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Dear friends in Christ,
A few days ago I received an inspiring report from Rose Korman, our
Lutheran Disaster Response coordinator in South Dakota, who told me about a
recent week-long summer camp held at Christ Lutheran Church, Salem. Christ
Church's sister congregation and neighboring community (St. Matthew
Lutheran Church, in Spencer) were destroyed by a tornado on May 30. Rose
told me that thirty-three children attended "Camp Noah," using a disaster
curriculum developed by LSS-Minnesota and used last year by LDR throughout
Minnesota with children affected by the floods.
Members of both congregations helped with buying, preparing, serving, and
cleaning up. "They were absolutely marvelous," Rose states. "Each family
was given a quilt at the close of the camp. The quilts were donated for
the survivors of the Spencer tornado, and the cost of the entire camp was
underwritten by donations." Three of the camp counselors will be juniors
at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota, which was hit by a
tornado in March.
Counselors from Lutheran Social Services-South Dakota, which is managing
our LDR response to disasters in this state, are doing follow-up ministry
with some of the families that were involved.
All three Sioux Falls TV stations featured Camp Noah, and for three days it
was featured on the 6 and 10 p.m. news. One station even showed live
coverage on their morning show. The newspaper, "Argus Leader," in an
article on the camp, stated that Camp Noah was the best attended children's
event held since the tornado...and there have been many.
"Camp Noah" is another example of the church reaching out in creative ways
to the needs of people affected by disasters. It shows the kind of
cooperation and spirit that has developed in the states affected by last
year's blizzards and floods.
LDR is currently involved in many disasters across the country. This
update is one brief glimpse on how our church is continuing its ministry to
survivors of a devastating spring tornado, in this instance to the children
and their families.
Please hold in your hearts and prayers the many people-young and old-who
continue on the long road back to a fully recovered life. And also include
in those prayers the many persons who are serving as volunteers, workers,
and Lutheran Disaster Response staff, as they extend the hand of Christian
hope to others.
In Christ,
Gil Furst
GILBERT B. FURST (written on Tue, Jul 28, 1998, at 11:09 pm)
Director, ELCA Domestic Disaster Response (Division for Church in Society),
Lutheran Disaster Response (A cooperative ministry of the ELCA and LCMS)
8765 W. Higgins Rd., Chicago 60631 PHONE: 773-380-2822 FAX: 773-380-2493
Visit our website: www.elca.org/dcs/disaster
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