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LCMS World Relief is offering their website as a central point of information for updates
on LCMS ministries and church workers affected by Katrina. To see updates, visit
http://worldrelief.lcms.org
If you have any information from displaced church workers, congregation families, church
properties or other related news whether by email, phone, or personal contact
please share that news with us via email, at lcms.worldrelief@lcms.org
, so we can share the information with other concerned Lutherans.
The outpouring of love from the individuals and congregations throughout the
Synod for the victims of Hurricane Katrina has been overwhelming. Callers
are offering assistance in many forms, including housing, food and clothing.
To better provide information to those who are offering help to those who
need it, Dr. Lou Jander, Mission and Ministry Facilitator for Area D, will
serve as District Coordinator of Information Concerning Assistance for
Hurricane Katrina's Victims.
Please contact Lou if you have planned programs or activities to assist
these victims or, if you are in need of information about available
resources.
His email address is:
ljander@txdistlcms.org
He may be reached by phone at (832) 483-5577
The Texas District has forwarded a contribution from the District General Disaster Relief
Fund to LSSS for Lutheran Disaster Response.
LCMS World Relief has set up a web site so that you might get updates as
well as volunteer for assistance.
http://themercynetwork.org/
Simply click on the word "Volunteer" in the middle of the page and enter
your information, stating what you can do, whether it's to volunteer to go
into the area for cleanup (when called for) or provide other help for
refugees. You will receive information back from LCMS World Relief staff.
When we watched the news and saw the effects of Hurricane Katrina, it was
difficult to believe the death, devastation and destruction she brought to
the Gulf Coast. Whole parishes (counties) were missing, towns were wiped
off the face of the earth, and the sight of rising water in downtown New
Orleans gave you the feeling you were watching a horror movie and you knew
that it was not going to have a happy ending.
Many will ask why these things happen, but we need to ask how we can help.
Besides prayer, and that is always the first thing we need to do, here are a
few ways we can help:
1) The President and the Board of Directors of the Texas District encourage
all congregations in the Texas District to take up door offerings by or on
the Second Sunday in September. Send these offerings to the Treasurer of the
Texas District as restricted funds to be sent to the Treasurer of the
Southern District, which includes Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and the
Florida Panhandle, to be used as they see fit to aid the victims of
Hurricane Katrina. (Coordination will be made with the Southern District
prior to sending the funds to determine the most expedient way to make this
transfer.) Please check with your Thrivent representative for matching
funds.
2) You may send funds to Lutheran Social Services (LSS) who serves as the
response agency for Lutheran Disaster Response for Texas and Louisiana. LSS
is working closely with the Southern District LCMS and the Texas-Louisiana
Gulf Coast Synod of the ELCA to provide disaster relief. Please send funds
to:
Lutheran Disaster Response
P. O. Box 140767
Austin, TX 78714.
3) You may send funds directly to the Treasurer of the Southern District to
be used to aid the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Their address is P. O. Box
8396, New Orleans, LA 70182. However, please note their office is not open
at this time. It is uncertain when postal service will be restored.
Along with the needs of the general
population in the Southern District, LSS has some specific need due to the
hurricane. These are expressed by Dr. Kurt Senske. in the following
announcement:
Forty-five children, residents of Bethlehem Children's Center in East New
Orleans, were evacuated safely to Baton Rouge before Hurricane Katrina made
landfall on Monday. The children and staff are staying in the gymnasium of
the school at Trinity Lutheran Church.
"We thank God for Trinity Lutheran Church, which is once again offering a
safe haven for Bethlehem's children and staff," said Kurt Senske, chief
executive officer of Lutheran Social Services, which owns and operates
Bethlehem Children's Center. Trinity Lutheran Church provided refuge for the
children when Hurricane Ivan threatened the center last year.
Peace Lake Towers, an independent living community for low-income seniors
and disabled adults, is also affected. Manager Ron Cooper stressed to all of
the residents that state and local government officials had issued a
mandatory evacuation and urged residents to evacuate.
We have not yet been able to get on site, but based on news reports, we
anticipate significant damage to both Bethlehem Children's Center and Peace
Lake Towers.
Lutheran Social Services also serves as the response agency for Lutheran
Disaster Response for Texas and Louisiana. LSS is working closely with the
Southern District LCMS and the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod of the ELCA
to provide disaster relief.
If you would like to assist in the rebuilding efforts, please send
contributions to:
Katrina Disaster Response
P.O. Box 140767
Austin, TX 78714
or go online at www.lsss.org and
click on the link at the bottom of
the page. Please designate your gift as "To Rebuild LSS Ministries," "For
Lutheran Disaster Response" or "Where Needed Most."
We will provide additional information as it becomes available. Please pray
for the residents and staff of the centers as well as all those who have
been devastated by this disaster.
We ask that you be in touch with your local Thrivent representative
concerning gifts and Thrivent's matching process. Below is a message from
the Thrivent website. A link to the website is at the bottom of this
message.
Through the Individual Member Response, gifts members make to one of the
four eligible organizations will be supplemented $1 for every $2 given, up
to $300 per member (e.g., if a member gives $600 to a relief organization,
Thrivent Financial will provide that organization with an additional $300.)
A Thrivent Financial Hurricane Katrina Response Form must accompany the
member's gift.
All funds raised and contributed through the Individual Member Response will
be directed to four eligible recipients:
- Lutheran Disaster Response
- ELCA Domestic Disaster Response
- LCMS World Relief/Human Care
- WELS Committee on Relief.
These organizations will distribute the funds to those in need using their
established processes.
Thrivent Financial has pledged a total of $1 million for these efforts, to
supplement up to $2 million donated and raised by our members.
http://thrivent.com/fraternal/katrina.html
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