wfn.org | Lutheran Disaster Response Gets $6 Million UMCOR Grant

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

December 22, 2005

Lutheran Disaster Response Gets $6 Million UMCOR Grant
05-245-MN*/JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- A $6 million grant was awarded to Lutheran Disaster
Response (LDR) by "Katrina Aid Today," a national consortium of social
service and volunteer organizations.  LDR is one of 10 organizations to
receive grants through the program, chosen from nearly 30 nonprofit
disaster response agencies that applied.
	Katrina Aid Today, administered by the United Methodist Committee
on Relief (UMCOR), consists of those 10 organizations. The Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the U.S. Department for Homeland
Security awarded nearly $66 million in grant monies for Katrina Aid Today.
	UMCOR is the humanitarian relief and development agency of the
United Methodist Church.
	Hurricane Katrina survivors require help as they begin to rebuild,
and applications and forms for addressing basic needs are often confusing
and intimidating, said the Rev. Paul Dirdak, executive director, UMCOR.
Katrina Aid Today is dedicated to helping survivors navigate the various
systems and help them rebuild, he said.
	Various partners in Katrina Aid Today will oversee some 3,000
professional and volunteer case managers who, after completing the UMCOR
case management training, will help hurricane victims find financial
support and recovery services through governmental agencies and nonprofit
organizations.
	The grant highlights the value of good case management in the wake
of a disaster, said Heather L. Feltman, LDR director and director of ELCA
Domestic Disaster Response.  Case management -- promoting healing after a
disaster through advocacy for people who have suffered losses -- is one of
four basic core values of LDR, she said.  Other LDR core values are
providing hardship grants to supplement FEMA and Red Cross monies,
spiritual and emotional care, and volunteer coordination, Feltman said.
	In addition to LDR, other organizations that received funds are:
Boat People SOS, Catholic Charities, Episcopal Relief and Development, the
National Disability Rights Network, Odyssey House of Louisiana, the
Salvation Army, the Society of St. Vincent DePaul, United Methodist
Foundation of Louisiana and Volunteers of America.
	LDR will work under the leadership of UMCOR and FEMA in various
locations -- not only in hurricane-affected areas, but also in those areas
that have experienced increases in population because of the numbers of
displaced Americans living around the country.
     LDR is a ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and
the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
---
     * Michael Nevergall is associate for program interpretation, Lutheran
Disaster Response

     Information about Lutheran Disaster Response is at http://www.ldr.org
on the ELCA Web site.

     Information about Katrina Aid Today is at
http://www.katrinaaidtoday.org/ on the Web.

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