A man picks through the wreckage of beachfront homes in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, following the tsunami. (UMNS photo by Mike DuBose)

Stamford, Conn. -- United Methodists have donated $32.4 million for South Asia tsunami relief. The new total, which includes gifts received from late December through the end of March, was announced by Roland Fernandes, treasurer of the Board of Global Ministries, at the start of the board’s April 11-14 spring meeting.

“The tremendous outpouring of gifts received through the Advance for tsunami relief has been unprecedented both in terms of the amounts and the volume of gifts received,” Fernandes reported. The Advance is the denomination’s outlet for voluntary or “second-mile” giving.

United Methodists began to respond soon after the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami devastated parts of several South Asia nations, including Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India, leaving hundreds of thousands of people dead or missing. Besides dispatching emergency relief supplies and medicine, the United Methodist Committee on Relief is organizing projects for long-term rehabilitation with a variety of partners, including Methodists in Indonesia and Sri Lanka and Church World Service.

Bishop Edward Paup of Seattle, UMCOR’s president, said the agency is thankful for the outpouring of care and concern by church members. “While receipts have significantly surpassed responses to previous catastrophes, they offer again the faithful desire of United Methodists to stand with those who are hurting and in need,” he said.

One of the largest single donations for tsunami relief came from Frazer Memorial United Methodist Church in Montgomery, Ala. The congregation presented Bishop Larry Goodpaster and UMCOR with a check for $100,000 on Easter Sunday.

The response has been so great, according to Fernandes, that board staff has been under significant pressure to process all the gifts. So far, he told directors, items such as staff overtime and bank and online processing have cost an additional $156,000.

Sandra Lackore, chief executive of the denomination’s General Council on Finance and Administration and treasurer of the Advance, said she would talk to her board of directors about covering some of the additional processing expenses.

The option of online giving was promoted for the tsunami relief. Of the total through March, $1.9 million was received through online gifts, Fernandes reported. “GCFA has since approved a churchwide policy for online giving,” he added. “We are working on moving to online giving for the entire Advance.”