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Lutheran Disaster Response

Situation Report: Haiti Earthquake

 

Be a part of the response:

Pray
Please pray for people who have been affected by the earthquake in Haiti. May God’s healing presence give them peace and hope in their time of need.

Give
Thanks to generous donations, Lutheran Disaster Response is able to respond quickly and effectively to disasters around the globe. Your gifts to Lutheran Disaster Response (Haiti Crisis) will be used in full (100%) to assist survivors in Haiti until the response is complete.

Connect
To learn more about the situation and the ELCA’s response:

  • Sign up to receive Lutheran Disaster Response alerts.
  • Check the Lutheran Disaster Response blog.
  • Like Lutheran Disaster Response on Facebook, follow @ELCALDR on Twitter, and follow @ELCA_LDR on Instagram.
  • Download the situation report and share as a PDF.

Hurricane Sandy: One Year Later

nj damage clean up - hurricane sandyOne year ago, Hurricane Sandy swept through the Caribbean and northeastern United States, bringing heavy rain and strong winds. The areas were impacted with widespread flooding and fallen trees, which damaged and destroyed homes and businesses. Areas were without power and heat for several weeks. Water supplies were contaminated and the number of outbreaks of cholera increased.

People like you quickly responded with prayers and financial support to help the church assist our brothers and sisters through their recovery and rebuilding. Through your generous gifts, Lutheran Disaster Response raised more than $4 million to assist with Hurricane Sandy recovery. And because we are a trusted partner, the American Red Cross granted us $1.9 million to support our commitment to assist the millions of people affected by Hurricane Sandy. This grant has enabled us to expand our response efforts.

Working with our partners in the U.S. and in the Caribbean, we have played an active role in the recovery process.

Maryland – Working with Diakon Social Ministries, we have served 81 households, rehabbed 52 homes, helped in the construction of two homes, and have begun construction of six other homes in Maryland. Disaster case managers are matching client needs for counseling, health issues or food support. More than 130 volunteers have given their time and energy to help this community rebuild.

New Jersey – Partnering with Lutheran Social Ministries of New Jersey(LSM/NJ), we have provided more than 30 unmet-needs grants to help families cover hurricane-related expenses not covered by FEMA or insurance, such as rental assistance and repair costs. A volunteer hosting site at Reformation Lutheran Church, in partnership with Long Branch Covenant Church, has housed more than 125 volunteers, culminating in more than 896 volunteer hours for site support. We also helped bring Camp Noah to New Jersey – a fun and safe environment that has helped more than 90 children heal after Hurricane Sandy.

New York – With Lutheran Social Services of New York, Lutheran Disaster Response is providing case management for more than 260 families to assist them with unmet needs. We’ve also provided lodging for more than 60 volunteers, culminating in more than 1,400 hours of rebuilding in Queens, N.Y.

Cuba – Working with the Cuban Council of Churches, a partnership of 20 Protestant churches, Lutheran Disaster Response provided food security, water, shelter, roof reconstruction and livelihood restoration to more than 1,000 families.

Haiti –In collaboration with The Lutheran World Federation and the Lutheran Church in Haiti, Lutheran Disaster Response worked to drain excess water to help reduce the risk of cholera outbreaks following the hurricane.

Recovery from disaster carries on long after the headlines change, and so does our work. In New York, New Jersey and Maryland, we continue to provide volunteer coordination, home reconstruction management and disaster case managers, who advocate for individual families’ needs.

Please continue to pray for the people and communities affected by Hurricane Sandy as they continue to restore their homes, lives and hope.

Haiti: Gressier Village Dedication

Stone garden at Gressier Model Village.

Stone garden at Gressier Model Village.

This past Friday, February 14, the Gressier Model Village in Haiti was dedicated. This idea, implementation and finally realization of this model village has been a major part of the ELCA’s long-standing commitment to walk with our companions in Haiti, the Lutheran Church in Haiti (ELH), in their response to the devastating earthquake which struck the country in January 2010.

This model village is located in Gressier, southwest of the country’s capital Port-au-Prince. This area was heavily damaged after the earthquake and many people lost whatever home they had at that time. The village is an opportunity to not only rebuild the homes of those left most vulnerable after the earthquake but to also build up their community. The eventual 150 families living here will have eco-friendly homes, using things like rainwater catchment systems and solar panels to lessen their impact on and financial strain from services. They will also have a community space in which to gather and to share their voice, as each member has a say in the running of the village.

This example of what can be born from destruction, is an beautiful glimpse of Easter in this season of Lent. And of a church always being made new, never defined by the rubble but by the resurrection.

To hear one resident’s story, read this great feature from the Lutheran World Federation: A New Home She Never Dared to Hope for in Haiti

New Resource: Hurricane Sandy Situation Report #3

A new situation report giving an update on the situation in the northeastern United States and Caribbean as well as the ELCA’s response is now available. Some of the highlights are the joint Lutheran World Federation-ELCA delegation which visited New York and New Jersey in late November/early December as well as the strong outpouring of support from ELCA members, with donations topping $2.4 million. Please help us spread the word of how the ELCA is engaged in the response and what people can do to help.

Here is a link for your convenience: Hurricane Sandy Situation Report #3 (January 11, 2013)

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Gifts to ELCA Disaster Response allow the church to respond domestically and internationally in times of need. Donate now.

Haiti: Three Years Later

Today marks three years since the massive earthquake struck Haiti in January 2010. Anniversary moments like this can strike us in a number of ways, as we are called to remember and reflect back. For some this moment calls to mind the tragedy of the event: the 220,000 left dead, the over 300,000 injured and the 1.5 million people left homeless. One can also recall the struggling infrastructure of an impoverished country brought to a standstill or an international community scrambling to respond. Adding to the tragedy, one can also recall the number of subsequent disasters that have stuck the country, from Hurricane Tomas (November 2010) to Tropical Storm Isaac (August 2012) to Hurricane Sandy (October 2012).

When one looks back in this way it a can all seem a little overwhelming and something better forgotten or ignored. Disasters have a way of doing that. They can tax us as they not only bring their own set of problems to the communities they affect, but also have a way of heightening problems that existed beforehand. This is particularly true of those communities and locales which exist in a state of poverty. And so the double tragedy of disaster: those who least can afford the costs of a disaster are the ones most affected by it.

It is a depressing and devastating place to be. And it is here, in these moments of despair and tragedy, that the church is most relevant to the response. For the church can name and acknowledge the reality of these situations while continuing to claim that they are not the final word. That, like many moments in our lives, in the midst of these tragedies God is still present weeping with us at the pain of the events and also calling us to new life in the midst of them.

As we look back on the past three years in Haiti this call to new life urges us to also look forward, formed but not defined by these events. In Haiti this can be seen in the outpouring of support from around the world to come to the aid of our brothers and sisters in need (the ELCA alone saw an outpouring of gifts topping $13 million). It can also been seen in the thoughtful and intentional focus on projects funded by the ELCA that build on assets already available in the community, helping them invest in their own future.

Here are some of these opportunities. A poultry project started by Lutheran Church of Haiti that has brought stability to prices and therefore hope to those in the program. There is the vocational training center where local Haitians are partnering with companions from the U.S. to learn trades that can be used within their local communities. There is the model village in Gressier, which will provide sustainable (financially and environmentally) housing for 200 families structured with community input and control. There is also the cholera work of The Lutheran World Federation and Lutheran Church in Haiti, working to inform and protect local communities from disease unknown to the region before the earthquake.

It is also the presence of a young Lutheran church in Haiti finding its voice as it brings God’s words of hope and healing to God’s communities in need. This is summed up beautifully in the powerful words of the Lutheran Church of Haiti’s president the Rev. Joseph Livenson Lauvanus: “We Haitians will not be defined by the rubble, but by restoration, for we are a people of the resurrection.”

As we take this moment to remember, may we all be led to heed and celebrate the message of hope borne in these words.

Please take a moment of silence and/or prayer at 4:34 p.m. local Haiti time (EST), exactly three years after the earthquake struck.

New Resource: Hurricane Sandy Situation Report #2

A new situation report giving an update on the situation in the northeaster United States and Caribbean as well as the ELCA’s response is now available. Please help us spread the word of how the ELCA is engaged in the response and what people can do to help.

Here is a link for your convenience: Hurricane Sandy Situation Report #2 (November 9, 2012)

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Gifts to ELCA Disaster Response allow the church to respond domestically and internationally in times of need. Donate now.