Dear friends in Christ,

Yesterday I shared a "seventeen month" update from John Scibilia, LDR-New York coordinator.  Today I am sending you the "seventeen month" update from Jack DiMatteo, the Lutheran Disaster Response coordinator in New Jersey.  I think you will learn from Jack's update the situation in which the church continues to provide disaster response ministries in New Jersey.

Yours in Christ,
Gil Furst

<<<<<<<<<<<<< Jack's message >>>>>>>>>>>

I just spent six hours at the Unmet Needs Table on the "Jersey side" of 9/11.  The number of cases has begun to proliferate, not settle down.  Major agency caseworkers from the Salvation Army, Catholic Charities, UMCOR, El Centro, etc. are bringing cases forward.  In most circumstances, these agencies have exhausted (capped out on) dollar amounts that they are able to distribute to each individual/family on a case-by-case basis.

For most "clients" whose cases are discussed at the Unmet Needs table, financial resources are exhausted from Disaster Unemployment Assistance; or FEMA denied them funds from the Mortgage and Rental Assistance program because of "technicalities"; or, for several months, some FEMA telephone operators were incorrectly informing NJ residents (who worked in or near the Ground Zero district) that they did not qualify for FEMA MRA funding because they lived on "the wrong side of the river"; or, the wealthier Wall Street unemployed clients of NJ  (who previously lived on savings, exhausted credit cards, and took a "rugged individualism" approach since 9/11) are  now discovering that the cupboards are bare,  that there is no more money left in savings, that federal/state disaster relief funding is ended...and there are still no employment offers for the near future.  Now...they seek financial relief.

The rippling effects continue:  Significant numbers of airport personnel at Newark International Airport were laid off because "business just isn't the same after 9/11"; The NJ Food Bank is reporting a near 50% increase in demand for food; Last summer, we experienced a drought with severe heat throughout the period...only to be rewarded by "the blizzard" of February and near record-low temperatures.

A few days ago, there was a gasoline explosion on a tanker floating in a NJ waterway.  For the first minutes/hours, NJ residents stared in fear...it was just too much like the horror that gripped them on 9/11.  Those same people watched flames soar to the sky, and they were convinced that the tanker explosion was another act of terrorism.  Project Phoenix (a Mental Health Association in NJ) reported that their switchboards began to light up...with demands for an immediate post-traumatic stress counseling intervention.

One NJ "survivor" of the World Trade Center disaster (who ran away from Ground Zero as the first tower crumbled) now reports serious physical injuries sustained in the tragedy:  He has permanent lung damage from the ash, asbestos, and harmful vapors that attacked his lungs on that fateful day in September.  He also has glass fragments in his eye, causing extreme discomfort.  Doctors are afraid to operate on that eye for fear that this man will most certainly lose sight as a side-effect of the surgery, which is intended to remove the glass fragments.  A few months ago, this man was chronically depressed, could not get out of bed, and told one case worker, "I'd have been better off had I died on September 11, than to go through this hell."  Thanks to heartfelt interventions from Lutheran Disaster Response of NJ, qualified trauma counselors, and dedicated folks at the "unmet needs table" this man is now beginning to find hope in God.  He is discovering that love, faith, and hop!
e come in the form of so many caring people (who are sent by God) to come to his aid and to bring him a reason to live again.

Lutheran Disaster Response of New Jersey now has a caring network of fifteen (15) behavioral health care agencies with which it partners to address those suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome.  Among those, Lutheran Social Ministries of NJ has taken a leading role in offering grief support groups (facilitated at NJ Lutheran churches, and offered for the general public) throughout the state for those who lost loved ones on 9/11.

We at LDR-NJ have also committed major efforts to address the growing economic fiasco in NJ (caused by 9/11).  It is estimated that 20,000 NJ residents are still out of work BECAUSE OF 9/11.  Thanks to generous grant funding from the national Lutheran Disaster Response office in Chicago, LDR-NJ is truly a key response organization at the "Unmet Needs" roundtable.  In addition, LDR-NJ has partnered with 128 individuals/agencies which now make up the NJ VOAD network, not to mention LDR-NJ's representation on the Bd. of Trustees of the New Jersey Interfaith Partnership for Disaster Recovery.

Our LDR-NJ disaster preparedness/response network is alive and growing.  Currently seventy (70) NJ Lutheran congregations have received formal training from LDR-NJ on how to create a local preparedness/response plan involving congregation volunteers who can work with trained "first responders" in the event of another disaster.  LDR-NJ now has three major Disaster Response Regions, each consisting of seven (7) NJ counties.  Each one of these regions receives supervision from a trained volunteer Lutheran Disaster Response Regional Facilitator as well as guidance from the statewide Director.

All of these things:  the interventions, the economic assistance, the counseling services, the supportive networks, and the preparedness structures have been accomplished by the grace of God, by dedicated people serving in that grace, and from generous LDR funding given from our national LDR office. (Without such funding...and prayers...and God's Spirit, we would be paralyzed in fear and helplessness).

Times are rough for New Jersey residents...and anxiety builds as our nation seems braced for war... the thought of potential terroristic activity looms larger for us.  Not long ago, major NJ post offices were victimized by letters/packages laced with the deadly anthrax powder...and serious "precautions" are still in effect at our NJ postal offices.  Just last week, postal workers at the Sparta, NJ post office were seen wearing masks and rubber gloves while sorting out the "incoming " mail.  Would they have been donned in that apparel eighteen months ago, before the WTC and anthrax activities affected their world?  Those postal workers who are Moms and Dads have to leave for work each day, with children begging them to take other, "less dangerous" jobs.  Unfortunately, "less dangerous" jobs are not available as the unemployment rate continues to be higher in NJ than that of the "national average".

We at LDR-NJ 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...in Christ's name!

Thanks from New Jersey...keep praying for us!

Jack DiMatteo LDR-NJ Coordinator


GILBERT B. FURST (written on Fri, February 28, 2003, at 11:10 am) 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: 773-380-2719 FAX: 773-380-2493
Please visit our websites: www.LDR.org and www.elca.org/dcs/disaster