To: [log in to unmask]

Dear friends in Christ,

"I knew we were in trouble when I opened the basement door and saw the wet
vac floating in the water at the top of the steps."  Steve Miller (East
Grand Forks, MN) told us his experience as we entered his basement this
week, now finally dried out and ready for rewiring and new dry wall.  He
and his wife Ruann were out of their house for five weeks because of the
spring floods.  For several days they and their daughters (a three-year-old
and six-week-old twins) had to live in their van.  Now they are eager to
get on with repairing and rebuilding their basement rooms.  Lutheran
Disaster Response has been helping the Millers, and will continue to lend
hands-on assistance in the coming months.

Donna Culbreath had just completed radiation treatment when her house
flooded.  The water came up to within one inch below her first floor.  As
she stood in her back yard, she showed us a pile water-soaked toys and
mementos, including toys from her daughter's childhood as well as items her
grandmother had given her.  She was getting ready to take them out to the
curb for trash collection.  Donna now lives in a small mobile home in the
back yard until her house can be made livable again.  Although her basement
has been cleaned and cleared, a strong smell of mold is in the air.  In the
midst of all this she says, "I still see the glass and half full.  Lutheran
volunteers have been here, helping to do the things I cannot do myself."
Lutheran Disaster Response has been helping in the cleanup, and has
promised to continue working with her over the long run.

Dale and Jean Peercy, LDR project managers, have been working in Watertown,
South Dakota, with volunteers from South Dakota and Pennsylvania, New
Jersey and California, Iowa and Ohio, to begin to clean out and repair
homes.  Many of the homeowners are elderly, and unable to comprehend the
damage and devastation of their houses.  In the greater Watertown area,
some sixty-six houses remain in need of significant repair.  LDR will
continue to be a present help in this small town.

These past several days I have been in Minnesota, and North and South
Dakota, as Lutheran Disaster Response moves with vigor into the recovery
and rebuilding stage of disaster response.  In North Dakota and Minnesota
the recovery staff welcomed Myron Oen, who arrived Tuesday night from
Sitka, Alaska.  Myron and his wife Marilyn (after some discussion and much
prayer) made a commitment to leave Alaska and work for LDR over the next
year.  Myron will serve as the construction project manager in Grand
Forks/East Grand Forks (and up to the Canadian border), and Marilyn will
manage a database of assessment needs.  Gerry Beutler has also come on
board this week, and will serve as ND and MN construction project manager
for small town and rural areas below Grand Forks/East Grand Forks to the
border.

Our brothers and sisters in the upper Midwest know they have problems and a
difficult recovery ahead.  But they have hope and can look forward, because
they also know they are surrounded by the love of the whole church.  We,
who celebrate the new life of the resurrection, bring new life to those in
need by our response of Gospel love.  How can you help?

Your prayers are most important.  I believe the power of prayer is stronger
than the power of the floodwaters.

Your financial support is vital, so that Lutheran Disaster Response can
sustain its response here in the upper Midwest over the next year as well
as be present when new disasters strike elsewhere in our country.
Contributions should be sent to:

    ELCA Domestic Disaster Response
    PO Box 71764
    Chicago, IL  6069-1764

Volunteers are needed now, right now, in all three states.  Housing is
available, and jobs are in abundance.  While volunteers with a variety of
skill levels are important, especially needed are persons with special
skills, such as plumbers, electricians, carpenters, sheet metal workers,
furnace installers, and drywall hangers.

    To volunteer in Minnesota and North Dakota call 1-800-987-0061.
    To volunteer in South Dakota call Rose Kormann at 1-800-568-2401.

May God help us to continue our presence of love, relief, and recovery with
those who stand in need.  May we continue to demonstrate to others that God
loves them and God's people care.

In Christ,
Gil Furst

GILBERT B. FURST (written on Thu, Jul 31, 1997, at 11:44 pm)
Associate Director, ELCA Domestic Disaster Response
Internet address: [log in to unmask]
For more information, click on our web site:  www.elca.org/dcs/disaster