Roseau MN update

Dear friends in Christ,

"Words cannot express our appreciation for the time you spent at Roseau. Thanks for taking the time to share this part of your lives." So wrote Bob and Kathy Weichman, Mennonite Disaster Service project directors to the volunteers from Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Schaumburg, who spent a week in northern Minnesota to help repair houses and restore lives.

In June 2002 Lutheran Disaster Response, a cooperative ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, responded to severe flooding in northern Minnesota that flooded 95 percent of the city of Roseau. Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota (Mark Peterson, President) has managed the LDR response, with Melanie Josephson serving as LDR-MN disaster coordinator. LDR has worked with Bishop Rolf Wangberg (Northwestern Minnesota Synod, ELCA) and President David Bode (Minnesota North District, LCMS) to assess needs and rally local support and assistance.

Melanie and I traveled last month to Roseau to meet with local leaders, homeowners, and volunteers, to see how the recovery is progressing after one year. A woman I met last year, whose house next the river was destroyed, was preparing to move into her new home, "out of town, on a hill." She was elated that, after 14 months, this part of her life was returning to a "new normal."

The Rev. Patrick Krause, pastor of the First Baptist Church and president of the North Border Interfaith Coalition (NBIC) in Roseau, said that even after a year of recovery work, people are still coming forward with new needs about every other week. House repairs continue. But this year the city needed to rip out streets that were buckled by last year's flood waters, so the town is in disorder again.

LDR will be completing its part of the work at the end of this month. The total LDR cost for this response was $128,870. The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod World Relief and Human Care contributed $44,624 towards this inter-Lutheran response; the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Domestic Disaster Response contributed $84,246. Both LCMS and ELCA spent more in Roseau than they received, but were able to cover the necessary expenses because of your undesignated gifts.

This year has brought unprecedented amounts of disasters. Over 400 tornadoes and 2,000 storms brought havoc and devastation to the mid and lower United States. Most severely affected were Kansas, Missouri, and Tennessee. Additionally, resulting spring and summer floods affected Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, and Ohio. In some instances, communities that had begun cleanup efforts were affected by subsequent days of additional tornadoes or storms.

Since January 2003 the Lutheran Disaster Response (a cooperative ministry of the ELCA and The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod) has been responding to:

1) typhoon in Guam, (January)

2) ice storms and floods in south central Ohio (February)

3) tornadoes in Camilla, Georgia (March)

4) tornadoes in Miami-Dade County, Florida (March)

5) floods in Puerto Rico (April)

6) tornadoes in Kansas (May)

7) tornadoes in Missouri (May)

8) tornadoes in Tennessee (May)

9) tornadoes in Nebraska (May)

10) tornadoes/storms in Illinois (May)

11) poisoning in Maine (May) (ELCA)

12) floods in West Virginia (June)

13) fires in Arizona (July)

14) floods in northeast Ohio (July)

15) Hurricane Claudette, Texas (July)

For many of these new disasters no income was received for the response. Yet the church could respond because so many of you have provided undesignated support, funds "to be used where they are most needed." I want to thank you for this support. It enables LDR to respond immediately when new needs arise. It enables LDR to continue responses when income designated for specific disasters falls short of what is needed.

Please send your contributions to:

ELCA DOMESTIC Disaster Response
PO Box 71764
Chicago, Illinois 60694-1764

Credit card gift line: 1-800-638-3522
Credit card gifts via the web: www.elca.org/disaster

LC-MS World Relief
P.O. Box 66861
St. Louis, MO 63166-9810

Credit card gift line: 1-888-930-4438

Yours in Christ,

Gil Furst

Gilbert B. Furst (written on September 8, 2003 at 5:00 p.m.). Director for ELCA Domestic Disaster Response (Division for Church in Society) and Lutheran Disaster Response (a cooperative ministry of the ELCA and LC-MS) 8765 W. Higgins Rd., Chicago 60631 PHONE: 773-380-2822 FAX: 773-380-2493 Please visit our new website