Dear friends in Christ,

I just spent three days in northern Minnesota. In June over ten inches of overnight rain caused record flooding on the Roseau River. Up to 95 percent of Roseau city was engulfed after its dike broke.  In this small community of 2,755 residents, 527 families have received FEMA Individual and Family Grants.  A housing shortage has created a "Femaville" on the edge of town, eighty mobile homes providing emergency housing for families displaced by the floods.  Seven out of ten churches in town suffered flood damage.  Only one pastor did not have either home or church affected.  In nearby Warroad, 90 percent of the houses had water damage.  And Mahnomen County, with only 16 percent of the households affected, is the most impoverished county in the state.

Lutheran Disaster Response (a cooperative ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod) has been responding to this flood from the very beginning.  Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota (Mark Peterson, President) is managing the LDR response.  Melanie Josephson serves as LDR-MN disaster coordinator.

Melanie and I joined a Roseau gathering to express appreciation to local people who helped coordinate initial cleanup volunteers.  Since July Pastor Cheryl Berg has served as the LDR volunteer coordinator.  Pastor Berg coordinated over 800 volunteers that served over 300 homes.  In addition to Lutherans volunteers, she coordinated Methodist, Baptist, Mennonite, and Jewish individuals and teams.  Now, as the disaster moves into recovery, a local organization - "North Border Interfaith" - is forming, and Pastor Berg is moving to another ministry setting.  She thanked the local volunteers, observing, "In this disaster people pray for help and hope.  You are an answer to those prayers.  So many people came with big hearts to help.   We are so grateful for those who gave their time and energy.  It has been a life-changing experience for me to work with you.  It has been a privilege to serve with you."

The local Roman Catholic priest told me, "People are just now realizing the magnitude of their loss. The elderly are taking it the hardest."  Joyce Holst, whose house next to the broken dike was destroyed, expressed her personal thanks to LDR and the many volunteers to helped her and her husband.  Gracia Nelson, the county disaster coordinator said, "We need prayers right now.  There is a bad mold problem.  We're seeing the rise of emotional issues.  People are now facing cold weather, and the holidays are coming."

We visited a number of survivors in their homes.  Our first stop was Bob and Helen Bergland.  Bob described how the water rose around their house.  When they evacuated, it was already three feet deep and moving at 8 miles per hour.  The waters smashed through an outside wall of their furnished basement, knocking out support beams and caused the main floor to sag.  The water completely flooded their basement and rose two inches into their main floor.  "There were tons of mud and gravel in our basement, and the water was extraordinarily polluted."  Bob could not stop expressing his heart-felt appreciation for the volunteers who "saved our home."  He estimated the volunteers (Baptists, Lutherans, Mennonites, and others) carried 3,000 five-gallon bucket loads of mud and debris out of the basement.  "There are some things more valuable than money can buy.  Those volunteers were a real blessing.  There is no way we could have done this ourselves."  It took three months for their h!
ouse to dry out, and now rebuilding is taking place.

Sarah Anderson and her four children live in a FEMA trailer.  Their basement was totally flooded, and part of their main floor.  "The attitude of the volunteers was so positive," she said.  "They helped us get through those terrible initial days."  She showed me electrical wiring in the walls.  When the wallboard was pulled away, they discovered the wiring was below city code.  In addition to all the flood damage, wiring will need to be replaced.  "These are difficult times, but we are taking it one day at a time."

We had lunch with eight city officials and clergy leaders.  Mayor Jeff Pelowski expressed thanks for the church's response to human need.  "We are working together to identify those who have slipped through the cracks."  Chief of Police Ward Anderson noted that mold is becoming a real problem.  And he expressed concern over rising mental health issues in the community, the depression that is setting in.

Melanie, Cheryl, and I joined Tom Davis (Church World Service Disaster Response and Recovery Liaison) to meet with community leaders in Mahnomen, the most impoverished county in Minnesota. The flood affected a disproportionate number of people 65 years and older.  The county is entirely within the White Eagle reservation, with 10 percent of the property privately owned. The population of the county is about 25 percent Native American. We met with the "Mahnomen-Norman Interfaith Coalition," which is in its early stages of formation.  It is anticipated the unmet needs in this area will exceed $200,000.  The challenges are high: many needs are unheard; many have been denied SBA loans; there is a job shortage, and housing is not available.  LDR is working with Church World Service to develop a strong recovery group here, and will provide support to its efforts.

As we drove through the Roseau "Femaville," the sky was gray, snow flurries were in the air, and the temperature was in the low 20s.  Children we playing on a dirt street.  It is difficult to imagine how this flood has impacted people's lives.  Instead of preparing for Halloween parties and anticipating Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations and gifts, the focus is on cleaning and repairing flood-damaged houses and discarding water-damaged personal possessions, and facing an uncertain future.

This area of northwest Minnesota, six hours from Minneapolis/St. Paul and near the Canadian border, often feels forgotten.  But thanks to your prayers, your volunteering, your generous contributions, Lutheran Disaster Response has been doing ministry from the first days of the flood and will be present for the long haul.  In addition to repairing houses, emotional and spiritual needs of the community are being addressed.  Counseling is available, clergy care is provided, and "Camp Noah" is planned for the children.  As the long journey to recovery stretches into the future, your support will continue to answer prayers, assuring people they are not forgotten, they are not alone, and that God's love will continue to be felt as God's people bring help and hope.

Skilled volunteers are needed to help repair and rebuild.  To help, please call 218-463-3373.

Send your contributions to:

ELCA DOMESTIC Disaster Response - "Northern Minnesota Floods"
PO 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 and Human Care -"Northern Minnesota Floods"
P.O. Box 66861
St. Louis, MO 63166-9810

Credit card gift line: 1-888-930-4438

Yours in Christ,
Gil Furst

GILBERT B. FURST (written on Tue, Oct 29, 2002, at  12:41 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 websites:  www.ldr.org      www.elca.org/dcs/disaster