NEW YORK--A team of United Methodist relief specialists just back from Haiti and Grenada is recommending new quick impact initiatives to help both island nations recover from devastating hurricanes in recent weeks. Urgent needs in Haiti include a speed-up of food distribution and reconstruction of homes, according to the two-member team representing the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), the denomination's humanitarian aid organization. Grenada needs help restoring its nutmeg industry and in rebuilding community centers that substitute for local government agencies. David Sadoo, international field staff of UMCOR, and Margaret Stansberry, an aid consultant, described Haitian roads "sheared off" by mudslides and covered with boulders--the aftermath of Tropical Storm Jeanne. To reach the countryside north of Gonaïves, where 3,000 are dead or missing and feared dead, the team passed damaged or flattened homes, forded rivers where bridges had collapsed, and saw destruction of the garden plots that, in better times, had provided a livelihood for Haitian families. Sadoo said that in Gonaïves, once a thriving cotton production center, a combination political violence and desperate hunger were creating a volatile climate. Relief supplies are not always reaching the people. Sadoo said that personnel of the United Nations' World Food Program reported that ships with containers full of emergency food were waiting to be unloaded, but dock workers, fearing violence, were avoiding the ports. The team proposed stepped up efforts in home construction in the area north of Gonaïves and more efforts to distribute food, health kits, and school supplies for children. Restoration of nutmeg farming and production is a priority for quick impact grants in Grenada, where the spice is a major source of income. Longer-term recommendations include restoration of housing and community centers. The punishing winds of Hurricane Ivan flattened or damaged 90 percent of Grenada's buildings. The community centers are vital resources in Grenada, because they substitute for local government institutions, Sadoo and Stansberry explained. Communities use their centers for libraries, day care, training, town hall meetings, and shelters. UMCOR currently is working with ecumenical partners to clear debris, rehab schools, and provide fresh water in Haiti and Grenada. The agency will announce additional plans in the next weeks and months. Donors may send their gifts to Advance #982410, Hurricanes 2004, in care of UMCOR, 475 Riverside Dr., Room 330, New York, NY 10115. To donate using a credit card, contributors may call toll free, 1-800-554-8583. Gifts may be designated for either Haiti, Grenada, or both. SOURCE: ALERTNET.ORG