More than 360 youth from SEPA and New Jersey Synods helped clean up beaches and homes affected by Hurricane Sandy on April 27. Get a glimpse of their work in a video published by Liberty Lutheran Services and a photo slideshow, after the jump.
Category: Disaster Response
May 2, 2013
Youth Lend Helping Hands
More than 360 youth from SEPA and New Jersey Synods helped clean up beaches and homes affected by Hurricane Sandy on April 27. Get a glimpse of their work in a video published by Liberty Lutheran Services and a photo slideshow, after the jump.
November 13, 2012
How to Help: Flood Buckets and Hygiene Kits
Want to help people affected by Hurricane Sandy? Lutheran Disaster Response-Eastern PA is now collecting supplies for cleaning "flood" buckets and hygiene kits, as well as completed kits, and non-perishable foods. Donations are being collected at New Hanover Lutheran Church; St. Michael, Sellersville; St. Matthew, Chester Springs; Advent, West Chester; Christ, Kulpsville and St. Timothy, Fox Chase. Click through to download supply lists and complete collection hours.
November 2, 2012
Bucks Lutherans Cook Up a Storm for Hurricane Shelter
Despite being without power since Monday night, St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Ferndale, Bucks County has been cooking up a storm. Pastor Bill Rex and a crew of volunteers have been cooking hot dinners each evening for upwards of 225 people at an emergency Red Cross shelter established at the nearby Palisades High School.
“We’ve been cooking for more than 200 people with two gas stoves, sometimes by flashlight,” Pastor Rex reports. The congregation’s small kitchen has kept operating with a Red Cross supplied generator to power the ovens but light, and space, are limited. “People at the shelter ask me why we do this,” Rex says. “I just tell them that Jesus tells us to.”
October 31, 2012
Responding to Hurricane Sandy
"Now that Hurricane Sandy has passed, our hearts and prayers go out to all who have suffered loss of life, property, or have been traumatized by this historic storm," Bishop Burkat writes in a message to the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod. Lutheran Disaster Response-Eastern PA is working with many partners, from other denominations and from non-religious relief agencies, to help those facing the devastation of this storm. Click through for a prayer suitable for All Saints Sunday and information about volunteering.
October 29, 2012
Hurricane Update Oct. 29
From Bishop Burkat: We are now experiencing a storm of unprecedented fury, strength and breadth. Extraordinary measures of evacuation, road closures, public transit cessation, and the necessity of community shelters are indications of the serious peril caused by the hurricane called Sandy.
Communication and collaboration among our faith partners has been swift and effective. Lutheran Disaster Response-Eastern PA has been monitoring the storm's progress in cooperation with the Red Cross and other voluntary organizations in Southeastern Pennsylvania. The SEPA Synod has been in constant contact with Lutheran leaders through e-news and website updates. LDR will be mobilizing resources and volunteers once the storm passes and needs are known.
October 28, 2012
Hurricane Update Oct. 28
As Hurricane Sandy approaches, Bishop Burkat and your Synod staff are praying for our congregations and leaders and for all who are in the path of this serious storm. Lutheran Disaster Response-Eastern PA suggests that in preparation for the storm that may disrupt our communications systems, take the time this evening to "touch-base" with your neighbors and local community. In times of crisis, these are the folks who will be most able to help us and who we will be most able to help.
October 27, 2012
Prayer, Information for Hurricane Sandy
Forecast models indicate that Southeastern Pennsylvania will be affected by Hurricane Sandy, with wind and rain beginning Sunday and the brunt of the storm coming Monday into Tuesday. Pray for all who have been and will be affected by this storm. Congregations can take an active role in the community in the wake of disaster. Our facilities, people, and communication systems can be vital components of a quick response to people in great need.
October 25, 2012
Pray, Prepare for Sandy
Hurricane Sandy has caused damage and loss of life as it has moved across the Caribbean and across Cuba and the Bahamas. Forecasters say the storm is expected to strike the US east coast and may combine with a pre-winter storm to bring strong winds, significant rains and potential flooding to the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast states, including Southeastern Pennsylvania, as early as Sunday evening. It is still too early to make definite predictions about this storm, but it is prudent to be prepared.
October 18, 2011
Synod Contributes to Local LDR Efforts
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod has made a special $3,000 grant to Lutheran Disaster Response in Eastern PA to help with organizing and equipping volunteers to assist with the extraordinary needs in our area in the wake of Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee. You can still help by making a contribution to the local LDR, volunteering to help with ongoing cleanup, and by praying by those still affected.
August 11, 2011
ELCA Responds to Horn of Africa Drought
The situation in the Horn of Africa is continuing to worsen with now over 12.4 million people in Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti being affected. Crops are wilting, livestock are dying and people are suffering as water becomes scare and food prices skyrocket. Many have decided to leave their homes in search of water and food. The ELCA has been there from the beginning. To date the ELCA has committed $1.25 million to provide water, food, shelter and training. As the situation continues to develop we will continue to be present, working through and with companions, continuing Gods work with our hands.
May 27, 2010
Prayers in a time of ecological disaster
Loving God,
when our ways of life lead to ecological disaster,
your creation groans and your creatures suffer.
Send your Spirit to renew the earth and seas.
April 27, 2010
ELCA aids Mississippi tornado victims
Lutheran Disaster Response has issued an emergency grant of $10,000 to seed relief efforts after a massive tornado touched down and traveled for more than 100 miles across the Southeast, leaving at least 12 people dead and hundreds of homes destroyed.
January 21, 2010
Ocean Springs journal: Still so much to do
Once again a team from Christ Lutheran, Kulpsville, is in Ocean Springs, MS. Lois Kadel is keeping a journal of the group's activity as the group works, even with their eyes and hearts fixed on Haiti. Now is the time to join a SEPA-LDR trip to Mission Starfish (formerly Camp Victor) in March -- your interest needs to be noted by Jan. 24.
October 2, 2009
5 days, 4 disasters, 1 way to help now
This has been a turbulent and frightening week for the people of Asia. A typhoon, a tsunami and an earthquake have struck since Saturday, and another storm is expected to affect the region tomorrow. Click through to give a gift to Lutheran World Relief's Asia Disasters fund to provide food, water and other life-saving assistance.
February 19, 2009
SEPA Lutherans pack Camp Victor
About 60 SEPA Lutherans worked at Camp Victor, Ocean Springs MS the week of Feb 8-14.
February 14, 2009
Churches help Coatesville cope with fear
"We are coping as well as we can." wrote Pastor John Carlson of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church on Feb. 13. "The four most recent fires were set outside the city limits so it is no longer a 'city issue,' -- it is a community issue. Everyone is encouraged to put their front and back porch lights on at night -- and we're doing it."
January 29, 2009
On the Gulf, much work to be done
A work team from Christ Lutheran Church, Kulpsville, is back at Camp Victor in Ocean Springs, MS, this week, continuing the more than three-year long process of rebuilding from Hurricane Katrina. Check out this article for journal entries from Lois Kadel, which will be updated as we receive them.
July 4, 2006
In Pottstown, hope amid destruction
A forlorn child's train left stranded in the ceiling trusses in the parish hall at St. John's Lutheran Church in Pottstown shows the force of flood waters that inundated the basements of the church, parish house and parsonage.
July 2, 2006
Bishop spends first day touring flooding sites
When she was elected nearly two months ago, Bishop Claire Burkat had no idea that her first day in office would involve lunch in a fire hall, prayer in a half-gutted kitchen and lots of mud.
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod's new bishop spent July 1 with Lutheran Disaster Response leaders viewing the damage left by the latest rampage of the Delaware River and meeting victims and volunteers attempting to clean up after the flood waters receded.
