CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutherans continue to serve disaster survivors following this summer's flooding in northwestern Minnesota and eastern North Dakota, and devastating tornadoes that struck Granite Falls, Minn., according to the Rev. Gilbert B. Furst in a September progress report on relief efforts.
Furst is director for Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR), a cooperative ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS). Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota and Lutheran Services of North Dakota are managing LDR response to the disasters, he said.
In July tornadoes destroyed 100 homes in a four-block area of Granite Falls and damaged more than 300 homes, Furst said. Furst toured the area with the Rev. Bruce A. Kuenzel, Granite Falls Lutheran Church, an ELCA congregation. LDR provided an initial $10,000 grant to help Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota manage recovery efforts.
"In town we stood where the tornado touched down," Furst reported. "Most splintered trees and rubble were removed and we saw vacant lots, holes in the ground (former basements) and a few new houses."
Furst and Kuenzel met with several Granite Falls Lutheran Church members affected by the storms.
"The farm has been in our family for 82 years," said Doug Peterson, whose farm was destroyed. "I don't know if we have the energy or resources to recover."
"It took 56 years to get it as we wanted it. It took four minutes to take it away," said Eldora Pederson, a Granite Falls' congregation member whose property was severely damaged.
As each person tearfully told of their property losses, they also told of the outpouring of help following the storms, Furst said.
"Food, volunteers and people with chain saws just came rolling in," Kuenzel said. "Their response was a real gift of grace."
In northwestern Minnesota and eastern North Dakota, LDR provided $65,000 in grants to aid in flood response and recovery efforts following flash flooding June 19. Early reports said nearly 500 homes were affected in the Moorhead, Minn., area and nearly one-third of all homes in Fargo, N.D., were flooded, Furst said.
In his follow-up visit to Moorhead, Furst said he spoke with six parish nurses who reported on the people affected by the flash floods. The nurses serve eight ELCA and LCMS congregations, Furst said. People affected by the floods are frustrated, depressed, angry and are experiencing high blood pressure, the nurses said. The nurses said farm buildings are intact but crops were destroyed, local stores report reduced sales and congregations report financial gifts are down, Furst reported.
LDR caseworkers in Fargo, N.D., said farm families are having difficulty paying for food, medicine and insurance. Many people, especially elderly people, have not recovered from the 1997 floods and are "perplexed" with government forms and procedures, Furst said.
"LDR is reaching out to a diverse ethnic community including Kurdish, Bosnian, Sudanese and Somalian people," he said. "Many speak no English and do not know where to go for help."
Furst told of a meeting with a Kurdish family whose basement has been flooded with sewage backed-up four times since June. A teen-age daughter served as interpreter. Both of her parents were ill from mold and mildew in the home.
"We left a war-torn country four years ago and came here with nothing," the mother said. "We have no family here, no friends. And now we have lost everything again, and we are all alone."
Lutherans can respond to such disasters by praying, volunteering where cleanup and rebuilding are needed and by providing financial gifts "enabling the church to bring help and hope to people who experienced great loss because of a disaster," Furst wrote in his progress report.
"When the church responds in Jesus' name to disaster survivors, God's people can provide many 'gifts of grace,' gifts that differ in each place and situation," he added.
DOMESTIC DISASTERS:
Editors: When listing organizations receiving funds for aid to survivors
of major disasters inside the United States, Puerto Rico or the U.S.
Virgin Islands, please include:
Lutheran Disaster Responsen
P.O. Box 71764
Chicago, IL 60694-1764
800-638-3522
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html
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About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with 2.8 million members in more than 8,500 worshiping communities across the 50 states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of "God's work. Our hands.," the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA's roots are in the writings of the German church reformer Martin Luther.
For information contact:
Candice Hill Buchbinder
Public Relations Manager
Candice.HillBuchbinder@ELCA.org
