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To: [log in to unmask] FARGO, N.D. Today was the first day of school at Oak Grove Lutheran High School. Students in hundreds of schools across the country were returning to classes today, but here it was different. At this Lutheran residential high school in Fargo, students were returning for the first time since fleeing their flooded school last April. For days they had fought the rising waters with sandbags and dikes... and then the battle was lost. Two hundred eighty young people returned today with great spirit. They found the facilities almost back to normal. Yes, the gym floor is still being replaced, and the library is still filled with boxes of books that were saved. Many many books were lost, and the buildings themselves are back to normal today at great expense. One major challenge remains at Oak Grove Lutheran School. Many of the returning students come from families who have lost their own homes, and face extraordinary costs of repairs and rebuilding. For some, money for tuition will not be there this year. But the students are in school, and that is an act of faith. ELCA Domestic Disaster Response has made an emergency grant to help make sure students are able to return, and that will last about one month. Additional gifts have made funds available for the school's tuition scholarship fund. To help assure that one student can stay in school will cost $390 for one month. Individuals or congregations who can provide scholarship assistance - for any period of time - can do so through ELCA Domestic Disaster Response, by marking their gift "Student Help". Every gift will be acknowledged by the school. Gifts may be sent to: ELCA Domestic Disaster Response/ PO Box 71764/Chicago/ IL 60654-1764. LEON PHILLIPS 9:43 pm Mon, Aug 25, 1997 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