To: [log in to unmask]
Dear friends in Christ,
"It took fifty-six years to get it as we wanted it. It took four minutes
to take it away." With tear-filled eyes, Eldora Pederson described one
result of tornadoes that struck Granite Falls, Minnesota, on Tuesday
evening, July 25.
I just returned from North Dakota and Minnesota, where I've visited with
Lutheran Disaster Response staff members and disaster survivors. (Lutheran
Disaster Response is a cooperative ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America and The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. Lutheran Social
Service of Minnesota and Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota are
managing these LDR responses.)
Six parish nurses in Moorhead, Minnesota, reported on flash flooding that
spread in North Dakota and Minnesota on June 19th. Serving in eight ELCA
and LCMS congregations, they cited vivid examples of what they are finding:
more frustration, depression, anger; higher blood pressures; farm houses
intact but farm buildings and crops destroyed; stores with less business
and congregations with lower contributions; more physical and emotional
problems. One parish nurse added, "We are privileged to integrate our
spiritual and nursing skills as we reach out to others as part of LDR."
In Fargo, North Dakota, I met with five caseworkers. Farm families are
finding it difficult to pay for food, medicine, and insurance. Many,
especially the elderly, have not recovered from the 1997 floods, and are
perplexed with government forms and procedures. A major concern is refugee
and "new American" families - some forty-eight cases so far. LDR is
reaching out to a diverse ethnic community, including Kurdish, Bosnian,
Sudanese, and Somalian people. Many speak no English do not know where to
go for help.
We visited a Kurdish family, where a teen-age daughter served as
translator. The night before, their basement had raw sewage backup for the
fourth time since June. They cleaned until 1:00 a.m., and then got up
early to send the children off to the first day of school. The mother was
ill from mold and mildew, and the father and some children also had
symptoms. Through her tears, the mother said, "We left a war-torn country
four years ago, and came here with nothing. We have no family here, no
friends. And now we have lost everything again...and we are all alone."
I drove to Granite Falls, Minnesota, a town with a population of 3,083. In
July, tornadoes destroyed a four-block area, damaging over 300 houses and
leaving over 100 destroyed or to be demolished. Pastor Bruce Kuenzel,
Granite Falls Lutheran Church, took me on a tour. Outside the town limits,
a member's family farm was blown apart. In town we stood where the tornado
touched down. Most splintered trees and rubble was removed, and we saw
vacant lots (bare to the ground), holes in the ground (former basements,
now craters surrounded by red fencing), and a few new houses.
We ate with nine affected members. Eldora Pederson and her husband Omer
were at the table. Doug and Connie Peterson's farm was destroyed. "The
farm has been in our family for eighty-two years. I don't know if we have
the energy or resources to recover," Doug reflected. As each person
tearfully told the story of loss, they also reflected on the tremendous
outpouring of help. Food, volunteers, people with chain saws "just came
rolling in." Their response was "a real gift of grace," said Pastor
Kuenzel.
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. You can provide the gift of prayer for these and for many
others whose lives change completely in disaster-filled minutes. You can
provide the gift of volunteering, in situations where cleanup and
rebuilding are needed (as in North Carolina). You can provide the gift of
contributions, enabling the church to bring Gospel help and hope to people
who have experienced great loss because of a disaster (even those who have
lost everything).
To contribute:
ELCA DOMESTIC Disaster Response
P.O. Box # 71764
Chicago, Illinois 60694-1764.
Credit card gift line: 1-800-638-3522
Credit card gifts via the web: www.elca.org/disaster
LC-MS World Relief
P.O. Box 66861
St. Louis, MO 63166-9810
Credit card gift line: 1-888-930-4438
Thank you for your gifts of grace!
Yours in Christ,
Gil Furst
GILBERT B. FURST (written on Fri, Sep 1, 2000, 3:38 pm). Director for
ELCA DOMESTIC DISASTER RESPONSE (Division for Church in Society) and
LUTHERAN DISASTER RESPONSE (a cooperative ministry of the ELCA and LC-MS)
8765 W. Higgins Rd., Chicago 60631 PHONE: 773-380-2822 FAX: 773-380-2493
Please visit our website: www.elca.org/dcs/disaster
|