Dear friends in Christ,

"Words cannot express our appreciation for the time you spent at Roseau.
Thanks for taking the time to share this part of your lives." So wrote Bob
and Kathy Weichman, Mennonite Disaster Service project directors to the
volunteers from Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Schaumburg, who spent a week
in northern Minnesota to help repair houses and restore lives.

In June 2002 Lutheran Disaster Response, a cooperative ministry of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and The Lutheran Church-Missouri
Synod, responded to severe flooding in northern Minnesota that flooded 95
percent of the city of Roseau.  Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota (Mark
Peterson, President) has managed the LDR response, with Melanie Josephson
serving as LDR-MN disaster coordinator.  LDR has worked with Bishop Rolf
Wangberg (Northwestern Minnesota Synod, ELCA) and President David Bode
(Minnesota North District, LCMS) to assess needs and rally local support and
assistance.

Melanie and I traveled last month to Roseau to meet with local leaders,
homeowners, and volunteers, to see how the recovery is progressing after one
year.  A woman I met last year, whose house next the river was destroyed, was
preparing to move into her new home, "out of town, on a hill."  She was
elated that, after 14 months, this part of her life was returning to a "new
normal."

The Rev. Patrick Krause, pastor of the First Baptist Church and president of
the North Border Interfaith Coalition (NBIC) in Roseau, said that even after
a year of recovery work, people are still coming forward with new needs about
every other week.  House repairs continue.  But this year the city needed to
rip out streets that were buckled by last year's flood waters, so the town is
in disorder again.

LDR will be completing its part of the work at the end of this month.  The
total LDR cost for this response was $128,870.  The Lutheran Church-Missouri
Synod World Relief and Human Care contributed $44,624 towards this
inter-Lutheran response; the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Domestic
Disaster Response contributed $84,246.  Both LCMS and ELCA spent more in
Roseau than they received, but were able to cover the necessary expenses
because of your undesignated gifts.

This year has brought unprecedented amounts of disasters.  Over 400
tornadoes and 2,000 storms brought havoc and devastation to the mid and lower
United States.  Most severely affected were Kansas, Missouri, and Tennessee.
Additionally, resulting spring and summer floods affected Alabama, Arkansas,
Illinois, and Ohio.  In some instances, communities that had begun cleanup
efforts were affected by subsequent days of additional tornadoes or storms.

Since January 2003 the Lutheran Disaster Response (a cooperative ministry of
the ELCA and The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod) has been responding to:

1) typhoon in Guam, (January)
2) ice storms and floods in south central Ohio  (February)
3) tornadoes in Camilla, Georgia (March)
4) tornadoes in Miami-Dade County, Florida (March)
5) floods in Puerto Rico (April)
6) tornadoes in Kansas  (May)
7) tornadoes in Missouri (May)
8) tornadoes in Tennessee (May)
9) tornadoes in Nebraska (May)
10) tornadoes/storms in Illinois (May)
11) poisoning in Maine (May) (ELCA)
12) floods in West Virginia (June)
13) fires in Arizona (July)
14) floods in northeast Ohio (July)
15) Hurricane Claudette, Texas (July)

For many of these new disasters no income was received for the response.
Yet the church could respond because so many of you have provided
undesignated support, funds "to be used where they are most needed."  I want
to thank you for this support.  It enables LDR to respond immediately when
new needs arise. It enables LDR to continue responses when income designated
for specific disasters falls short of what is needed.

Please send your contributions to:

ELCA DOMESTIC Disaster Response
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
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 09/08/03, at  17:00 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: 773-380-2719 FAX: 773-380-2493
Please visit our websites:      www.ldr.org    www.elca.org/dcs/disaster