Dear friends in Christ,
The year 2003 was a year of superlatives: worst, largest, most intensive, highest, and most widespread. It was a year of unusually intensive and deadly disasters, affecting large numbers of vulnerable people from coast to coast. Many disasters attracted media attention because they were "sensational" while others were largely ignored. While the world wrote the headlines, the church completed the story. Lutheran Disaster Response, a cooperative ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, has been on hand for those suffering from these disasters, bringing help and hope in Jesus' name.
During 2003 the ELCA Domestic Disaster Response and Lutheran Disaster Response responded to nineteen new disasters:
* ice storms and floods in south central Ohio (February)
* tornadoes in Camilla, Georgia (March)
* tornadoes in Miami-Dade County, Florida (March)
* floods in Puerto Rico (April)
* poisoning in New Sweden, Maine (May) - ELCA
* tornadoes in Kansas (May)
* tornadoes in Mississippi (May)
* tornadoes in Missouri (May)
* tornadoes in Tennessee (May)
* tornadoes/storms in Illinois (May)
* tornadoes in Nebraska (June)
* floods in southern West Virginia (June)
* fires in Arizona (July)
* floods in northeast Ohio (July)
* Hurricane Claudette in Texas (July)
* fires in Montana (September)
* Hurricane Fabian in Bermuda (September) - ELCA
* fires in southern California (October)
* Hurricane Isabel in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, New York
In addition, the year began with major relief operations continuing in Minnesota, Colorado, Arizona, Texas, and the September 11, 2001 terrorist responses in New York, New Jersey, and Washington D.C.
I am in the process of completing the Annual Report, which will provide additional information about domestic disaster response this past year (as well as financial information). I will let you know when that report is posted on the Internet as a PDF file.
As always, on behalf of thousands of disaster survivors across the county, I want to thank you for your prayers, your contributions, and your volunteering. You continue to be the body of Christ reaching out in love to others in their times of need.
In Christ,
Gil Furst
Gilbert B. Furst (Written on 01/21/04, at 2:40 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
Please visit our websites: www.ldr.org and www.elca.org/dcs/disaster
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