Dear Sisters and Brothers,

My name is Pastor Michael Stadie and I am the Program Director for Lutheran Disaster Response. The second week of July, I had the privilege to spend some time with Ron Turney and Heather Turney from Lutheran Ministries of Alabama (LMA). LMA is working with those impacted by tornadoes in April 2011 as well as January 2012.

The city of Clay and LMA have developed a great working relationship in helping the people in that community recover from the January storm. LMA has a disaster case manager that is able to spend one day a week in a space provided by the city. This location will help those impacted by the storms to have easier access to case management services, which in turn, will help speed their recovery.

After touring the area, it is clear that many people in Clay are just now beginning their road to recovery. As the pictures in this post indicate, some homeowners, primarily due to issues with their insurance companies, have not been able to clean up their property. Sadly, some families have had to abandon their homes. These situations reflect the scope and importance of the work being done here by LMA.

During my time there I had the opportunity to visit with Pastor Larry Richardson from Faith Lutheran in Clay, which has agreed to host volunteers working in the community. In coordination with LMA, the congregation has made a strong commitment to provide hospitality for those helping to clean up and rebuild Clay.

I was able to visit with Pastor Sandy Niiler, interim pastor at Christ Lutheran in Cullman, a congregation that was destroyed in the April 2011 tornado. Pastor Sandy gave me an update on the rebuilding process; groundbreaking was held about a week before I was there. As the congregation is rebuilding, they are also rethinking their role in the community and planning ways to become more active participants in their shared future. This is one of the amazing ways in the wake of tragedy that God brings hope, as a congregation severely impacted by a disaster finds a new sense of mission to its community.

My trip also involved visiting the Camp Noah at Pratt City area of Birmingham. Camp Noah is a program of Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota which works with children affected by disaster Volunteers from the local community and Maryland were having a great time working with 75 children attending the camp. Although the weather was very hot, you could feel the enthusiasm and excitement of the children as soon as you walked in the door of the community center. Little did they know that just a day or so later, First Lady Michelle Obama would be visiting; something that raised the excitement level through the roof. While I was not able to present for Mrs. Obama’s visit, I was so very happy that both LMA and Camp Noah were able to be in the national spotlight for the great work they have been doing helping the people of Alabama recover. (Please see a previous post about Mrs. Obama’s visit to the Camp Noah.)

After my time in Alabama, I attended the National Youth Gathering in New Orleans. Thank you to all who stopped to visit and sign up for the T-shirt raffle. It was great to hear that so many people from around the country know of the work of Lutheran Disaster Response.

As I continue my visits to other parts of the country that have been impacted by disasters, I will post additional updates.

The rains that struck northeastern Minnesota at the end of July are still having an effect on the surrounding communities. Below is an update on the situation of McGregor and Big Sandy Lake from Pr. Karen G. Bockelman, Disaster Coordination for the Northeastern Minnesota Synod (ELCA). It’s a good reminder that disaster response is a marathon not a sprint and that need will continue long after the initial impact of the rains.

REPORT: Big Sandy Lake, north of McGregor, is within the Mississippi River watershed and was very heavily hit by the rains/flooding in June. It took the Mississippi River some time to crest, resulting in weeks of standing water. Only now (a month later) is it safe to begin clean up in the McGregor area. It has taken this long for the water to go down. The presence of E. coli in the water (now tested safe) as well as major fish and snail kills have contributed to the delay. All but a couple small sections of road are now passable. However, the sheriff warns that any more significant rainfall will cause the lake to rise again and might lead to still more delay.

Aitkin County officials are preparing to start the clean up process on Monday, July 23. Grace Lutheran Church, which has been serving as an information site and supply depot, will be the staging area for volunteers.

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Regarding this work at Grace Lutheran Church, I have received a few email updates and pictures from a couple who have been working with the church in this response, which I include below. Their testimony is a great example of how we can accomplish more when we work together as the body of Christ.

“I am a member of Holy Family Catholic Church in McGregor, MN. My husband and I are volunteers assisting at Grace Lutheran [in McGregor, MN] in their mission to aid in flood relief services. The need for this service is evident in the numbers of people who continue to visit Grace Church’s relief services area. Grace Lutheran is a beautiful church with amenities well-suited to this effort and it’s congregation is a community-minded resource for our area. Grace Lutheran and Holy Family participate in and enjoy women’s functions together as well. Grace Lutheran truly “lives” its mission statement.”

A flooded cabin in Big Sandy Lake. Credit: Grace Lutheran Church/McGregor, MN.	Another flooded cabin in Big Sandy Lake. Credit: Grace Lutheran Church/McGregor, MN.
Flooded home on Long Pointe Rd on Big Sandy Lake. Credit: Shirley Scollard.	Tethered propane tank to prevent it causing damage. Credit: Shirley Scollard.

The participants at Camp Noah in Pratt City, an area of Birmingham, AL, had quite a surprise yesterday when First Lady Michelle Obama came to visit. The camp is a ministry begun by Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota in 1997 to help children affected by disasters process the experience. It was being hosted by Lutheran Ministries of Alabama in Pratt City as part of their response to the devastating tornado in April 2011.

The First Lady was able to greet many of the children presonally and even took home some of the healthy treats they were putting together as part of their program. It was a great experience for those present and a nice affirmation of the good work of Camp Noah. A wonderful example of how in times of disaster our church takes seriously the role of being there for the long haul, even after the news cameras have left. And sometimes when they come back.

To learn more about the good work being done see: Camp Noah | Lutheran Ministries of Alabama

You can also learn more about the even from local news coverage (short ads before most videos):

• Special visitor in Pratt City: Series of videos. The first one has a statement from Nancy Beers, Director of Camp Noah, and the second one has a good overview of the program.
• First Lady Obama visits Birmingham: Really like the statement of the First Lady at the end of the video. It’s great our church, through our disaster response work, can be a part of what she’s talking about.

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Gifts to ELCA Disaster Response allow the church to respond at home and globally in times of need. Donate now.

As drought continues to affect many of the areas across the US and abroad, I share the following new resource from the ELCA worship unit. It includes a suggested litany, prayers, hymns and readings around the theme of drought.

You can download the resource here: Worship Resources – Drought

For resources during other times of natural disaster please see the ELCA Worship page.

Lutheran Ministries of Alabama, the local Lutheran Disaster Response affiliate in Alabama, has partnered with the city of Clay to offer long-term recovery for victims of the January 2012 tornado that affected 30% of residence. This is a great example of both how disaster response is always a local response and how our role may not be as first responders but that Lutheran Disaster Response is there for the long-haul.

To learn more check out:

• the video report of the local NBC station: Long-term tornado recovery program underway in Clay
• the press release covering the partnership with an overview of Restore: LMA-CLAY Press Release about Restore

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Gifts to ELCA Disaster Response allow the church to respond at home and globally in times of need. Donate now.

The Asian Rural Institute, located in Tochigi, Japan, has been dedicated to training grassroots rural leaders from Asia, Africa and the Pacific since 1973. In this way they have been living out their calling as global neighbor. Yet, since the devastating earthquake and tsunami struck Japan in March 2011 they have also worked to make a concerted effort to be this same type of neighbor at home. The ELCA, through our Disaster Response program, has been working with them in this process, particularly helping to rebuild some of their damaged buildings so that they can continue to be a good neighbor. I thought it would be good to give a quick update on how ARI has been responding.

Rebuilding
New buildings that will help facilitate the work of ARI are hoped to be done in August. There will be new community space and classrooms in the new Koinonia (Greek word used to denote intimate community) House. The ARI shop has found a new space to help promote the products produced by the school. There is also a new Administration Annex to proived reception space for visitors, printing, meeting space and a computer lab. This space is made available in part through gifts to ELCA Disaster Response.

Is My Food/Soil/Water Radioactive
One of the affects of the devastating earthquake and tsunami was damage to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Since that time there has been a fear around radioactive contamination. The question of whether food, soil or water is safe is simple to answer, providing you have a $40,000 Gamma Spectrometer to read the level of radioactivity. Recognizing that this type of equipment is not sitting in everyone’s living room ARI has made their Gamma Spectrometer and training on how to use it freely available to people who want to test their soil, food and water. These people range from local residents testing their gardens, to farmers testing their soil for growing to a Christian school which tests its food each day. In this way they are helping their neighbors have a little more peace of mind in the midsts of a frightening situation.

I’ll Take My Oil Green
Another affect of the radiation leak at the Fukushima plant was Cesium contamination of soil, including at ARI. To address this situation in a sustainable way, ARI is growing soy beans. They are working with local farmers to do the same. The reason for this is that soy bean plants actually take Cesium out of the soil, storing it in their stalks, and leaving the oil void of radiation. So they are growing a crop that can be sold while addressing the problem of contaminated soil. Also, in a sign of knowing their community they are using soy beans, even though other plants like sunflowers have a higher absorption rate of Cesium. This is because the local farmers have a equipment and experience for growing soy beans but not for sunflowers. So they are meeting the needs of the neighbor by first knowning what these needs are and what resources the neighbor has.

Go With What You Know
With these new projects they are still keeping up their work training grassroots leaders around the wider region. They had 27 graduates in the class of 2012 from as far away as Brazil. We give thanks for this great ministry of being neighbor, whether that be across the street or around the globe.

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Gifts to ELCA Disaster Response allow the church to respond at home and globally in times of need. Donate now.