wfn.org | Lutherans' Gifts Exceed $6.1 Million or Hurricane Katrina Relief,

[<NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

Recovery
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

September 16, 2005

Lutherans' Gifts Exceed $6.1 Million or Hurricane Katrina Relief, Recovery
05-174-MRC/JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Financial gifts to the Evangelical Lutheran Church
in America (ELCA) through Sept. 15 totaled more than $6.1 million to
support disaster relief and recovery efforts in the wake of Hurricane
Katrina.  Many of the church's 4.9 million members and others contributed
the funds by mail, by phone or through the ELCA's Web site.
     "This overwhelmingly generous response from Lutherans will enable a
comprehensive relief and recovery effort now and for years to come," said
Kathryn Sime, director, ELCA World Hunger and Disaster Appeal.
     "I am particularly grateful for the leadership of Thrivent Financial
for Lutherans through their commitment to supplement the gifts of their
members.  Together, the gifts of our church family form a powerful witness
to God's abundance in the midst of this disaster," she said.
     Funds given to ELCA Domestic Disaster Response are channeled through
Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR), which is coordinating the response to
the disaster.  LDR is a ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America (ELCA) and Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS).  National and
local LDR staff are working to provide immediate assistance to people
displaced from their homes, communities and work as a result of Hurricane
Katrina.
     Lutheran Disaster Response is coordinating volunteer efforts for
debris removal and cleanup in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi.  It is
also organizing "tent camps" to house these volunteers, and it is
providing grants, plus emotional and spiritual care for survivors of the
hurricane.

Thrivent Provides Additional Funds
     Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, a Minneapolis-based not-for-profit
financial services organization serving members of the ELCA and other
Lutheran church bodies, is providing additional funds when its members
give to LDR or ELCA Domestic Disaster Response, said Dave Rustad, senior
media relations specialist, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.  Thrivent
will give $1 for every $2 given by members to the disaster response funds,
up to $300 per member, he said.  Thrivent is prepared to give as much as
$2 million in additional funds, Rustad said.
     On Sept. 8 Thrivent and Habitat for Humanity announced a financial,
volunteer and advocacy alliance designed to increase Habitat's capacity to
build more affordable housing in the United States, including the Gulf
Coast area. The alliance, "Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity,"
represents a four-year, $105 million commitment by Thrivent, Rustad said.
Thrivent has specifically earmarked $5 million of the total to rebuild
homes in the Gulf Coast region.

ELCA Presiding Bishop to Visit Gulf Coast Area
     The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop and president of the
Lutheran World Federation, will visit the damaged Gulf Coast region Sept.
21-22, said the Rev. Kathie Bender Schwich, director, ELCA Department for
Synodical Relations and executive assistant to the presiding bishop.
     Preliminary plans are for Hanson to arrive in Mobile, Ala., Sept. 21
and tour the Alabama and Mississippi coasts by car, she said.  He will fly
to Baton Rouge, La., Sept. 22.	During both days, he will meet with ELCA
pastors and members, listening to their concerns, offering support and
thanking them on behalf of the church for their work in the aftermath of
the disaster.
     Hanson will be accompanied by Heather L. Feltman, LDR director and
director of ELCA Domestic Disaster Response; John Gilbert, who retired as
chairman of the board of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans; and Melissa
Ramirez Cooper, associate director, ELCA News Service.

Lutheran-Episcopal Food Program Not Needed
     "Due to the reduction of evacuees residing at the Houston Astrodome,
we no longer need to provide the level of services that we've been asked
to provide there this month," said Feltman.  Initially Lutherans and
Episcopalians were scheduled to provide food for the tens of thousands of
people who escaped Hurricane Katrina and eventually took shelter at the
Astrodome.
     With thousands of evacuees now relocated to other parts of the
country, the effort between both church bodies is no longer needed.
"However, Lutheran Disaster Response will continue to provide volunteer
assistance at the Astrodome," she said.
_ _ _
DOMESTIC DISASTERS:

Editors: When listing organizations receiving funds to aid 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/katrina

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news