Zenobia Bridges Washington recently spearheaded one of the first mission outreach projects for 2017 at Calvary Lutheran Church in Baton Rouge, LA. Rev. Gary Peterson is the pastor of Calvary. Members of the congregation contributed and provided 50 individual Blessing Bags filled with basic hygienic supplies for women and children who have escaped situations of domestic violence and abuse within their households.
Continue reading “Blessing Bags for Victims of Domestic Violence”
Rev. Richard Ziehr and his wife, Connie, celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on August 25. They currently reside in Texas, although Rev. Ziehr’s entire ministry was in the Southern District.
At the request of the Texas District, The Southern District has deployed our Disaster Relief Coordinator, Pastor Ed Brashier to Corpus Christi TX. This area is the site of Hurricane Harvey’s land fall. He will be coordinating clearing of fallen trees. Please pray for the safety of the work crews. You may also support their work CLICK HERE or go to https://www.southernlcms.org/disaster-relief-donations/ to give online. You can send your checks also by mail to: Southern District – 100 Mission Dr. – Slidell LA 70460. Please mark them for Harvey Relief.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION ON DONATIONS
The overwhelming generosity of the public is greatly appreciated, however, the influx of donated items exceeds the needs of the impacted communities at this time. Therefore, the State of Texas is asking that you please DO NOT donate unsolicited goods such as used clothing, miscellaneous household items,
medicine, or perishable foodstuffs at this time.
As we continue to receive unsolicited donations, supporting agencies must redirect staff and volunteers away from providing direct services to survivors in order to sort, package, transport, warehouse, and distribute items that may not meet the needs of disaster survivors. If you have already collected items for Hurricane Harvey, please consider donating them to a nonprofit
If you have already collected items for Hurricane Harvey, please consider donating them to a nonprofit organization in your community that accepts in-kind donations.
The most effective way for individuals and private sector partners to support disaster survivors in their recovery is to donate money and time to trusted, reputable, voluntary or charitable organizations. Cash donations offer voluntary agencies and faith-based organizations the most flexibility to address urgently
developing needs, as well as needs that arise over the coming months and years. With cash in hand, these organizations can obtain needed resources locally which will help local economies recover.
GIVE: Cash gifts are needed the most at this time. 100% percent of your gifts will go to the affected areas. CLICK HERE or go to https://www.southernlcms.org/disaster-relief-donations/ to give online. You can send your checks also by mail, to: Southern District – 100 Mission Dr. – Slidell LA 70460. Please mark them for Harvey Relief.
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
PRAY for those in need and for those who serve them with the love of Jesus.
GIVE money and other items when the call goes out for them. Cash gifts are needed the most at this time. 100% percent of your gifts will go to the affected areas. CLICK HERE or go to https://www.southernlcms.org/disaster-relief-donations/ to give online. You can send your checks also by mail to: Southern District – 100 Mission Dr. – Slidell LA 70460. Please mark them for Harvey Relief. CLICK HERE for a list of care boxes that will be needed. Please do not send them until they are needed. We do not want to overwhelm the centers with items they do not need.
VOLUNTEER next week after the search and rescue phase is over we will be providing contact information to sign up to help. Watch our website – SouthernLCMS.org, Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/www.southernlcms.org – Southern District-LCMS, and Twitter @SDLCMS for more information.
What we currently know about the LCMS family:
No reports of issues in the Southern District
Texas District
in Houston (preliminary numbers):
Our Shepherd, Crosby, received significant water and may be completely lost
5 congregations have damage
9 pastors and 16 church workers have flooded homes
574 church members from the area have flooded properties
Lutheran South Academy and Pilgrim Houston were hit hard by flooding, and many staff affected
More areas are under assessment.
Our Southern District Disaster Relief team has been asked by the Texas District to provide our experience and resources, especially in the area of organization and management of volunteer work camps. That team consists of Dave Buss, Camp Restore-Baton Rouge LA, David Goodine, Kurt Jostes and Kathy Wendling of RAI and Camp Restore-New Orleans LA, Ed Brashier, Shepherd’s Heart Ministries-Gardendale AL, and Kurt Schultz. Preliminary work has started and a meeting of partners will be held next Wednesday in Houston.
It is important that we support the coordinated efforts of the Texas District. This will allow for the best stewardship of our resources. The volunteer camps will triage the needs. This order is not in order of importance but focuses on building greater capacity of care. We are enabling our churches and their people to be servants to their neighbors. The camps will also be centers of distribution to meet the basic and immediate needs of all people.
This important post is an update on the Southern District response to Harvey relief efforts.
I know many of you have been praying for those in the path of the storm and are anxiously waiting to know how you can help. I have waited with this information because of the uniqueness of this storm. We are still three days away from it leaving our area. We continue to be in touch with our Louisiana folks as the ride out the remainder of Harvey.
Our Southern District Disaster Relief team has been asked by the Texas District to provide our experience and resources, especially in the area of organization and management of volunteer work camps. That team consists of Dave Buss, Camp Restore-Baton Rouge LA, David Goodine and Kurt Jostes of RAI and Camp Restore-New Orleans LA, Ed Brashier, Shepherd’s Heart Ministries-Gardendale AL, and myself. Preliminary work has started and a meeting of partners will be held next Wednesday in Houston.
It is important that we support the coordinated efforts of the Texas District. This will allow for the best stewardship of our resources. We will not be neglecting the needs of Louisiana and we will respond as we become aware of them. The volunteer camps will triage the needs. This order is not in order of importance but focuses on building greater capacity of care. We are enabling our churches and their people to be servants to their neighbors. The camps will also be centers of distribution to meet the basic and immediate needs of all people. Very early numbers from Texas are reporting over 105 members have water in their homes. Many members evacuated from their homes (over 30). Church damage – 6 with roof leaks, 3 with minor damage, 2 flooded. Pastors’ homes flooded – 5. Staff and teachers evacuated – 3 Staff and teachers flooded – 3. 30,000 people in shelters. These numbers will increase as assessment continues.
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
PRAY for those in need and for those who serve them with the love of Jesus.
GIVE money and other items when the call goes out for them. Cash gifts are needed the most at this time. 100% percent of your gifts will go to the affected areas. CLICK HERE or go to https://www.southernlcms.org/disaster-relief-donations/ to give online. You can send your checks also by mail to: Southern District – 100 Mission Dr. – Slidell LA 70460. Please mark them for Harvey Relief. CLICK HERE for a list of care boxes that will be needed. Please do not send them until they are needed. We do not want to overwhelm the centers with items they do not need.
VOLUNTEER next week after the search and rescue phase is over we will be providing contact information to sign up to help. Watch our website – SouthernLCMS.org, Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/www.southernlcms.org – Southern District-LCMS, and Twitter @SDLCMS for more information.
I thank all of you for your partnership in the Gospel and your generous sharing of Jesus’ love, mercy, and compassion.
Rev. Kurtis D. Schultz
President, LCMS Southern District