Lutherans Discern *Tough Times* for New Jersey Residents

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Times are rough for New Jersey residents, according to Jack DiMatteo, coordinator for Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR) in New Jersey. Since the terrorist attacks in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, New Jersey residents continue to experience job layoffs and unemployment, post-traumatic stress and loss of financial resources.
"It is estimated that 20,000 New Jersey residents are still out of work" because of the events of Sept. 11, DiMatteo said. Significant numbers of airport personnel at Newark Liberty International Airport, Newark, N.J., have been "laid off because business just isn't the same after Sept. 11," he said in a report to staff of LDR, a ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
DiMatteo said New Jersey's Food Bank is reporting a 50 percent increase in demand for food.
"Major agency caseworkers, such as the Salvation Army and Catholic Charities, are bringing more cases forward," DiMatteo said. "The number of cases has begun to proliferate, not settle down" and, "in some circumstances, these agencies have exhausted or 'capped out' on dollar amounts that they are able to distribute to individuals and families on a case-by-case basis," he said.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has denied funds from its Mortgage and Rental Assistance program to many clients because of "technicalities," DiMatteo said. "For several months, some FEMA telephone operators were incorrectly informing New Jersey residents who worked in or near New York's 'Ground Zero' district that they did not qualify for funds because they lived on 'the wrong side of the river,'" he said.
The "wealthier Wall Street unemployed" residents of New Jersey, who previously lived on savings and exhausted credit cards "are now discovering that the cupboards are bare, that there is no more money left in savings, that federal and state disaster relief funding is ended, and there are still no employment offers for the near future," said DiMatteo.
LDR of New Jersey is committed to addressing the "economic fiasco" in the state, DiMatteo said. "Thanks to generous grant funding from the national Lutheran Disaster Response office in Chicago, LDR of New Jersey is truly a key response organization."
About 70 Lutheran congregations in New Jersey "have received training from LDR of New Jersey on how to create local disaster preparedness and response planning in the event of another disaster," said DiMatteo.
LDR of New Jersey has partnered with a caring network of 15 behavioral health care agencies to address those suffering from post- traumatic stress, he said. Among those partnerships, Lutheran Social Ministries of New Jersey has taken a leading role in offering grief support groups, facilitated at Lutheran churches in the state, for those who lost loved ones on Sept. 11, 2001.
"We at LDR of New Jersey keep plugging along knowing that God's

spirit will sustain us. We feel the prayers of those across the
nation who mourn with us, grieve with us and hope with us. Our
heartfelt thanks go to Lutherans from all over the country who have
opened their hearts and their purses, wallets and checkbooks, so that
terrific response ministries can continue," said DiMatteo.
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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:

ELCA Domestic Disaster Response
P.O. Box 71764, Chicago, Illinois 60694-1764
Credit card gift line: 1-800-638-3522
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