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Dear Christian Friends,
I think you will appreciate reading this note from Julie Aageson which
appeared on LutherLink yesterday. As you read her stirring words, please
keep her and all the people affected by the floods in your prayers.
In Christ,
Gil Furst
*** Original (but possibly edited) note follows ***
from "ELCA RESOURCE CENTERS"
651 (of 652) JULIE AAGESON Apr. 22, 1997 at 14:08 Eastern (2250 characters)
To my colleagues in the Resource Center network:
We are coping one hour at a time. The disaster is so immense that words
are not adequate. At the moment, we are trying to locate all our pastors,
all of whom had to flee from Grand Forks. Bishop Foss is in Grand Forks
this afternoon surveying some of the damage and trying to meet with people
in shelters. I spent yesterday afternoon with David Miller from "The
Lutheran" at Moorhead State University talking with people from Grand Forks
who were trying to connect with family and friends. It was good to be able
to post locations and telephone numbers for most of our pastors, chaplains,
hospital people. We also could share names of churches and communities
offering homes, food, clothing.
The crisis here in Fargo/Moorhead is waning--dikes are holding, the river
is very slowly dropping, and we are feeling that the worst is past. Oak
Grove Lutheran High School was lost last Saturday together with 20 homes
near their campus. The overland flood in SW Fargo has been slowed down
with "the mother of all dikes," an earthen/sandbag affair stretching for 7
or 8 miles. Our office is at the edge of the affected area and we are dry.
Grand Forks, pop. 60,000, is a ghost-town. It looks like a bombed WWII
city in war-torn Europe. Flooding continues, the fires smolder, raw sewage
is rampant--utter desolation. Now the smaller communities north to Canada
are evacuating.
Recovery will be long and difficult. Sixteen of the seventeen schools in
GF are destroyed. Sections of the university and medical school are under
threat. We think that six of our seven churches are flooded. The
retirement home/nursing home and the hospital are evacuated and flooded.
Please keep us all in your prayers. People are numb with shock. How do
you begin to rebuild an entire city? But these are resilient people who
will give it their best. The outpouring of support and care has been
overwhelming. God be with us all.
Julie Aageson
Julie Aageson
The Resource Center
Member*ASSOCIATION OF LUTHERAN RESOURCE CENTERS
Eastern North Dakota Synod of the ELCA, Fargo, ND
701-232-3381*FAX701-232-3180
*** End of original note ***
GILBERT B. FURST (written on Wed, Apr 23, 1997, at 10:20 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
