ELCA NEWS SERVICE
December 18, 2008
Lutheran Congregations Bring Christmas Cheer to Hurricane Survivors
08-206-SHA
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Hurricane Ike survivors lined up early
Dec. 13 to receive holiday gifts distributed at First Lutheran
Church, Galveston, Texas -- a congregation of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America.
Among the items given away: Christmas trees, decorations,
bicycles, children's board games, dolls, blankets, winter coats,
canned food and gift cards.
Church member Sandra Stewart, 63, said one man told her, "If
you had not done this, there would not be Christmas for my kids."
Immanuel Lutheran Church of Killeen, Texas, provided the
bulk of gifts, aided by $1,300 in support from Thrivent Financial
for Lutherans. Thrivent is a Minneapolis-based not-for-profit
financial services organization serving members of the ELCA and
other Lutheran church bodies.
"Our congregation has been collecting gifts all year long,"
said Jackie Clark, 53, of the Killeen congregation, 240 miles
northwest of Galveston.
Ike cut a deadly path across the upper Texas and southwest
Louisiana coasts in mid-September. At least 72 people died,
including 37 in Texas.
The eye of the storm smacked Galveston, a community of
57,000 residents. Winds whipped up to 110 mph; tidal waters
surged across the island. Seventy-five percent of the island's
buildings suffered structural damage -- a staggering $8.1 billion
in insured losses. Most property was either uninsured or
underinsured.
"For people who lost everything, this event made their
Christmas," said the Rev. Doug Guthier, pastor of the Galveston
congregation. "The people from the Killeen church brought an
amazing amount of quality stuff -- more than we ever imagined."
First Lutheran opened its doors to Lutherans in need at 10
a.m., then to the entire city at 10:30. Several of the 131 people
in line arrived two hours before the event.
More than a dozen children received bicycles donated by Lucy
Thomas, 63, Lord of Life Lutheran Church, Ames, Iowa. She
refurbished the bikes, then hauled them to Galveston a few weeks
ago.
"This was a way to do something directly for the people,"
she said.
Before Ike, Galveston generated $700 million a year in
tourism. Today, many businesses remain closed, families are
without homes and some neighborhoods are still piled with debris.
The U.S. economic crisis is also hampering recovery.
Recently the island's largest employer, University of Texas
Medical Branch, announced 3,800 layoffs.
The Killeen congregation hosted a Christmas outreach for the
past 12 years, usually at its own church. Clark said she'd become
discouraged by people who didn't need help but "had learned to
work the system."
So this year the church reached out to Galveston.
"I just wanted to relieve their burdens a bit," said Clark
who, three decades ago, received help from an agency at Christmas
for her young military family.
The theme of displacement runs through the biblical accounts
of Christmas, from Mary and Joseph's struggle for shelter to the
flight into Egypt to protect little Jesus.
"We see how God will see us through tough times," the
Galveston pastor said. "Christmas is about hope -- a message
people desperately need to hear in the aftermath of the storm."
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
http://www.elca.org/news
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