| September 1, 2005
MEMORANDUM
To:
All Mid-South Pastors and Congregations
From: President Ken Lampe
Re:
Hurricane Katrina Relief Efforts
The devastation caused by hurricane
Katrina is mind-boggling. The
questions of how to help have been on the hearts and minds of many people
in our Mid-South District. When
a disaster of this proportion occurs it is difficult to know where to
begin. The following is
the information we have as of Thursday morning. I encourage you to share it with people in your congregation
as you have the opportunity and as we find out more in the weeks ahead
we will keep you informed and up-dated.
LCMS World Relief has on their
website a bulletin insert which can be downloaded and used this Sunday. To get the insert go to www.lcms.org click on Ministry Areas and then
click on LCMS World Relief and Human Care. The insert gives information from the Southern District and
where to send your financial gifts.
Gifts should be sent to:
LCMS World Relief & Human Care, P.O. Box 66861 St. Louis,
Mo 63166-9810. Checks should be marked Hurricane 2005 or Hurricane Katrina. For anyone wishing to contribute by
credit card the credit card line is 1-888-930-4438.
Thrivent is doing a $1 match for
every $2 contributed up to one million dollars. This money will be divided between entities from the LCMS,
ELCA, and WELS, but I don’t know how it will be divided.
LCMS World Relief & Human Care
also informed me that people wishing to volunteer should check with
the Mercy Network. Their
website is: www.themercynetwork.org. Once the Southern District is
able to establish a temporary office we will forward to you any information
about when and how volunteers can help our Lutheran Churches and Schools.
I realize that everyone wants to
help immediately as we see the needs and devastation on television.
This is what I would expect from the members of our Mid-South District
who have regularly responded with love and concern for those in need. At this time it is our advice that in
order to make the most effective use of our relief efforts, those who
want to personally provide help beyond financial contributions wait
until those efforts can be coordinated either through the Southern District
or through LCMS World Relief & Human Care. For example, efforts
are underway to see how the Lutheran schools in our district can provide
help by admitting, on a temporary basis, students from schools devastated
by the hurricane. Principals have received more information
about this. As we become
aware of other coordinated opportunities we will pass them along to
you.
Until then, if you have members
who are willing to provide temporary housing, it seems that the best
thing to do is to get the word out locally so people who have come to
your area can hear about it. Currently
we have no information on the names or locations of families who have
come to our district, but we know they are here.
In the bulletin insert from LCMS
World Relief, Southern District President Kurt Schulz states that about
70 of their 140 congregations have been affected by the hurricane. Please keep all those affected by this
devastating storm in your prayers.
KL:p |
THE MID-SOUTH DISTRICT
1675 Wynne Road
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