World Refugee Day is this Tuesday, June 20th. Lutheran Disaster Response will be taking this day, and all of this week to build awareness around global migration.
No one is untouched by the Global Migration Crisis. Follow along as we explore what is happening both domestically and internationally around global migration, how Lutheran Disaster Response has been involved over the last few years, and how you can be involved.
The 2017 hurricane season has officially begun. The season, which started June 1st, runs until the end of November. According to reports from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, we could be expecting a more active season this year.
As we prepare for this year’s Hurricane Season, Lutheran Disaster Response has taken the time to reflect on last year’s most impactful hurricane: Hurricane Matthew.
In early October, many of us watched as Hurricane Matthew devastated the Caribbean and powered its way towards the U.S. Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas braced themselves as Matthew moved in their direction. After the hurricane dispelled and rivers receded, thousands of people, still reeling from the impact, were left with the work of putting their lives back together.
Rev. Joseph Chu, Program Associate for Lutheran Disaster Response-US, reflects on a recent visit to the North Carolina; the state most affected by Hurricane Matthew in 2016.
On the evening of April 27, I had the opportunity to visit St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Lumberton, N.C. St Mark’s Lutheran Church is the only ELCA Lutheran congregation in the city. Like many of our congregations, they are in a place of transition: revisioning their future and place within the community.
I was greeted by Maxine Amos, Carol Kendall and Robert Arndt, three long-time members and leaders of St. Mark’s. They led me to the Fellowship Hall they have been using as the Disaster Relief Distribution Center for the neighborhood after Hurricane Matthew hit the area on October 8, 2016. We talked about how the Hurricane did not do much damage to the city. It was the flooding the day after that ravaged and drenched so many areas. Fortunately for St. Mark’s, the flood did not cause any damages to the church. However, several families from St. Mark suffered major losses. They described how, within hours of the event, they were contacted by Bishop Tim Smith of North Carolina Synod. He asked if they might be willing to open up their building as a major distribution center for survivors. They answered the call and the rest is history. Donations of food, water, toiletries, and clothing began to arrive daily, by the truckload from congregations across the ELCA. St. Mark’s community rose up and faced the challenge head-on with members volunteering in receiving, sorting and distributing the much-needed supplies for their neighbors.
They showed me pictures of the destructions endured by the city. and pointed to the remaining supplies of food, toiletries and other family items in the room. The place had been packed with food and relief items and traffic was very heavy for weeks and months. More than 5,000 people came to receive much-needed supplies. Understandably, a little over six months after the event, relief distribution has slowed down significantly.
As I listened to these three leaders, the question that came to mind was: “What makes this congregation answer the call to become a disaster relief distribution center in spite of the many challenges they face?”
“If we don’t do anything, we will die!” Said Maxine Amos. Wow! What an affirmation of faith! As a community of that is called by Christ, to live is not to over worry about our survival but to strive to be God’s Hands and Feet for the sake of this broken world.
Along with the efforts of St. Mark’s, with the support of Lutheran Disaster Response, Lutheran Services of Carolina’s has been granted the FEMA Disaster Case Management contract. During the April trip, the Lutheran Disaster Response team were providing Disaster Case Management training for over thirty Disaster Case Managers and staff.
Continue to pray for the people who have been affected by Hurricane Matthew. May God’s healing presence give them peace and hope in their time of need.
We still need your help. Gifts to “Hurricane Matthew” will be used to assist those affected by the hurricane until the response is complete.
Stay connected to the latest events and our response to this and other disasters:
When disaster strikes, it often affects whole communities. Even areas of a community not directly impacted by, say, a flood, will almost always be affected in other ways. There is a rippling effect.
One thing that we know is that faith communities will always be faced with new challenges as they seek to assist members and non-members alike. Communities look to the local faith communities for an enormous number of helping acts. But, the chances that one or more faith-based leaders there will have any training in disaster response or long-term recovery are quite slim.
That is why Lutheran Disaster Response of Eastern Pennsylvania developed a unique model for assisting affected communities. It is called Spiritual Partners. What they do is all in the name. They partner with local pastors and congregation to attend to the spiritual needs of their members and their community.
Lutheran Disaster Response’s Spiritual Partners serve as coaches and guides for local pastors. Their work focuses on helping local churches to become effective responders and long-term recovery partners. Spiritual Partners are highly trained disaster experts who help these local churches assess and plan their role in the community’s recovery. They are guides in making critical decisions, but always the local pastors and their congregations plan their own course through response and recovery.
In the usual model, one of the challenges to disaster spiritual care responders is that they are stranger – well-intentioned, but still strangers. No one knows the affected community and its people better than those who live there. An “outsider” cannot approach this deep and rich knowledge. Yet, as I said, the chances of having disaster trained leaders in an affected community are pretty small. Together, though, when the disaster knowledge of the Spiritual Partner combines with the knowledge of the local pastor and his or her congregation, a dynamic and highly effective partnership emerges.
Lutheran Disaster Response – Eastern Pennsylvania (LDR-EPA and its Spiritual Partners service is a ministry of Lutheran Congregational Services, the agency designated by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America’s (ELCA) Lutheran Disaster Response program to oversee disaster preparedness and response for Lutherans in 24 counties of eastern Pennsylvania. Lutheran Congregational Services is part of the larger Liberty Lutheran Services. LDR–EPA works with congregations, local and federal agencies, and community organizations to help prepare for and respond to natural or human-caused disasters such as large apartment fires, severe storms, or terror attacks. LDR-EPA serves 24counties in eastern Pennsylvania.
Each of the Spiritual Partners has a region which he or she serves. When disaster strikes, the assigned Spiritual Partner contacts the local Lutheran church pastors (and other denominations if appropriate) and offers our services. Often, this will happen within hours of the disaster itself. If accepted, the Spiritual Partner becomes a fellow sojourner from the early response to the conclusion of long-term community recovery. The relationship may last for months or even years.
Another of the special services of Spiritual Partners is that through their connections with leaders in affected communities, timely and accurate information about needs will be communicated back to the LDR-EPA Coordinator, Julia Menzo. It is often just as important to know what is not needed as what is needed – and when. Julia, then, through LDR-EPA’s depth of experience in long-term recovery and wide network of disaster partners can efficiently connect pastors with the appropriate material and people resources. Through that network, she can coordinate a corps of volunteers to assist with recovery, and provide congregations with the specific training and resources needed to best serve impacted communities. And, of course, all of this happens in conjunction with the guidance of the Spiritual Partners.
For more information about the LDR-EPA Spiritual Partners Service, go to http://www.libertylutheran.org/disaster-recovery-philadelphia-pa. Or, if you prefer, you may contact Julia at JMenzo@libertylutheran.org or me (Tom Kadel) at thomaskadel@gmail.com.
Pastor Tom Kadel is a Supervisor with the Spiritual Partners program. This post originally appears on Sacred Turf.
Continue to pray for all affected by disasters, may God’s healing presence comfort them in their time of need.
Thanks to generous, undesignated donations, Lutheran Disaster response is able to respond quickly and effectively to disasters around the globe. Your gifts to Lutheran Disaster Response will be used where there is the greatest need.
To learn more about global migration and what Lutheran Disaster Response is doing:
On April 25, 2015, around 11:55 a.m. local time, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake shook Nepal, with its epicenter approximately 43 miles from its capital city, Kathmandu. The earthquake was felt around the whole country, but the Kathmandu valley and western region of the country were hit hardest.
On May 12, 2015, just a little more than two weeks later, around 12:50 p.m. local time, another earthquake struck Nepal approximately 47 miles northeast of its capital, Kathmandu – an area already affected by the April 25 earthquake. The 7.3-magnitude earthquake, while still considered an aftershock of the previous quake, was followed by several strong aftershocks that continued to be felt in the region. More than 8,460 people were killed and more than 480,000 homes damaged or destroyed.
From the very beginning, Lutheran Disaster Response has been working with a network of partners who are actively engaged with communities on the ground. Within days of the first and second earthquake, resources were mobilized. In an interview, Dr. Prabin Manandhar, the Country Director for the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Nepal and a native of the country, said, “The earthquake happened at 11:55 a.m. and I was in the office by 2 o’clock.” Immediate distribution of ready-to-eat food, blankets, and hygiene kits was provided to households. Water filtration units and personal care kits were also a priority in the beginning stages of recovery.
Being dedicated to more than just the immediate recovery, cash-for-work programs were initiated for debris cleanup and water maintenance. Small grants and training for self-help groups were organized and training in agriculture, livestock support and income generation took place in rural areas. Because much of the land was disrupted by the earthquake, support was given to farmers with seed distribution, irrigation projects, and soil management. Ten mini tractors were also supplied.
Now, 2 years later, we are still working with The Lutheran World Federation (LWF), United Mission to Nepal (UMN), Shanti Nepal and Lutheran World Relief (LWR), helping to rebuild communities and improve lives. While recovery of physical property is important for the safety of families who were affected by the earthquakes, care for the all-around well-being of those impacted is something that cannot be overlooked. “Before any of us, it is the people saving people. That happens not when you have resilient buildings,” Dr. Manandhar said. ” That happens when you have resilient people.” To that end, Lutheran Disaster Response continues to engage in many forms.
Rebuilding homes*
*Most of our rebuilding efforts are being focused on the Dalit community in Nepal. The Dalit community is the lowest caste in the Hindu caste system and tends to be more vulnerable than other communities.
In devotions the morning of the anniversary, Rev. Y. Franklin Ishida, Area Director for Asia and the Pacific, said, “Sighing is an expression of uncontrolled letting go. In Nepal, the sighs of the people are heard, by us and by others.” Thanks to the generosity of individuals and congregations all across this church, Lutheran Disaster Response is responding to the sighs of the people by investing $2.1 million in the second phase of recovery.
In a world full of groaning or sighing, we are thankful for the opportunity to accompany the people of Nepal through their sighs of suffering and pray that we all are opened to God’s sighs of hope and new birth. As a church, we have been and will continue to walk with our siblings in Nepal, responding to the needs of our neighbors.
Continue to pray for the people affected by the earthquakes, especially as they work to rebuild their homes and lives. Pray for staff that will work alongside survivors in communities affected.
Your gifts are still needed. Gifts designated for the “Nepal Area Earthquake” will be used in full (100 percent) to assist those directly impacted until the response is complete. Gifts from people like you allow us to continue to serve those in need.
To learn more about the situation and the ELCA’s response:
All photos by ACT/ Paul Jeffrey
Civil war and famine in South Sudan have caused nearly 5 million people to be food insecure. Rates of acute malnutrition are well over the emergency thresholds in most of the country. This is the first internationally declared famine anywhere in the world in the last six years.
This crisis has driven about 100,000 people to flee their homes since the beginning of the year. More than 90 percent of them are women and children. With the influx of refugees, the resources of neighboring host countries are running thin.
Lutheran Disaster Response is committed to walking with our brothers and sisters affected by the crisis in South Sudan by responding within the country as well as across its borders. Because we are a church working with companion churches and other ecumenical partners in the region, we are prepared to provide care, support and hope. We need you to join us in this effort.
Operating through local partners, we will accompany survivors through food distribution, temporary shelter, water and sanitation, and psycho-social support. Your gifts are needed to provide this lifesaving aid. This immediate aid is being linked to a longer-term commitment to South Sudan by ELCA World Hunger to build up resilient communities and provide health care, and by ELCA’s Global Church Sponsorship in completion of a ministry center including a health clinic.
Be a part of the response:
Pray:
Pray for those affected by the violence that they may be granted peace and healing. Visit the Lutheran Disaster Response resource page for worship resources.
Give:
Your gifts designated for the South Sudan Relief will be used in full (100 percent) to assist those impacted until the response is complete. Gifts from people like you allow us to accompany those who are suffering.
Connect:
To learn more about the situation and the ELCA’s response:
JOIN THE AMMPARO MOVEMENT
Last year, the Churchwide Assembly overwhelmingly adopted the AMMPARO strategy, Accompanying Migrant Minors with Protection, Advocacy, Representation and Opportunity. This holistic, whole church response to accompany migrant children and families from Central America has birthed a movement in the ELCA and you are invited to join us! How?
ACCOMPANIMENT: One hundred eighty-five thousand families, 185,957 to be exact, have entered the United States on our southern border in the last 3 years alone. There are another 168,203 unaccompanied children that entered during this same period. Your congregation can accompany thee families and children as a Welcoming Congregation which makes a public commitment to provide pastoral and physical accompaniment of children and families through the difficult transition into life in the US. Since the assembly, the first Welcoming Congregations have been established in six synods for a total of 35 Welcoming Congregations from California to Texas to Wisconsin and Illinois.
ADVOCATE: Now more than ever, our voices as people of faith are urgently needed to protect the human rights of children and families as they reach our border. Go to ELCA Advocacy for the most recent action alerts.
LEARN about the all important work that our companions are doing in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala to address the root causes of migration by providing vocational training and psychological assistance to youth deported Mexico and the US. A short video of Suyapa Ucles, Program Director, CASM, Honduras is on the AMMPARO webpage under videos.
PRAY for migrant children and families and for guidance for the ELCA in all its expressions to be faithful to God’s call.
GIVE to AMMPARO to support work by companions in Central America and partners in the US through the ELCA.
For more information about AMMPARO, visit our website or contact Mary Campbell, Program Director at mary.campbell@elca.org
Follow AMMPARO on Facebook