wfn.org | [LCMSNews]Congregations feel Isabel's effect

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	September 26, 2003 ............ LCMSNews -- No. 110

	Synod congregations feel
	effect of Hurricane Isabel

	A number of Synod congregations and their members felt the
effect of Hurricane Isabel as it moved through the Mid-Atlantic States
last week.

	More than 30 people -- but no LCMS members -- died from the
storm that made landfall Sept. 18 on North Carolinas Outer Banks and
quickly headed north. At one point, it was 700 miles wide. Damage
estimates exceed $1 billion.

	The category-two hurricane, downgraded from category five,
toppled trees and light structures, damaged countless others and caused
flooding as far north as Pennsylvania.

	Four days after the storm, news agencies said that almost 2
million customers still were without electricity, and long lines formed
in some places for water and ice.

	Sally Hiller, mission and ministry executive with the LCMS
Southeastern District, said that the homes of several members in Newport
News and Williamburg, Va., and Wilmington, N.C., sustained significant
damage. She also said that three member families lost their homes on
the Maryland shoreline.

	Hiller said that Resurrection Lutheran Church in Newport News
lost water service when a falling trees root system dislodged the water
line and that the homes of three pastors -- two in Virginia and one in
Maryland -- were damaged by falling trees.

	But she said that circuit counselors throughout the district
reported to the district office that they did not know of any deaths or
serious injuries among LCMS members.

	We are grateful that there was not more loss, Hiller said.
God is good - He quieted the winds and what we experienced was not what
it might have been.

	Officials of the LCMS Eastern District, which has congregations
in western Pennsylvania, and of the non-geographic English and SELC
Districts said that they were not aware of any storm damage or harm to
their members.

	Lutheran Disaster Response, a joint program of the Synod and the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, said in a Sept. 19 news release
that it was present and active with fellow voluntary agencies and
emergency management throughout the impacted area.

	To help those affected by the storm, send donations earmarked
Hurricane Isabel to LCMS World Relief, P.O. Box 66861, St. Louis, MO
63166-9810; or call the credit-card gift line at (888) 930-4438.

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

	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.

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