Sunday, September 18, 2005
Update from Pr. David re hurricane relief
Some of you have either asked what is going on down near the path of Hurricane Katrina or have sent dollars to help victims impacted by this major disaster. You will remember that we at Zion Lutheran Church are on the periphery of the damage. Damage in Silverhill itself is minimal. Thirty miles to our west is significant damage, the closer to the Gulf, the worse it is. There continues to be local organization to respond to the disaster and a new local church organization to deal with disaster is emerging--more on that when it happens.
Our church council has decided on the following strategy: help those that we know with specific needs within our congregation or our extended family. We met this noon after morning worship and have identified three families with virtually nothing left after the hurricane and one family with maybe a salvageable shell of a house. Remember that many people had been advised to take out no flood insurance by their mortgage agents because "it hadn't flooded there for 500 years." Bottom line: many of the refugee/evacuee households have literally nothing and insurance will not cover and resources are limited. Three of these homes are located in Louisiana and one in Alabama.
Zion has allocated a grant of $1000 to each of these four families that we know specifically about. We have allocated an additional $1000 to a church we have had a relationship with for perhaps 80 years located near the Gulf in extreme southern Mobile County--the damage there is as bad as in Mississippi. Prior to this we provided a couple hundred dollars worth of socks to a local nursing home impacted by folks being placed there from Mississippi.
Here's our situation. These dollars will be appreciated when received, but the need is so big and the resources so little. Would you or your church consider taking on support of a family for 6 months or a year. The economy is in a shambles--business and jobs will not generate income for at least the mid-term in most cases. Mobile County just west of our county of Baldwin declared EVERYONE ELIGIBLE FOR FOODSTAMPS REGARDLESS OF SO-CALLED INCOME within the last couple days. The need is great. If we could provide any income stream to these families it would help so much. During the Vietnam and Hmong refugee days many of our congregations supported a refugee family for a year or so--I think the time has come again. Our focus is on these four families, but if God should choose to bless this idea with additional funds, we can probably find dozens in similar situations.
We would be happy to team with you and connect you with a specific family or receive funds and relay them to a specific family for support. How long? I just don't know, but I think we are looking maybe longer than a year, but a commitment of even 6 months at this time will accomplish much for the name of Christ. If you can help us, would you get back to me ASAP.
--Pastor Dave, Zion Lutheran Church, Silverhill, AL
Our church council has decided on the following strategy: help those that we know with specific needs within our congregation or our extended family. We met this noon after morning worship and have identified three families with virtually nothing left after the hurricane and one family with maybe a salvageable shell of a house. Remember that many people had been advised to take out no flood insurance by their mortgage agents because "it hadn't flooded there for 500 years." Bottom line: many of the refugee/evacuee households have literally nothing and insurance will not cover and resources are limited. Three of these homes are located in Louisiana and one in Alabama.
Zion has allocated a grant of $1000 to each of these four families that we know specifically about. We have allocated an additional $1000 to a church we have had a relationship with for perhaps 80 years located near the Gulf in extreme southern Mobile County--the damage there is as bad as in Mississippi. Prior to this we provided a couple hundred dollars worth of socks to a local nursing home impacted by folks being placed there from Mississippi.
Here's our situation. These dollars will be appreciated when received, but the need is so big and the resources so little. Would you or your church consider taking on support of a family for 6 months or a year. The economy is in a shambles--business and jobs will not generate income for at least the mid-term in most cases. Mobile County just west of our county of Baldwin declared EVERYONE ELIGIBLE FOR FOODSTAMPS REGARDLESS OF SO-CALLED INCOME within the last couple days. The need is great. If we could provide any income stream to these families it would help so much. During the Vietnam and Hmong refugee days many of our congregations supported a refugee family for a year or so--I think the time has come again. Our focus is on these four families, but if God should choose to bless this idea with additional funds, we can probably find dozens in similar situations.
We would be happy to team with you and connect you with a specific family or receive funds and relay them to a specific family for support. How long? I just don't know, but I think we are looking maybe longer than a year, but a commitment of even 6 months at this time will accomplish much for the name of Christ. If you can help us, would you get back to me ASAP.
--Pastor Dave, Zion Lutheran Church, Silverhill, AL
