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Dear friends in Christ,
Here is a report from Leon Phillips, director of ELCA Domestic Disaster
Response, that I would like to share with you.
*** Original (but possibly edited) note follows ***
1544 (of 1544) LEON PHILLIPS June 03, 1998 at 18:02 Eastern (2242
characters)
Today I walked through blocks of destroyed homes in the small town of
Lyons, in Berks County, Pennsylvania. It was one of those rare disasters I
could drive to. People were cleaning their homes and yards, and we talked.
Others were just standing and looking, at homes that would not be repaired.
As I met with the pastors and Bishop Strobel, I thought of my colleague,
Gil Furst, on his way to a just about totally destroyed Spencer, South
Dakota. When I returned, there was an email from Maryland, telling me the
local Lutheran Disaster Response there, organized for a flood last year,
was gearing up to respond again.
The past weekend unleashed violent and destructive tornadoes both in the
Upper Midwest and in the Northeast. We are still gathering information from
many of these sites. What is so very different this Spring than any Spring
I can recall is not so much the number of tornadoes, but the many that have
left heavy devastation and violent destruction. We find ourselves
responding not to the normal tornadoes of Springtime, but to major
disasters, even catastrophes. St. Peter, Minnesota. Kissimmee and
Sanford, Floria. Birmingham, Alabama. Spencer, South Dakota. These are
towns that have suffered widespread devastation. And in my own area, I
cannot recall a time when a tornado of such severity struck and damaged
block after block of a town.
ELCA Domestic Disaster Response and Lutheran Disaster Response has expended
well over $100,000 in emergency tornado response during these past weeks.
We have no idea yet what the final cost will be, or even what all the needs
will be emerging from this past weekend of destruction. Tomorrow I will try
to put together a listing of where LDR has responded this year. For the
moment, I am stunned by what these major storms have left behind.
To contribute: ELCA Domestic Disaster Response
PO Box 71764
Chicago, IL 60694
LEON PHILLIPS 5:45 pm Wed, Jun 3, 1998
Director, ELCA Domestic Disaster Response( Division for Church in Society),
Lutheran Disaster Response ( a cooperative ministry of ELCA and LCMS)
Phone: 610-776-8390 FAX: 610-776-8392
e-mail:[log in to unmask] WEBSITE http://www.elca.org/dcs/disaster
*** End of original note ***
GILBERT B. FURST (written on Fri, Jun 5, 1998, at 12:22 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
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