To: [log in to unmask]
Dear Christian friends,
"Mommy, do we have flood insurance?" asked Cindy Miller's twelve-year-old
daughter Sarah, who saw a FEMA spot on TV. "Of course not, dear," Cindy
answered. "We don't get floods here!" The next evening (July 28) the
Millers, who live two blocks from Spring Creek in Fort Collins, Colorado,
evacuated their home as flash flood waters turned that little creek into a
raging river. The flash flood killed five persons, destroyed 90 mobile
homes, and damaged another 1,000 houses and 150 businesses.
Yesterday, October 28, I visited Fort Collins with Pastor Gene Thiemann,
the local Lutheran Disaster Response coordinator, and Pastor Chet Evenson,
CEO of Lutheran Family Services of Colorado. We spoke with a number of
people whose houses had been flooded and who were helped by LDR volunteers
and cash grants. We visited Trinity Lutheran Church, which responded
immediately to the crisis, literally in its own back yard. We met with the
Aid Association for Lutherans and Lutheran Brotherhood local agents, who
have been integral members of the LDR coalition in the Ft. Collins area.
And we spent time with Cindy Miller and Kathy Lees, two deployed LFS staff
who suffered flood damages and loss in their homes.
In every conversation people expressed gratitude for both the spiritual and
tangible assistance received from the Lutheran family of faith...for
volunteers who helped with clean up and relief efforts, for funds provided
to meet necessary expenses and repairs, for the undergirding of prayers
offered and notes sent, for help from a church that cares.
Pastor Thiemann reported that many written and verbal thanks have poured in
to his office. One who received help wrote, "A huge thank you.... We
really appreciate it as each little bit helps." Another wrote, "It
certainly helped defray expenses and also helps to know someone cares. My
deepest thanks and appreciation." Still another said, "It is so uplifting
to know that our Lutheran Church assists families during a crisis!" One
woman, after receiving a supportive letter from LFS and a grant from LDR,
thought both about the help she received and a verse from Isaiah, "...and
when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you."
We intend to complete our formal disaster response in Fort Collins by
November 6. Thank you for all you have done for our Lutheran brothers and
sisters in Fort Collins (as well as in nearby Sterling, Atwood and
Weldona), and the wider communities in which they live. Thanks for your
continuing support of the ELCA Domestic Disaster Response general fund,
which allows a quick response to any disaster as soon as it occurs. And
thank you for living out your Christian faith and Lutheran theology, which
allow the church to ministry quickly to South Dakota farmers and Minnesota
townsfolk, to people in Ohio "hollers" and flooded North Dakota cities, to
survivors of Virgin Island hurricanes and Arkansas tornadoes, and to
twelve-year-old Colorado girls who ask prophetic questions of their
mothers.
May God give us the will to continue caring about those whose lives have
been touched by disasters, and the energy to continue a faithful and
committed response ministry.
In Christ,
Gil Furst
GILBERT B. FURST (written on Thu, Oct 30, 1997, at 1:20 am)
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
|