wfn.org | Lutherans Continue Response To Red Lake Community

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

April 4, 2005

Lutherans Continue Response To Red Lake Community
05-055-MRC

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutheran Disaster Response has provided
$25,000 to meet the needs of people in the Red Lake community,
where a student killed five other students, a teacher and school
security guard, and wounded several others at Red Lake High
School, Red Lake, Minn., before killing himself on March 21.
Other victims included the student's grandfather and the
grandfather's woman friend.
     Funds were sent to "our disaster response partner" Lutheran
Social Services of Minnesota, St. Paul, which is extending
professional grief and trauma counseling services in Red Lake,
said Heather L. Feltman, director for Lutheran Disaster Response
-- a ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA) and Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.  Lutheran Social
Services of Minnesota is coordinating disaster response efforts,
she said.
     Feltman said the grant will provide financial assistance to
people experiencing loss of income from the impact of the
tragedy.  Funds will help "cover the cost of transportation,
child care and additional medical expenses, for example.  The
grant will also support the recovery and healing process for
survivors, care givers and others impacted in the Red Lake
community, and it will support programs that address anxiety
being experienced by the community and provide anti-racism and
crisis-preparedness training for congregations and schools."
     According to Marilyn M. Sorenson, director for American
Indian and Alaska Native ministries, ELCA Commission for
Multicultural Ministries, the community of Red Lake "is still in
a state of anger, shock and disbelief.	And, among those
feelings, there remains a sense of hospitality."
     On March 28 at First Lutheran Church, Bemidji, Minn.,
Sorenson met with members of the Red Lake community, local
Lutheran pastors and local ecumenical church leaders, disaster
response personnel and others to discuss the needs of people.
"The best advice right now is to listen to people in the
community," she said, adding that "being present with people is
so important."
_ _ _
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/ddrgive

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