wfn.org | [LCMSNews] Synod members among tornado victims

["LCMS e-News" <LCMSENEWS@lcms.org>]

	 <http://www.lcms.org>
e-News
	LCMS News

	PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS E-MAIL MESSAGE! This message comes
from a "Send Only" Mailbox that does not recognize replies.

	June 10, 2003 ........................ LCMSNews -- No. 45

	LCMS members among
	May tornado victims

	By Kim Plummer Krull

	Twenty years ago, a De Soto, Mo., welder tackled the challenging
task of making a 48-foot, perfectly perpendicular stainless steel cross
to grace the front of The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod International
Center in St. Louis.

	More recently, Herbert Schmidt faced the challenge of riding out
a tornado that ripped through Jefferson County, Mo.

	He sat in his basement praying. "Upstairs, it sounded like
someone slamming doors. The whole house shook and shuddered," said
Schmidt, 86, now retired and an elder at Grace Lutheran Church, De Soto.
"I prayed hard that God would save our county and there would be no
injuries or deaths."

	Sadly, one De Soto death was blamed on the May storm, one of
nearly 400 tornadoes that touched down in the Midwest and claimed more
than 40 lives over an unprecedented 10-day period.

	A dozen or more LCMS families in South Pekin and Morton, Ill.,
reported significant tornado damage among the hundreds of homes hit, and
in Kansas City and southwest Missouri, close to 4,000 homes were
damaged, although it is not known how many LCMS families were among
them.

	St. John Lutheran Church in Green Valley, Ill., located only a
mile from hard-hit South Pekin, Ill., served as a distribution center
for such things as food, cleaning supplies, paper goods, pet food and
toiletries.

	Two weeks after the devastation in Jefferson County, Rev. Steven
Flo, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church, De Soto, guided LCMS World Relief
and Human Care's Rev. Matthew Harrison, Rev. Carlos Hernandez and Rev.
Jarold Rux through the community -- one of many tackling a lengthy
clean-up.

	"By partnering with Grace Lutheran, we have an opportunity to
help one of many towns affected by these tragic storms," said Harrison,
executive director of LCMS World Relief and Human Care, which answered a
request for emergency disaster aid from the congregation to assist with
recovery in the De Soto area.

	LCMS World Relief and Human Care also contacted LCMS
congregations in other hard-hit communities and plans more on-site
visits.

	In De Soto, 12 houses, nine mobile homes and two apartments were
destroyed. Many more were badly damaged.

	One need is for volunteers to help remove the huge piles of wood
and debris that line neighborhood streets. "Many of our members are
elderly, and it's physically impossible for them to deal with this,"
said Kathie Shedron, Grace Lutheran's Helping Hands coordinator.

	Clean-up volunteers in the Kansas City or De Soto, Mo., areas
may call (816) 221-1525; in southwest Missouri, call (800) 489-8183.

	Contributions, earmarked "Midwest Tornadoes" and made payable to
LCMS World Relief, may be sent to LCMS World Relief and Human Care, P.O.
Box 66861, St. Louis, MO 63166--9810. Or call the credit-card gift line
at (888) 930-4438.

	--------
	Kim Plummer Krull is a St. Louis free-lance writer. (Some
information in this story was contributed by Paula Schlueter Ross.)
	--------

	****************************************

	LCMSNews is published by the News and Information Division,
Board for Communication Services, of The Lutheran Church--Missouri
Synod. If you have questions or comments about this LCMSNews release,
contact Joe Isenhower Jr. at joe.isenhower@lcms.org or (314) 996 1231,
or Paula Schlueter Ross at paula.ross@lcms.org or (314) 996-1230.

	To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your e-mail address for
LCMSNews, go to the following Web address: www.lcms.org/enews
<http://www.lcms.org/enews>  .

	****************************************

	  This Edition of "LCMS News" e-News is provided by:

	Board for Communication Services
Contact Editor <http://www.lcms.org/enews/contact_editor.asp?title=LCMS
News&editorid=6>

		To subscribe to or unsubscribe from this Newsletter and
many others, please visit LCMS e-News <http://www.lcms.org/enews> .
		Share this Newsletter
<http://www.lcms.org/enews/forward.asp?m=625>  with a friend.

MessageId=625
  _____

Design ) Copyright 2003 The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod.
<http://www.lcms.org>
No reproduction without consent. All rights reserved.