CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Since 1920 the Lutheran Compass Center in Seattle's historic Pioneer Square district has provided for the basic needs and emergency care of transients and people without homes. A Feb. 28 earthquake did more than $2.5 million worth of damage to the center and made it unusable as a community service facility.
The brick building is more than 100 years old, said Rick Friedhoff, the center's executive director. The five-story building plus basement is "twisted" and has "good-sized cracks" around the north side of the building, he said. "You can see daylight through these cracks." The chapel is the only part of the building that hasn't seen some form of damage, he said.
The Compass Center provided long-term shelter -- up to 6 months -- for 76 men at the time of the earthquake, said Friedhoff. The men have been displaced to area Lutheran churches, the Salvation Army and Bread of Life mission.
The center provided a number of services which have been suspended, he said. "This building has been a tremendous service." The center provided nine free meals each week, with 250 people at each meal.
A hygiene center in the basement -- bathrooms, showers and laundry -- received 5,000 visits per month. Friedhoff said the basement was always full to capacity while it was open -- 12 hours per day, Monday through Saturday, and 6 hours on Sunday.
The center operated a bank "set up just to serve poor people," said Friedhoff. It managed 1,200 savings accounts and served as "representative payee" for 125 people with permanent disabilities.
The bank would receive social security disability payments and pay the recipient's rent and utility bills. The balance would be given to the recipient on a daily basis as "walking around money," he said, otherwise the recipient would be an easy target for robbery.
"The cost to repair and the cost to rebuild are about the same," said Friedhoff.
Since the building is in a historic district, the city government wants the building to be repaired, he said. Because the building is more than a century old and in a historic district, built on loose soil, earthquake insurance premiums were too expensive for the Compass Center, he said.
Friedhoff said he hopes that the Federal Emergency Management Agency will provide 75 percent of the money needed for repairs, and the city is backing the center in seeking those funds. "We have tremendous support from the Seattle community and from the faith community in particular," he said.
A capital campaign will raise the other 25 percent, said Friedhoff. The $750,000 will be used to repair and refurnish the center, he said. Several grant applications have been submitted, he said. "All those systems are in the works."
Contributions from Seattle businesses and from Lutheran Brotherhood, a fraternal benefits society based in Minneapolis, helped the Compass Center "shore up" the building, said Friedhoff. It took $138,000 to reinforce the building with plywood, timbers and cable "to keep it from falling down while we figure out how to fix it," he said.
"The center sustained substantial damage from the Ash Wednesday earthquake," said Norene N. Goplen, disaster advisor in Idaho, Oregon and Washington for Lutheran Disaster Response, Portland, Ore. "It was necessary to make emergency repairs to stabilize the building and to make it safe for traffic, future construction and restoration.
Staff of Lutheran Disaster Response, a ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS), is assessing the earthquake's damage through Lutheran Family Service of Oregon and Southwest Washington and Lutheran Social Services of Washington and Idaho.
"The earthquake was the strongest to hit the area since 1949. Thousands were evacuated during the earthquake, which lasted less than a minute," said the Rev. Gilbert B. Furst, director for Lutheran Disaster Response, Chicago.
"There is recognition that new needs will continue to arise as assessments continue," Furst said.
The Lutheran Compass Center is affiliated with the ELCA and is a member of Lutheran Services in America (LSA). The center's work is supported by many of the Lutheran congregations in Seattle, said Ruth A. Reko, LSA director for leadership development, ELCA Division for Church in Society, Chicago.
Based in St. Paul, Minn., LSA is an alliance of the ELCA, the LCMS and their 280 social ministry organizations. It forms a national network of social service and long-term care programs serving people, regardless of their religion.
DOMESTIC DISASTERS:
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survivors of major disasters inside the United States, Puerto Rico or
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ELCA Domestic Disaster Response
P.O. Box 71764
Chicago, IL 60694-1764
800-638-3522
For information contact:
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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.
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