’ve learned how to connect wires, do flooring, put varnish on wooden floors and use a sawzall and other mechanical things, but I really enjoy working on the team and working with the people…”
“I’ve always been involved in missions,” states Huey whose love for mission work started as a youth after reading a book by Albert Schweitzer. At first Huey thought missions was all about seeing a problem and solving it. She later realized that such a mindset was actually a stumbling block. “We soon learned it wasn’t about what we got done but how we dealt with the people we were serving.”
“Whether it be hurricanes, earthquakes, tornados, floods, they’ve all been people who have been solely in need,” adds Huey, “and not just of our material or workmanship goods but also for the hope that we might share with them and the love of Jesus.”
Does this inspire you to sign up to get trained and serve? Or to donate?
To donate or become a part of the Emergency Response Team, connect with Steve Elliot, Conference Disaster Response & UMVIM Coordinator (Director)
(925) 640-9797.