Twenty-four members of Sycamore United Methodist Church were recognized in a special send-off ceremony. The group leaves Saturday for a week of disaster-relief work in the area surrounding Sager Brown Depot, in Baldwin, La., which is in the poorest parish of the poorest state.

In addition to rehabbing buildings in the area ravaged by storm and wear, many of the group will work in the depot, one of only two shipping facilities of the United Methodist Church, from which each year several million dollars of worldwide disaster supplies are shipped, wherever they are requested by United Methodist Committee on Relief, or UMCOR.

Supplies also are trucked in to statewide disasters such as Sandy devastation. Making this all happen are several thousand volunteer workers, including the team from SUMC. UMCOR Sager Brown also reaches out to the community by providing volunteer assistance to a shelter for abused women, a Head Start program and a food distribution center.