wfn.org | Fire Destroys Lutheran Agency Offices in New York

[NEWS <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

February 25, 1999

FIRE DESTROYS LUTHERAN AGENCY OFFICES IN NEW YORK
99-07-42-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Fire destroyed the administrative offices of
Lutheran Social Services of Metropolitan New York (LSS-MNY) the evening
of Feb. 18.  The social ministry organization is affiliated with the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and recognized by The
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS).
     "We thank God that no one was seriously injured, although nine
firemen suffered smoke inhalation and minor injuries battling the
blaze," said the Rev. Russell B. Norris Jr., president and chief
executive officer of LSS-MNY.
     "We also give thanks that most of the records are intact, and the
agency can continue its work in foster care, group homes, supportive
housing and care for people with developmental disabilities," he said.
     An emergency office was set up at St. John Lutheran Church in
Greenwich Village.  "We are working to relocate the foster care,
adoption, kinship, AIDS, home-finding and group homes units to a
location in Brooklyn, while we explore alternative office space," said
Norris.
     An official cause of the fire has not been determined.  Norris
said an electrical fire broke out on the fourth floor of the Park Place
office building and quickly engulfed the fifth floor.  LSS-MNY offices
were on both floors.
     "This comes at a time of renewed relationships between LSS and the
congregations of our synod and the Atlantic District of the LCMS," said
the Rev. Stephen P. Bouman, bishop of the ELCA Metropolitan New York
Synod.
     Bouman preached the following Sunday morning at Fordham Lutheran
Church in the Bronx, which he called "a church revitalized by its
relationship with LSS as they host shelter for women, foster care and
head start programs."
     During the Christian season of Lent, Bouman called on Lutherans to
pray for the staff and partners of LSS-MNY and for the people they
serve.  "Our social ministry organizations continue the heartbeat of
word and sacrament life into communities for which Christ died," he
said.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html