DES MOINES, Wash. — The Pacific Northwest Conference of The United Methodist Church is now administering more than $1 million in disaster recovery funding across Washington State, supporting survivors of both the December 2025 floods and the 2023 Spokane wildfires. The latest milestone is a $675,000 Recovery Grant from the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), awarded to the conference to provide comprehensive long-term recovery assistance to households affected by last winter’s floods in 16 counties and tribal nations.
The flooding caused widespread devastation across Washington State, destroying or damaging more than 440 homes. Approximately 10,000 people were affected, and more than 100,000 residents were ordered to evacuate, including the entire populations of two cities.
Grant details
The new UMCOR Recovery Grant will immediately fund a coordinated network of Disaster Case Management staff across the most heavily impacted counties, providing:
- Five Disaster Case Managers, a Client Recovery Manager, and a bookkeeper through the Whatcom Long Term Recovery Group (WLTRG)
- Two Disaster Case Managers through the United Way of Skagit County
- Unmet needs roundtable support in both counties, as well as emerging county recovery groups and their survivor assistance mechanisms
Whatcom County bore the brunt of the disaster, with nine homes destroyed, 150 suffering major damage, and more than 1,000 additional homes damaged or affected. Skagit County followed close behind. Notably, a number of survivor households affected by the December 2025 floods had also been impacted by flooding the previous year.
As part of the recovery effort, the PNW Conference is hosting a UMCOR Disaster Case Management in-person training May 19-21 in Mount Vernon, bringing together recovery staff from Whatcom, Skagit and Snohomish County recovery groups.
Chuck Messinger, Community Resilience Director and Housing Strategist for the United Way of Skagit County (UWSC), extended sincere gratitude to UMCOR for its generous financial support of our Disaster Case Management efforts.
“With UMCOR’s assistance, we are in a new and stronger position to provide boots-on-the-ground support to those experiencing challenges in recovering from the December floods. UWSC is currently working with over 80 families that are either underinsured, on fixed incomes, are seniors or disabled, or are simply lacking the resources to bounce back.”
With UMCOR’s financial assistance, Messinger said the goal is not only to help Skagit County rebuild from this disaster, but to establish a sustainable model that prepares the county for future ones.
“We are deeply appreciative of UMCOR’s commitment to community resilience and its partnership in helping Skagit County recover and thrive.”
PNWUMC Early Response Team #2 preparing for their muck-out and mold spray mission in Whatcom County. Photo courtesy of Bill Bigbee-Hanson. 
ERT members cleaning up debris after removing damaged flooring in Whatcom County. 
Volunteers from Skagit County loading up cleaning kits from the First UMC Mount Vernon relief supply storage center. Photograph by Rev. Christopher Gudger-Raines. 
Early Response Team member working in the crawl space with fogger equipment for mold remediation. Photograph by Dana Bryson. 
Early Response Team volunteers supporting Whatcom County flood survivors with gas/food cards, personal care kits and information packets. Photograph by Kathy Bryson. 
ERT members geared up in protective clothing before entering a flood-affected home in Whatcom County.
Immediate relief response
Before long-term recovery work began, the PNW Conference fielded Early Response Teams (ERTs) into Whatcom County, starting with skilled damage assessment teams supporting Whatcom County Emergency Management. A following ERT mission sent volunteers into crawl spaces and flooded under-home areas in Tyvek suits and respiratory protection to perform muck-out and mold remediation work for affected families. A third team served the Sumas and Everson area, treating eight homes. In total, PNW ERTs logged more than 260 volunteer hours in the field during the initial relief phase.
PNW ERT members and church volunteers also staffed eight Disaster Assistance Centers across Whatcom, Skagit, King, and Snohomish Counties, distributing gas and food cards, personal care kits, cleaning buckets, flood cleanup guides in English and Spanish, and document replacement guides. Conference disaster relief donations were also used to support this work and to support impacted congregants in British Columbia.
UMCOR supported these early efforts with a $10,000 Solidarity Grant in December 2025. An additional $30,000 in PNW Conference disaster relief donations helped ramp up disaster case management in Whatcom County.
UMCOR trainer Mellie Thomas also led a National VOAD Long-Term Recovery (LTR) virtual workshop in February for the Washington Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (WaVOAD).
Continuing support for Spokane wildfire survivors
The PNW Conference’s recovery work extends beyond the December floods. The conference is also supporting survivors of the August 2023 Spokane wildfires, which destroyed 369 homes, caused two fatalities, and burned more than 20,000 acres through a separate $300,000 UMCOR Recovery Grant combined with conference funds. That effort is providing Disaster Case Management staff and direct survivor support through Unmet Needs Roundtable mechanisms for communities in Medical Lake and Elk, Washington.
About the Pacific Northwest Conference
The Pacific Northwest Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church includes 187 churches and faith communities in the state of Washington, the Northern Panhandle of Idaho, and the greater Vancouver area of British Columbia. Kathy and Dana Bryson serve as the conference’s Disaster Response Coordinators, providing training and coordination across the conference’s early response network, including its Early Response Teams, local church volunteers, and partnerships with UMCOR and regional recovery organizations.
Sincere gratitude to Kathy Bryson for compiling materials and drafting parts of this release.
