ELCA Receives Lilly Endowment Grant to Strengthen Lutheran Disaster Response

Chicago — The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has received a $1.2 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. through its initiative Hope After the Storm: Capacity Building for Faith-Based Disaster Relief Organizations. The grant will enable Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR) to strengthen its capacity to support communities through sustained, long-term recovery.

LDR’s work — in both domestic and international settings — is focused on its commitment to accompany communities through the full recovery process, remaining long after a disaster occurs. Through this grant, LDR will strengthen its work in domestic settings by focusing on two areas that are essential to sustaining its long-term approach to disaster recovery: expanding its emotional and spiritual care capacity and strengthening sustainable donor engagement for long-term recovery needs.

“We are excited by the opportunity to strengthen LDR’s ability to accompany disaster-impacted communities that this grant from Lilly Endowment provides,” said Maryn Olson, director, Lutheran Disaster Response. “While LDR has provided emotional and spiritual care over the years, this grant offers us the time and resources to formalize this work and intentionally expand our disaster emotional and spiritual care across the ELCA with regionally based teams.

“We also know that people support LDR because they believe in this ministry and understand it as part of how God calls us to care for our neighbors,” Olson said.  “This grant gives us occasion to explore more intentional story-sharing that centers and honors the experiences of survivors and our companions and partners and invites supporters to invest in the transformative work of LDR.”

The grant that is supporting Lutheran Disaster Response is one of 30 grants Lilly Endowment has awarded through Hope After the Storm, an initiative which aims to strengthen the capacity of faith-based organizations to provide aid to individuals and families affected by disasters in communities throughout the United States.

Lilly Endowment recognizes that faith-based organizations play a key role in providing disaster relief services in the United States. They also serve as important vehicles through which individuals and religious communities live out their faith and serve others by volunteering and giving funds and other resources to address the immediate needs of their neighbors.  

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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 2.7 million members in more than 8,300 worshiping communities across the 50 states and in the Caribbean. 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

About Lilly Endowment

Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based private foundation created in 1937 by J.K. Lilly, Sr. and his sons Eli and J.K. Jr. through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. Although the gifts of stock remain a financial bedrock of the Endowment, it is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. In keeping with the founders’ wishes, the Endowment supports the causes of community development, education and religion. The Endowment funds programs throughout the United States, especially in the field of religion, and maintains a special commitment to its founders’ hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana.

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