|
|
|
How to Help Survivors of the Gulf Coast Hurricanes
Words of hope and ways to help from Pr. Gary
Erickson, chair of the Northern Illinois Synod Lutheran Disaster
Response Task Force and others...
I am contacting you on behalf of
Christus Victor Lutheran Disaster Response about the critical
need for food and supplies to operate the Distribution Center.
The semi-trailer trucks have stopped arriving and the receipt of
supplies has reduced to a trickle. We are experiencing daily
shortages at the Distribution Center. Our volunteer workers are
processing 150 to 200 families a day, six days a week. With the
magnificent outpouring of donations from across America,
Christus Victor Lutheran Disaster Response has been able to help
close to one thousand families a week. We have been told to
anticipate the demand for food and supplies from the
Distribution
Center to continue for several years.
Over 36,000 families, more than 25% of the Mississippi Coast's
population, live in FEMA trailers. Ten thousand of the trailers
are in Jackson County, where Christus Victor is located. As of
a month ago, another third of our coast residents remain off the
coast, as there is no place for them to live. Economic activity
has stagnated, tax revenues are unpredictable, and unemployment
is high. The recovery on the Mississippi gulf coast is going to
take a long, long time.
To maintain the Distribution Center, Christus Victor Lutheran
Disaster Response needs fifty-two churches to commit to sending
one semi-trailer full of food and supplies during the next
twelve months (one semi for each week). You have volunteered
with us and know what it takes to operate the Distribution
Center! Can your church be one of those able to help us with
this project?
We don't presume to tell you how to accomplish such a Herculean
task. We do know it can be done, because one small bible church
sent Christus Victor seven semi-trailer trucks over a four month
period.
Please consider our call for help. Maybe one semi per year for
a few years would be a great community project. Study the
"Supply, Hygiene and Food Items Needs" on our website (www.christusvictordisasterresponse.org/current-needs.html)
and then call me or email me your response. I am available on
my cell phone 24 hours a day, seven days a week to discuss this
project with you.
In His service,
Bob Montgomery, Volunteer
Distribution/Food Service Coordinator
Christus Victor Lutheran Church
Katrina Disaster Relief
2755 Bienville Boulevard
Ocean Springs. MS 39564
cell: 228-860-7266
bbmonty@mindspring.com
As additional information concerning the appeal for food and
supplies, I just want you to understand that Christus Victor is
capable of buying the supplies here. We have a special
arrangement with a local grocer, not a national chain, to buy at
wholesale plus 5%. Monetary donations are great, however, the
contents of a 53' semi are 24-26 pallets and the retail value of
the shipment would be between eighty and one hundred thousand
dollars. Shipping cost for driver and fuel round trip could be
as much as three thousand dollars or more, about 3% of the cargo
value, which is a reasonable cost. So, you can see that an
actual community wide annual supplies drive may be more
successful than trying to raise that much cash. I would suggest
a food and cash drive with the understanding that some of the
money would be used to pay for the shipping.
Some groups split the cargo into three shipments, rent a Ryder
truck, find a church member who wants to make the trip and bring
the supplies down eight pallets at a time over a couple of
weeks. We can arrange a bed for the driver for a night or two
and maybe provide a tour of the coast so he/she can see our
actual conditions here.
You should not be surprised if someone in your group knows the
answers to your questions. Check with your local freight
carriers and see if any would haul it cheaply. Sometimes the
local teamsters union will haul for nothing for the publicity.
Also, it should not be hard to get a semi trailer donated for
your use along with pallets and large cardboard boxes to pack
the goods into as they are collected. Involve other churches
and nonprofits such as Rotary, Lions, Elks, Masons, etc in the
food drive. Possibly also get schools and scouts to help. This
is a once a year community project so just do it up big.
Understand that the Christus Victor Distribution Center serves
two of the three counties on the Mississippi coast (Jackson and
Harrison). The operation costs about eight to ten thousand
dollars per day in donated food and supplies. All workers are
volunteers and there are no salaries nor any admin fees of any
kind. One hundred percent of all donations goes directly to the
families in need. We currently support nearly one thousand
families which is over one percent of the entire coast
population. The Distribution Center not only helps those who
cannot help themselves but also acts as a carrot to bring in and
identify those that truly need help. The need for food is a
symptom, not the problem. Through the interview process and
casework managers we are able to assess each families unmet
needs and help them get their life back on track. The case work
is an integral part of the operation to insure that we are not
enabling families to remain dependent upon our services. Thus,
each week families drop off the need for our supplies.
Thousands of families are still off the coast waiting for Fema
trailers. As they return some inevitably find they need to come
to the Distribution Center for help.
Christus Victor had initially thought the Distribution Center
would be needed until this summer. Then as our client base
expanded we projected our need would continue through the end of
the year. However, this past week Lutheran Disaster Response
advised us that we should plan for the need to continue for the
next two to three years. You can see why we have started this
project to develop a steady source of supplies over the next
year. If this is successful, you can be sure that Christus
Victor will be contacting you before the year is over to do a
semi again.
Truly, it is unbelievable what we are going to accomplish this
year. God has been with us from the start and has guided us
every step of the way. Our organization and successes even
overwhelm us. We really have no idea how we got to where we are
today. All we did was say, "Yes, we can do that," at every
step, and God replied, "Good, now pay attention to what I have
in mind next." What a journey!
We have a photo CD and some DVDs that you might find helpful in
promoting your food drive. Just let me know.
I hope I have been of help to you because I want you to be a
help to us.
In His service,
Bob Montgomery, Volunteer
Distribution/Food Service Coordinator
Christus Victor Lutheran Church
Katrina Disaster Relief
2755 Bienville Boulevard
Ocean Springs. MS 39564
cell: 228-860-7266
February 3, 2006
Greetings Sisters and Brothers in
Christ,
Hurricane Katrina revealed the profound
disparity that continues to exist in our country between the
advantaged and the disadvantaged. Tens of thousands of persons were
displaced from their homes, lost their jobs, and lost all of their
earthly possessions as a result of the hurricane. Many illusions
about poverty and race were dissolved.
These hurricanes have touched all of
God's children. As Christians, we are called to act on our beliefs
and to strive for justice and peace in all of God's creation. We are
called as the body of Christ to a
ministry of healing, justice and reconciliation - a ministry modeled
after Jesus' challenging of those in positions of power and
authority and His standing in solidarity with the poor, the
marginalized and the
voiceless.
Rev. John Heinemier from Resurrection
Lutheran in Roxbury, Massachusetts: "One of the more effective
instruments for seeking justice and peace in the community is
faith-based (congregation-based) organizing. I define faith-based
organizing as the intentional and disciplined putting of the diverse
peoples of a city in relationship across all racial, economic,
denominational and neighborhood lines for
the purpose of making that city 'work better' for the good of all."
I would like to share several ways that
Lutheran Disaster Response is responding to this call in the wake of
these disasters:
1. Lutheran Disaster Response has
partnered with two such organizing agencies:
The Interfaith Education Fund (IEF) is a
researching and training organization providing support to the
Southwest-Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) organizations, a
broad-based group comprised of
congregations, schools and community members. IEF created the
Alliance Schools Initiative to improve the educational opportunities
and academic success of low- to moderate-income students in the
Southwest. The focus of the initiative is to develop leadership
through the building of collaborative relationships between public
schools and their communities. Their goals include restructuring
public education, building community relationships, and
strengthening families by developing the capacity of ordinary people
to play important roles in the public lives of their communities. In
regards to disaster response, many of these communities are faced
with the issue of evacuees who have moved into their community, and
they are utilizing their vast network to focus on these concerns.
LDR has also invested in the work of
PICO (People Improving Communities through Organizing). PICO clergy
and leaders from Louisiana have developed "Covenant to Rebuild
Louisiana," designed to address the concerns and hopes of families
who have lost their homes as well as the needs of communities that
are sheltering evacuees. Over the coming years, their goal is to
enable families and congregations from New Orleans to project the
vision for what education, housing, job training, economic
development policy, health care and other critical systems look like
in a rebuilt city and how to benefit from the billions of dollars
that will be invested in the region.
2. As director of the ELCA Domestic
Disaster Response, I sit on a special commission established by the
National Council of Churches, striving for the greatest degree of
coherence in rebuilding the Gulf
Coast communities and in addressing the human inequities which
exacerbated a natural disaster into a wholesale calamity. For more
information on this special commission, visit
http://www.ncccusa.org/news/060201SpecCom.html.
3. Lutheran Disaster Response is also
partnering with the ELCA Domestic Hunger Grants program. As the
various ELCA Social Ministry Organizations in the hurricane-affected
region get back on their feet, the ELCA Domestic Hunger Grants
program plans to help them to re-establish their hunger ministry
programs during the next grant cycle. To learn more about how to
re-establish your ministry, please feel free to contact Joe Young at
joe.young@elca.org.
Lastly, I offer thanks and prayers for
those serving tirelessly to bring hope and help to those impacted by
these storms. Let us all continue to bring help and hope to all!
Heather L. Feltman, Diaconal Minister
Director, ELCA Domestic Disaster Response
Executive Director, Lutheran Disaster Response
1/30/2006
In about a
week and a half (God willing), Lutheran Disaster Response-
Illinois will be sending a truckload of collected items to Ocean
Springs, Mississippi, to be disbursed to those who were affected
by Hurricane Katrina. Christus Victor Lutheran Church in Ocean
Springs has been running a distribution center for those in need
for the past few months, and the items gathered will be
delivered to their site. A collection site has been established
at the Lutheran Campus Ministry Center at NIU in DeKalb, where
we will be loading a semi with items gathered from Lutheran
churches.
There is still plenty more room for items!
Following is a list of items that are being requested by the
distribution center (there is especially a need for food),
listed as to what might be included a complete box that could be
delivered to a family without much sorting work on their end:
Items for Food Boxes for Family of 4 for 3 days:
+ Cereal (1
box)
+ Oatmeal (1 med. Canister)
+ Breakfast bars (2 boxes)
+ 3-4 cans canned
fruit
+ Juice: 1 or 2 46-oz jugs or 10-pack of juice boxes +
4-5 cans/packs tuna or chicken
+ 2 cans
meat
+ Peanut butter & jelly
+ 1-2 boxes
pasta +
1 bag rice
+ 3-4 cans
soup
+ 6-7 cans vegetables
+ 2-3 cans red or black
beans + Boxes liquid
milk
+ Snacks: box
of bars, cookies, crackers, puddings, etc.
+ Nice extras: mac & cheese, rice mixes, Chef Boyardee stuff
Person Hygiene Items:
+ Deodorant:
male/female +
Shampoo
+
Conditioner
+ Combs
+
Brushes
+ Razors
+ Shaving gel:
male/female +
Toothbrushes
+ Hair spray, hair
gel + Body
wash/soap
+ Hand sanitizer
Additional food items (there are large Vietnamese and Buddhist
communities near Ocean Springs with some specific food
requests):
+Jasmine/Thai
rice
+Soy sauce
+Noodles
+Canned meats/fish (Spam, tuna, sardines, kippers)
Items can be delivered to the Lutheran Campus Ministry Center at
NIU in DeKalb; please contact Intern Pastor Sharon Rogers at
815.751.1139 to schedule a time to drop off the items.
We're hoping to schedule the truck to go on February 6th.
If this changes and we have more collection time, I will let you
know.
Questions?
Please let me know!
In peace,
Lisa
Lisa
Hassenstab
Director of
Church and Volunteer Relations
Co-coordinator, Lutheran Disaster Response-Illinois
Lutheran
Social Services of Illinois
1001 E. Touhy
Ave. #50
Des Plaines,
IL 60018
(847) 390-1447
(312) 636-7006
(cell)
"Responding to the Gospel, Lutheran Social Services of Illinois
brings healing, justice and wholeness to people and
communities."
12/30/2005
Lutheran Social Services of Illinois (LSSI),
through its Building Homes:Rebuilding Lives ministry, has had one prison
construction class build wall sections for a house for a family
displaced by the 2005 hurricanes. These wall sections were sent from
Taylorville Correctional Center to Shreveport, Louisiana, with the help
of many partners. It is a beautiful way for prisoners to help with the
hurricane relief while they are incarcerated.
LSSI is planning on sending more walls constructed in Illinois prisons
to the Gulf Coast in 2006, and we need your help. If you know of any
trucking companies or individuals willing to pick up completed wall
sections from one or more of our state prisons and deliver them to one
of the gulf states where new housing is being built, please contact John
Holmes (see contact information below).
John S. Holmes, Coordinator
Building Homes:Rebuilding Lives
Lutheran Social Services of Illinois
1616 West Main Street
Marion IL 62959
618-997-9196, Ext. 838
john.holmes@lssi.org
12-21-05
Just a quick note on the Disaster Response
front- the national Lutheran Disaster Response office has updated their
website, and it now includes a volunteer sign-up form for groups or
individuals who are interested in volunteering in the Gulf region. This
form goes to all the LDR regional coordinators so a good match can be
made between your group/skills and what's needed at particular sites, so
it will save a few steps from the process that has been taking place
over the past few months. If you're interested in more information, the
volunteer site can be found at
http://www.ldr.org/Volunteers.html .
If your congregation is planning a trip to the Gulf, we'd love to know
about it! Please drop me a quick line letting me know where you will be
going and when. As the work of LDR shifts toward its stated mission of
long-term recovery, it would be great for the Illinois LDR coordinators
(myself and Dave Roth of Lutheran Child and Family Services) to know how
Illinois congregations are participating.
I also just received a phone call from a colleague who has been working
with evacuees who have resettled in the Chicago area, and she was
wondering about the possibility of a work group transporting some
furniture for an evacuee who is returning to New Orleans in the next few
weeks. If you have a group headed to the Gulf in the upcoming weeks that
might have the capability of transporting furniture, please let me know
and we can set up the logistics.
Many thanks for ALL of the efforts put forth by so many congregations
throughout the state! It has been overwhelming and heartwarming to see
the generosity of the Lutheran community in Illinois. Blessings to you
this holiday season, and please keep those affected by the hurricanes
and other disasters across the country and world in your prayers through
the holidays and into the new year.
In peace,
Lisa
Lisa Hassenstab, M.A., M.S.W.
Director of Church and Volunteer Relations Co-coordinator, Lutheran
Disaster Response-Illinois Lutheran Social Services of Illinois
1001 E. Touhy Ave. #50
Des Plaines, IL 60018
(847) 390-1447
(312) 636-7006 (cell)
"Responding to the Gospel, Lutheran Social Services of Illinois brings
healing, justice and wholeness to people and communities."
12/7/05
• Christ Lutheran in Belvidere (on the
east side of Rockford) and Lutheran Campus Ministry at NIU in DeKalb
have offered to be collection sites for items gathered by congregations
for hurricane relief.
• Christ, Belvidere contact person is Pastor Tim Olson, 815-885-2522
(church)
• NIU contact is Pastor Sharon Rogers, 815-751-1139 (cell)
• Either can be contacted to set up drop-off times for items
• Suggestions for the best way to get this information out to the whole
of the NIS? We want to be able to start having items dropped off at the
collection sites ASAP; I'm hoping we might still be able to get
shipments off before the new year (fingers crossed).
Both sites are accepting donations right away.
• It would still be great to have a collection site in the Quad Cities
area...anyone have connections there?
• We still need transportation for the items to the Gulf. I have a call
in to a contact at APL Logistics that we might be able to utilize.
Pastor Olson mentioned they had previously used ABF Freight to send
items down to the Gulf. Can someone please contact ABF (and/or any other
shipping vendors you might know of) to see what prices they can give us?
Again, LSSI has money to pay for the transportation- we just need to try
to get the best deal and set up the details. C/SIS shipped about 34,000
lbs. with their effort- we'd probably be looking at around the same,
maybe less.
• Please keep praying that all the details come together so we can get
these items to the people who need them!
Any questions, please give me a call or shoot me an e-mail. I'm in my
office (for the most part) for the rest of this week.
Thanks again for your efforts!
Peace,
Lisa
Lisa Hassenstab, M.A., M.S.W.
Director of Church and Volunteer Relations Co-coordinator, Lutheran
Disaster Response-Illinois Lutheran Social Services of Illinois
1001 E. Touhy Ave. #50
Des Plaines, IL 60018
(847) 390-1447
(312) 636-7006 (cell)
11/29/2005
(This is a message from Dr. John
Sommerfield, who just returned from a week in Mississippi working as a
volunteer. Dr. Sommerfield is a former president of the congregation and
is leading our efforts to assist those in need. He has asked that this
be shared with the congregations of the North Conference)
The after effects of Hurricane Katrina continue to take a tremendous
toll on the residents of the Gulf coast of Louisiana and Mississippi.
Nearly 80,000 homes have been damaged or totally destroyed. Countless
families have been living in tents, FEMA trailers or motel rooms. Most
of these "new poor" are folks that have lost all of their worldly
possessions but continue to have mortgage payments, car payments, etc.
Lutheran Disaster Response has established Christus Victor Lutheran
Church in Ocean Springs, MS as the center for their relief effort.
Christ Lutheran Church here in Rockford recently sent a team to Ocean
Springs with a trailer full of food for those in need. That load of food
was distributed to families and was gone within hours. A full semi
trailer truck of food lasts about two to three days. The need for
additional donations of food and household items is great.
Currently Christus Victor is housing and feeding volunteers from
Lutheran congregations nationwide. The commitment of the Christus Victor
congregation and those volunteers, some coming from as far away as
Alaska, is truly God's work in action. One member of the congregation
has been housing anywhere from 11 to 17 volunteers on a come-and-go
basis since the storm hit. The volunteers are either working with food
distribution or actually going into the damaged homes to assist the home
owner in the clean-up or re-build process. On our recent visit, some 12
weeks since the storm hit, it was very evident that the damage was so
extensive, the re-build will be an on- going process for years.
I would appeal to each and every congregation to search deep in your
hearts during this holiday season. There are thousands of people in the
Ocean Springs-Biloxi area that are desperately in need of food and
living supplies. The holidays are coming. Cold weather is coming, even
in Mississippi. It's going to be a very sad Christmas for those that
have lost everything.
What can you do?
1. Christ Lutheran Church will serve as a collection point for food
and supplies. Drop off a bag of groceries if you can. We do ask that you
not buy the bulk products as items are packed for use by a family that
may not have the capacity to store food. We are currently planning the
next load to go south in early- to mid- December. If your church wants
to collect food at your site, contact Christ Lutheran and we will come
collect it.
2. If you would like to volunteer to assist Christus Victor and Lutheran
Disaster Response, contact
www.ChristusVictorDisasterResponse.org or Christ Lutheran Church,
www.MakingChristKnown.org
or 885-2522, who can put you in touch with someone to assist you. There
are senior groups doing food distribution. There are youth groups doing
clean up. There will be a great need for people to continue the re-build
in the homes.
3. A list of needed supplies follows:
Supply Needs:
+ P95 Respirator masks
+ Face, hand and bath towels
+ Laundry detergent
+ Leather work gloves
+ Paper towels
+ Heavy contractor garbage bags
+ Insect repellant
+ Band aids
+ Clorox
+ Scrub brushes
+ Green scrubbies
+ Goggles
+ New socks
+ New underwear
+ Neosporin
+ Cortisone cream
+ Mops
+ Brooms
+ Pots, pans and dishes
+ Kleenex
+ Kitchen utensils
+ Backpacks w/school supplies
+ Manual can openers
+ Cots and/or air mattresses
+ Diapers: size 5 & 6 and Pullups
+ Bed sheets, pillows, blankets, comforters
Person Hygiene Items:
+ Deodorant: male/female
+ Shampoo
+ Conditioner
+ Combs
+ Brushes
+ Razors
+ Shaving gel: male/female
+ Toothbrushes
+ Hair spray, hair gel
+ Body wash/soap
+ Hand sanitizer
Items for Food Boxes for Family of 4 for 3 days:
+ Cereal (1 box)
+ Oatmeal (1 med. Canister)
+ Breakfast bars (2 boxes)
+ Juice: 1 or 2 46-oz jugs or 10-pack of juice boxes
+ 3-4 cans canned fruit
+ 4-5 cans/packs tuna or chicken
+ 2 cans meat
+ Peanut butter & jelly
+ 1-2 boxes pasta
+ 1 bag rice
+ Nice extras: mac & cheese, rice mixes, Chef Boyardee stuff
+ 3-4 cans soup
+ 6-7 cans vegetables
+ 2-3 cans red or black beans
+ Snacks: box of bars, cookies, crackers, puddings, etc.
+ Boxes liquid milk
+ Do not need water!!!!
11/24/2005
Greetings!
Just a quick update before I head out for holiday festivities...I just
received word from Pastor Aigner that LSSI, through designated funds in
its Cornerstone Foundation for disaster relief, can and will pay for two
semis to transport goods to the Gulf region. We'll still need to deal
with the logistics, but can be thankful that funding for this part of
the process is in place.
What is needed ASAP is storage in the Northern Illinois Synod and Metro
Chicago Synod for items until they can be shipped- if you have any
leads, please let me know so that we can start putting a collection
process into place. If this could happen in this next week following
Thanksgiving, it would be fantastic.
I give thanks for you and for all the work this task force has done over
the past few months- please know that you are appreciated and that you
ARE making a difference.
I pray for a safe and relaxing Thanksgiving for you all- more updates to
follow next week!
In peace and with thanks,
Lisa
Lisa Hassenstab, M.A., M.S.W.
Director of Church and Volunteer Relations Co-coordinator, Lutheran
Disaster Response-Illinois Lutheran Social Services of Illinois
1001 E. Touhy Ave. #50
Des Plaines, IL 60018
(847) 390-1447
(312) 636-7006 (cell)
"Responding to the Gospel, Lutheran Social Services of Illinois brings
healing, justice and wholeness to people and communities."
11/22/2005
Hurricane Recovery
Critical Need for Long Term Volunteers
Multiply Your Efforts
"If you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the
afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be
like the noonday," Isaiah 58:10
Tens of thousands of homes were flooded on the gulf coast. Many were
uninsured and have minor structural damage but are currently
uninhabitable because of mold. These houses need to be cleaned out to
the studs, dried, and rebuilt to make them habitable. Surveys of flooded
neighborhoods indicate 10-40% of the houses are not cleaned out as of
mid-October. At some point, the clean-out work will transition to
rebuilding. Lutheran Disaster Response has a multi- year commitment in
the gulf area to help with the clean-out and rebuilding effort.
Thousands, possibly tens of thousands are interested in volunteering to
help with this process
Most volunteers are short-term, working a long weekend or a week. To
recruit a greater number of these short-term volunteers, and effectively
put them to work, long-term volunteers are needed. We are asking
long-term volunteers to commit for four weeks. If you can stay longer,
that is even better.
Here are the critical work areas that need long-term volunteers:
• Crew Recruitment (publicize our need for work crews; answer
questions from interested crews; determine dates, number of people, and
skills of work crews; arrange housing; enter data).
• Disaster Victim Communication (publicize our volunteer services; talk
to clients by phone and in person, determine their needs; enter data).
• Dispatch Work Crews (assign work locations to crew managers).
Requirements for the above positions: Must be proficient in Word, Excel,
email, and internet. A big plus but not required — bring your laptop
with Word, Excel, and WI-Fl and bring your cell phone with the maximum
anytime minutes.
• Equipment Management (distribute, store, maintain, and
inventory work crew equipment).
• Work Crew Management. Must have vehicle and construction
knowledge (determine if a house is salvageable, estimate labor hours and
equipment to gut a flooded home; estimate labor hours and material to
repair gutted or damaged homes; orient, train, and manage volunteer work
crews).
• Reconstruction Manager. Must have vehicle, construction
knowledge, and commit to three months. (manage the functions described
above, find replacement reconstruction manager).
Food, shelter (on cots in tent cities with showers), and opportunities
to help those in need, are provided to all volunteers. If you have a
mobile home, we have locations to park them without hook-ups. There are
also sites that may be available with hookups.
Interested? Contact:
Roger Ratcliff, cell 832-668-6135 or 303-246-0328,
roger_ratcliff@hotmail.com:
Jim Antonakos, cell 410-967-5517, jantonakos @ comcast.net See
www.christuvictordisasterresponse.org for volunteer information.
Christus Victor Lutheran Church / Lutheran Disaster Response
(228) 875-2446, 2755 Bienville, Ocean Springs MS 39564
Everyone is encouraged
foremost to pray for all those affected by hurricanes and other
disasters.
ELCA Congregations and individuals that
wish to give monetary gifts for relief efforts are encouraged to give to
the ELCA Disaster Response -
where 100% of funds received go toward relief efforts.
Congregations that wish to send gifts to
ELCA Disaster Response through the Synod may mark their weekly "Mission
Support Remittance" form accordingly under "Other Designated Gifts" -
please specify "Hurricane Katrina."
Your help is urgently needed. Your
prayers and gifts in support are urgently needed to enable disaster
response efforts. You may give through your congregation, send your
check directly to ELCA Disaster Response, or give a credit card donation
by phone or online. One hundred percent of your gift will be used as you
designate.
How to contribute to relief efforts
related to Hurricane Relief
through ELCA Disaster Relief:
By mail
Make your check or money order out to: ELCA Disaster Response, P.O.
Box 71764, Chicago, Illinois 60694-1764 Be sure to write
"Hurricane Katrina" on your check to specifically designate your giving
to this disaster.
By phone
(with a major credit card) 800.638.3522 Be sure to
mention "Hurricane Katrina" when you call in order to specifically
designate your giving to this disaster
On the Web
(with a major credit card over a secure connection):
Click
here Be sure to type "Hurricane Katrina" into the "disaster
name" box in order to specifically designate your giving to this
disaster.
LATER-RESPONSE VOLUNTEERS
Volunteers will be needed for Hurricane Katrina relief and recovery
efforts long into the future. To volunteer, visit the ELCA
contact page or call the volunteer hotline at 773-380-2298.
DONATIONS OF
DISASTER-RECOVERY SUPPLIES
Find supply requests and centers
accepting supplies listed at
HELP LOCALLY
Learn if there are local opportunities
to help meet disaster-recovery needs by visiting the Websites of your
nearest
DONATIONS OF FOOD AND *NEW*
CLOTHING
Multi-Agency warehouses have been established to accept delivered
donations of food (no food in glass containers, please), cleaning
supplies, paper products, and NEW clothing. These warehouses serve as
receiving and delivery points and are set up to receive semi-truck
deliveries. If you are coordinating a donations drive and plan to place
the items on a semi-tractor trailer, if at all possible, please have
these donations placed on pallets for easy removal from the
trucks. Since mail services in these areas are uncertain, donations
should be taken and not mailed. Contact information:
Louisiana
1102 E. Admiral-Doyle Dr.; New Iberia, LA 70560
(337)373-2164 (Map
it)
Mississippi
840 Boling St.; Jackson, MS 39209
(601)969-6155 (Map
it)
IS THE ELCA INVOLVED IN
SHELTERING DISPLACED AMERICANS?
We have received many inquiries on how one can offer their home or
identify persons who might be able to come and stay with them. What a
wonderful outpouring of hospitality!
There is a local Lutheran response: State governors are calling on our
Lutheran Social Ministry Organizations to support the extended
hospitality these states are offering to reduce the numbers of evacuees
in Texas and Louisiana. In addition, local congregations, in
collaboration with their synods, are making hospitality links. From a
national perspective, however, ELCA Disaster Response/Lutheran Disaster
Response is not coordinating housing.
HELP OTHERS FIND THEIR FAMILIES
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The American Red Cross has launched the Family Links
Registry, which will aid individuals who are seeking loved ones and
family members in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The Family Links
Registry can be accessed by visiting
www.redcross.org or by calling:
1-877-LOVED-1S (1-877-568-3317).
|
