wfn.org | Lutheran Disaster Response Reports St. Thomas Rebuilding Slowed

[ELCANEWS@ELCASCO.ELCA.ORG]

               Slowed

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

NEWSBRIEF

July 30, 1996

ST. THOMAS REBUILDING SLOWED

Rebuilding on St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, has slowed again
after the island was hit by Hurricane Bertha, reports the Rev.
Leon Phillips, Jr., director of Lutheran Disaster Response.
Phillips met with pastors, disaster staff and visited Reformation
Lutheran Church, Estate Tutu, on July 23. Hurricane Bertha badly
damaged the remaining roof at the church. Volunteers are putting
tarps on roofs and cleaning up debris.  Thousands of people are
without roofs over their heads, and the housing situation is so
desperate people have no choice but to live in their damaged
homes, said Phillips.  "We have a long way to go on St. Thomas
and St. John, much longer and more difficult that it appeared
last month, before Hurricane Bertha struck both islands head on,"
he said.  "Our church has a promise to keep in this oldest
Lutheran settlement in the Americas -- that we will not abandon
our brothers and  sisters."  Reformation Lutheran Church held
special services July 25 for "Hurricane Supplication Day" -- the
traditional day of prayers for deliverance from the coming
hurricane season.

For information contact: Ann Hafften, Dir., ELCA News Service,
(312) 380-2958; Frank Imhoff, Assoc. Dir., (312) 380-2955; Lia
Christiansen, Asst. Dir., (312) 380-2956