wfn.org | [LCMSNews] After Ike: Needs continue

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>10.27.2008		
>	LCMS News	 	
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>THE LUTHERAN CHURCH Missouri Synod  	 	
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	October 27, 2008 .................... LCMSNews -- No. 60

After Ike: Needs, fear of being forgotten continue

>By Kim Plummer Krull

While the economic crisis and presidential candidates' campaigns
dominate headlines, little news is heard about Texans who still struggle
to clean up their homes and try to get their lives back on track more
than one month after Hurricane Ike.

Their stories long ago faded from nightly broadcasts, but tough
challenges remain in hard-hit areas for many LCMS members and
congregations, including:

*	Rev. Alan Taylor, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church, Galveston,
who has yet to learn if his home is salvageable and is dealing with
major repairs to reopen the flooded church where at least 75 percent of
the members suffered major property damage.

*	Rev. Timothy Dinger, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, Port
Arthur, who is living in a rental home with his wife and four children
after they lost nearly everything. The family has no insurance to cover
their loss because they don't live in a flood zone.

*	Three staff members of the popular children's center at Redeemer
Lutheran Church, Beaumont, whose homes were seriously damaged. All
continue to serve in their ministry, including the director who remains
in her home but worries about how growing mold is affecting her
daughter, who has asthma and severe allergies.

Dire, urgent, and "afraid of being forgotten" is how Rev. Glenn Merritt,
director of Disaster Response for LCMS World Relief and Human Care,
summed up needs when he visited LCMS congregations in Southeast Texas
Oct. 8-10.

"Galveston is in shambles. Port Arthur and Bridge City are in shambles.
Yet we're not hearing anything about hurricane-related needs," said
Merritt, who met with pastors to get the ball rolling on emergency
grants from the Synod's mercy arm to help impacted LCMS members and
professional church workers.

"A little over a month out, you don't see much [about Ike-related
challenges], even on the news here," said Dr. Lou Jander, the LCMS Texas
District mission and ministry facilitator who serves as the district's
disaster response coordinator. "Certainly, there are fewer people
suffering today than a week after [Ike], and nearly all power has been
restored. But needs definitely remain, and some of the greatest are
those of our church workers."

Among Jander's top concerns are for between 200 and 300 pastors,
teachers, and other church workers with financial challenges. Many are
grappling with unexpected cleanup and repair costs. Others missed
paychecks when Ike forced schools to temporarily close and congregations
to cancel services, losing a week or two of offerings.

"When you're a second- or third-year teacher, for example, and not
making a lot of money to begin with and your insurance deductible hasn't
even kicked in, having to pay $1,900 to cover repairs or even $300 to
replace the food you had to throw out of your refrigerator and freezer
is a lot," Jander said.

But while the mainstream media may have forgotten those lives turned
upside down by the Category 2 September hurricane, impacted pastors say
they appreciate the concern and assistance offered by fellow LCMS
members -- including LCMS President Gerald B. Kieschnick.

"His visit and his support were a real blessing," said Dinger, referring
to Kieschnick, who met with the Dinger and Taylor families, other LCMS
members, and cleanup volunteers Sept. 25.

Along with prayers and encouragement, Dinger says the LCMS president
also offered health care advice: "He [Kieschnick] made me promise to get
a tetanus shot so I would be safe."

Support also came from a group all too familiar with post-hurricane
anguish: St. Paul's Lutheran School faculty in New Orleans, who
spearheaded a collection for Wal-Mart gift cards.

"I had the opportunity to deliver those gift cards to three of our
schools, and they were truly touched by the care shown by people who are
still struggling after Hurricane Katrina," Jander said.

Speaking of Katrina, many Texans (including Pastor Dinger) were still
recovering from Hurricane Rita (which followed on Katrina's heels in
2005) when Ike dealt another blow.

But LCMS members are responding to needs in Texas with offers of both
financial and volunteer assistance. To date, LCMS World Relief and Human
Care has awarded $187,000 in Ike-related grants. These include funds for
LCMS congregations to help members and church workers with emergency
needs and for assistance delivered immediately after Ike to the Texas
District and Orphan Grain Train to provide generators, non-perishable
food, and for financial help for churches to cover church worker
salaries.

"We are well aware of the fact that we are in challenging economic
times," said Rev. Matthew Harrison, executive director of LCMS World
Relief and Human Care. "But that is all the more reason to thank God for
the generosity of the folks of the Missouri Synod."

LCMS WR-HC is working cooperatively with the Texas District, which also
is coordinating fundraising assistance and volunteer opportunities.
Immediate assistance is most needed from volunteers who live within a
one- or two-hour drive of Galveston or the Golden Triangle (the Port
Arthur, Bridge City, and Beaumont area), Jander said, and who can spend
several hours or a day helping with cleanup efforts.

Such short-term volunteers eliminate the need to provide housing and
food, Jander said. "On down the road, we'll have a better idea of what
rebuilding we'll need help with and how we can use more skilled labor
and volunteers for longer periods," he said.

To offer immediate volunteer assistance, Jander suggests contacting
either Pastor Taylor at 409-795-0608 or Pastor Dinger at 409-983-1130
directly or the Texas District office at 800-938-5777.  (For more
opportunities to volunteer for other disaster cleanup and recovery
efforts, click here <http://www.lcms.org/pages/rpage.asp?NavID=14247>  .)

Ike damaged about 20 LCMS churches. Today, Jander said, all are holding
services in their regular worship sites except for St. John in
Galveston.

Pastor Taylor led that congregation's first post-Ike service Oct. 5 on
the church parking lot, sharing a personal message of hope and promise.
"It was very tough," said Taylor, St. John's pastor for 15 years. "I've
been in these people's homes, and I know what they lost. Some have lost
everything."

As LCMS WR-HC's Rev. Glenn Merritt traveled in Southeast Texas, he saw
cemeteries where flooding had washed bodies from resting places and
scattered dead animals among the debris from ruined homes and
businesses. Merritt said he was struck by how pastors and congregations
wrestling with their own challenges still strive to help their hurting
communities.

"They are not standing with their hands out. They are pitching in to
help each other," Merritt said. Their concern for others in need, he
added, "made me realize how desperately these folks need reassurance
that someone -- their church -- cares about them."

To help the Synod's mercy arm reach out to people struggling with
hurricane recovery, send donations marked "Hurricane Relief 2008" to
LCMS World Relief and Human Care, P.O. Box 66861, St. Louis, MO
63166-6861; call 888-930-4438; or make an online gift at
http://givenowlcms.org.

For Hurricane Ike recovery updates, visit www.txdistlcms.org
<http://www.txdistlcms.org>  or www.lcms.org/worldrelief
<http://www.lcms.org/worldrelief> .

Kim Plummer Krull is a freelance writer and a member of St. Paul's
Lutheran Church, Des Peres, Mo.

>****************************************

If you have questions or comments about this LCMSNews release, contact
Joe Isenhower Jr. at joe.isenhower@lcms.org
<mailto:joe.isenhower@lcms.org>  or (314) 996-1231, or Paula Schlueter
Ross at paula.ross@lcms.org <mailto:paula.ross@lcms.org>  or (314)
996-1230.

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