wfn.org | Lutherans Discern 'Tough Times' for New Jersey Residents

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

March 17, 2003

LUTHERANS DISCERN 'TOUGH TIMES' FOR NEW JERSEY RESIDENTS
03-051-MR

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Times are rough for New Jersey residents,
according to Jack DiMatteo, coordinator for Lutheran Disaster
Response (LDR) in New Jersey.  Since the terrorist attacks in the
United States on Sept. 11, 2001, New Jersey residents continue to
experience job layoffs and unemployment, post-traumatic stress and
loss of financial resources.
     "It is estimated that 20,000 New Jersey residents are still out
of work" because of the events of Sept. 11, DiMatteo said.
Significant numbers of airport personnel at Newark Liberty
International Airport, Newark, N.J., have been "laid off because
business just isn't the same after Sept. 11," he said in a report to
staff of LDR, a ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
     DiMatteo said New Jersey's Food Bank is reporting a 50 percent
increase in demand for food.
     "Major agency caseworkers, such as the Salvation Army and
Catholic Charities, are bringing more cases forward," DiMatteo said.
"The number of cases has begun to proliferate, not settle down" and,
"in some circumstances, these agencies have exhausted or 'capped out'
on dollar amounts that they are able to distribute to individuals and
families on a case-by-case basis," he said.
     The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has denied funds
from its Mortgage and Rental Assistance program to many clients
because of "technicalities," DiMatteo said.  "For several months,
some FEMA telephone operators were incorrectly informing New Jersey
residents who worked in or near New York's 'Ground Zero' district
that they did not qualify for funds because they lived on 'the wrong
side of the river,'" he said.
     The "wealthier Wall Street unemployed" residents of New Jersey,
who previously lived on savings and exhausted credit cards "are now
discovering that the cupboards are bare, that there is no more money
left in savings, that federal and state disaster relief funding is
ended, and there are still no employment offers for the near future,"
said DiMatteo.
     LDR of New Jersey is committed to addressing the "economic
fiasco" in the state, DiMatteo said.  "Thanks to generous grant
funding from the national Lutheran Disaster Response office in
Chicago, LDR of New Jersey is truly a key response organization."
     About 70 Lutheran congregations in New Jersey "have received
training from LDR of New Jersey on how to create local disaster
preparedness and response planning in the event of another disaster,"
said DiMatteo.
     LDR of New Jersey has partnered with a caring network of 15
behavioral health care agencies to address those suffering from post-
traumatic stress, he said.  Among those partnerships, Lutheran Social
Ministries of New Jersey has taken a leading role in offering grief
support groups, facilitated at Lutheran churches in the state, for
those who lost loved ones on Sept. 11, 2001.
     "We at LDR of New Jersey keep plugging along knowing that God's
spirit will sustain us.  We feel the prayers of those across the
nation who mourn with us, grieve with us and hope with us.  Our
heartfelt thanks go to Lutherans from all over the country who have
opened their hearts and their purses, wallets and checkbooks, so that
terrific response ministries can continue," said DiMatteo.
-- -- --
DOMESTIC DISASTERS:
Editors: When listing organizations receiving funds for aid to
survivors of major disasters inside the United States, Puerto Rico or
the U.S. Virgin Islands, please include:

ELCA Domestic Disaster Response
P.O. Box 71764, Chicago, Illinois  60694-1764
Credit card gift line: 1-800-638-3522
Credit card gifts via Internet: http://www.elca.org/disaster

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