An early Christmas present

People from Lansdale and Trinity Lutheran Church sent $7,000 worth of toys and gifts for Central Elementary School children, teachers and staff in Katrina-ravaged Gulfport, MS…

SunHerald.com : An early Christmas present

Make sure to view the photo gallery.

Feature Stories: Sudan, South Sudan: Rebuilding… one harvest at a time…, Press Releases: Sudan, South Sudan: Rebuilding… one harvest at a time…

Feature Stories: Sudan, South Sudan: Rebuilding… one harvest at a time…, Press Releases: Sudan, South Sudan: Rebuilding… one harvest at a time…

Basking in the waters of our baptism!

Another report from Lois Kadel’s trip to Mississippi….
November 6, 2006

It’s been a very wet day on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. It began raining really hard when we arrived at the home of Miss Jennifer, a surgery technician at the Kessler Naval Air Station. Miss Jennifer, a young officer with a twelve year old son, lives in a very nice development in Fountainbleu, MS, a small rural town outside of Ocean Springs between Gautier and Pascagoula. Miss Jennifer’s home was submerged under 9 feet of water on August 29, 2006. The house was uninhabitable for over a year. Miss Jennifer and her son rehabbed their small garage with the help of Miss Jennifer’s parents. She lived in that small space while work was started on her home. Miss Jennifer received an insurance check which was stolen by an unscrupulous contractor who deposited it into his account, did some sub-standard work and then disappeared. She finally has a court date scheduled to confront him in court. However, without the insurance money she has been unable to get the needed work completed on her home.

Feeling a lot like Moses!

Lois Kadel starts a new series of reports from her latest trip to the Gulf Coast…

November 5, 2006

Morning came very early today. Denise Dundore poked her head into the room I was sharing with Camille Previtt, and whispered in an oddly cheerful voice, “Good morning! Time to get up! It’s 5:30!” Apparently Denise is one of the few members of Christ Lutheran Church who is not aware that morning is not my friend. I stumbled into the bathroom and tried to organize my thoughts. I felt disoriented and disorganized – not an uncommon feeling for me at that time of day. I was also feeling a sense of anticipation and excitement. By days end we would be in Ocean Springs, Mississippi and I would be able to see how much progress has been made on the Gulf Coast since we were last there in late June and early July. We were staying in Charlotte, North Carolina, at the home of Kelli and Fred, the daughter and son-in-law of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church member Joan Gauker. Our two male volunteers, Bill Dunn and Ted Riesz, were staying with Joan’s son Kurt and daughter-in-law Elizabeth, two houses away.

Bells toll to mark levees’ breach

From an update today from Heather Feltman, executive director of Lutheran Disaster Response:
Bells tolled in New Orleans this morning, marking the moment one year ago when New Orleans’ levees buckled and unleashed a torrent of water that ripped homes from their foundations and sent the city into an uncertain future.  The horrific images of human suffering and the overwhelming destruction along the Gulf Coast remain with us a year later.

In the days following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, I watched our Lutheran Disaster Response network respond with compassion and grace, offering help and hope to survivors as well as to their caregivers.  The scale and scope of this disaster challenged even the most experienced of disaster responders.  Circumstances drove our response in ways not foreseen.

Read the entire message here.

Update: KYW report on Lutheran disaster response

KYW has posted a written piece based on our interviews here.

I haven’t heard it on the air, yet The piece aired at approx. 11:23 this morning, and may air again through the day.
In case the link expires, here is the text:

Local Religious Groups Reach Out to Katrina Survivors
by KYW’s Nancy Griffin

Tuesday marked a National Day of Remembrance for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, and many Lutherans in Southeastern Pennsylvania were among the millions taking part in services around the region.

A year has come and gone since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina but Bob Fisher of The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America says their resolve to serve the victims of the Gulf is unwavering:

“On this National Day of Remembrance for the survivors. Lutherans are in prayer. We are in this for the long-haul. We’ve already sent $25 million and thousands of volunteers, from the Philadelphia area.”

Mary-Ann Gleason is one of them:

“It was really a personal response for me — in thinking about what Christ sacrificed (and who he was) to everyone of Christian faith. The things that I helped with were removing trash, delivering meals and also just visiting with the people there who needed to know that people up here care.”

As I noted Friday when the interview took place, I said that the ELCA had sent $25 million to the Gulf, and that thousands of ELCA volunteers, including hundreds from our Synod, had contributed a total of 600,000 volunteer hours. I also talked about our ongoing work providing spiritual and emotional care to children and caregivers.

Despite the challenges of getting a complex story into a brief air segment, the key message got across: Lutherans are in it for the long haul!

“God is there”

The ELCA has a public service announcement aimed at helping kids understand what goes on after a disaster online here. HT

“A long road ahead”

The Reporter has a story about Trinity, Lansdale’s long-term goals to assist in Gulf Coast relief posted here.

KYW report on Gulf relief, one year later

Mary Ann Gleason, a member of Redeemer, Jamison, who just returned from her fourth relief trip to work with Grace Lutheran Church, New Orleans, and I were interviewed today for a report on KYW NewsRadio 1060, which is scheduled to air either tomorrow (Saturday) or Tuesday, Aug. 29, which is the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s landfall. The report focuses on the status of relief efforts.

Among the points we made were:

• We’re thankful that ELCA members have responded so well to the call. Nationally, ELCA members have sent $25 million to the Gulf so far, and about 15,000 volunteers have donated 600,000 volunteer hours. Locally about 30 groups have gone down to the Gulf through LDR, involving several hundred volunteers. Congregations have given more than $150,000 through the synod, with more going directly to ELCA Disaster Relief and to affected communities. And local congregations have trips scheduled into next year!
• Volunteers from across the synod have been energized and strengthened in their faith by such service.
• Lutherans are in this for the long haul. We’re not only cleaning up and rebuilding homes and restoring communities. We are doing what we do best: providing spiritual and emotional care to survivors, especially caregivers and children. We’re coordinating volunteer efforts. And we’re providing hardship grants to the most vulnerable survivors.
• Disaster response is in the Lutheran DNA. It’s a way of living out the Gospel and being Christ’s hands and feet and heart to vulnerable people in need.
• Lutherans will be in prayer for survivors on Tuesday’s day of remembrance, as we have been for the last year and will continue to be.

It’s hard to know how much of this will make it into a 60-90 second report on-air. Whatever airs will help to remind people that Lutherans care about our neighbors!

Thank you for all you are doing to support this massive relief effort. Your time, your skills and your dollars continue to be needed as this long-term relief effort unfolds.

update:  another take on this experience is here.

Offering of appreciation

With the first anniversary of Katrina’s landfall just ahead, the folks at Our Shepherd Lutheran Church in Maryland have a great idea. They’re asking churches that have been blessed by the opportunity to serve people and churches along the Gulf — through mission trips, raising funds, prayer connections, etc. — to send letters of appreciation to churches there prior to the anniversary.

Many churches from SEPA have been involved in hurricane recovery. If you’ve been touched by this experience and want to join in this process, read on…