wfn.org | Lutherans Help Deliver Hay to Mid-atlantic Farmers

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

March 2, 2000

LUTHERANS HELP DELIVER HAY TO MID-ATLANTIC FARMERS
00-048-MR

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- More than two dozen train cars of hay from the
Midwest will be delivered in early March to help hundreds of farmers in
Ohio and mid-Atlantic states feed their livestock.  The Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Domestic Disaster Response, along with
other disaster response groups, is expediting the hay-drive effort.
     A total of 1,500 tons of hay from the upper peninsula of Michigan
will be delivered to 200 farms in West Virginia and Ohio.  On March 1
hay was loaded into the first two train cars, said Mary Woodward,
director of Lutheran Social Services of Southeastern Ohio, Pleasant
City.
     "Last summer's drought in the mid-Atlantic and eastern Midwest
regions caused many independent beef farmers to start using hay intended
for winter as early as July," said Johanna Olson, assistant for ELCA
Domestic Disaster Response.  "The shortage of hay resulted in premature
livestock being sold at below market weight, and very little hay for
cattle to survive the winter."
     The ELCA Domestic Disaster Response and Christian Reformed World
Relief Committee, Church of the Brethren Emergency Response Service
Ministries, Church World Service and Mennonite Disaster Service -- known
as the Family Farm Drought Response Coalition -- has delivered hay from
the Midwest to hundreds of farmers in Ohio and mid-Atlantic states since
August 1999, Olson said.
     "ELCA Domestic Disaster Response has focused its efforts primarily
in Ohio and West Virginia, while other agencies have focused their
efforts in other states," Olson said.
     "So far more than 330 tractor-trailer loads -- well over 4,000
tons of hay -- have helped hundreds of farmers in critical need in the
mid-Atlantic drought-stricken area," said Olson.  "We have kept about
260 family farms going in southeast Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia and
parts of northeast Pennsylvania."
     Olson said ELCA Domestic Disaster Response was able to participate
in Family Farm Drought Response Coalition through cooperation from the
ELCA Southern Ohio Synod, Lutheran Social Services of Ohio, ELCA West
Virginia-Western Maryland Synod, ELCA Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod
and Orphan Grain Train.
     Woodward said railroad companies are volunteering their services
at the request of U.S. Senators Spencer Abraham, R-Michigan, and Mike
DeWine, R-Ohio.  "I am very excited that the March 1 shipment is under
way," she said.
     In the last four months, Woodward facilitated shipments of more
than 1,000 tons of hay by truck to farmers in Ohio and West Virginia.
     The effects of the drought also have an emotional impact, Olson
said.  "Morale is low."
     "The ELCA Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod is seeking to address
low morale in its area.  The county extension agent and Lutheran
Brotherhood will sponsor a buffet meal for farm families," Olson said.
Lutheran Brotherhood is a fraternal benefits organization based in
Minneapolis.
     Relief initiatives are being furthered in the Midwest and in
Pennsylvania to celebrate Rogation Days, a custom dating back to the
15th century to ask God's blessing on crops and land, Olson added.
     ELCA Domestic Disaster Response ministers to survivors of disaster
in the United States.  It is coordinated through the ELCA Division for
Church in Society.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html