LCMS releases additional grants for Sandy relief
$100,500 given to help
ST. LOUIS, Nov. 8, 2012—The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) has released an additional $65,000 in grants to help in the Superstorm Sandy relief effort, bringing the total released to $100,500.
As of Tuesday – a week after Superstorm Sandy tore across the U.S. Eastern Seaboard, cutting a huge swath of destruction and leading to the deaths of at least 113 people across nine states – the LCMS will disburse $25,000 to the LCMS Atlantic District and $40,000 to the LCMS New Jersey District in emergency disaster grants to assist in the recovery.
On Nov. 1, the LCMS gave a $15,000 emergency grant to the LCMS Atlantic District to provide transitional housing and to help affected families replace food, clothing and other personal items destroyed in the storm. Grants also were awarded to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Haiti ($10,000) and the Cuban Mission Society ($10,500) to replace roofs and for water filtration systems.
The latest U.S. grants will be used for food, clothing, housing, generators and to provide other basic human needs.
“Sandy affected the entire Eastern Seaboard ... and there are places that are just absolutely obliterated,” said the Rev. Bart Day, director of the LCMS Office of National Mission who was part of an LCMS disaster-response team that traveled through storm-damaged areas in New York and New Jersey Oct. 31-Nov. 3. In order for the LCMS to meet the long-term needs created by the superstorm, “we’re going to need lots and lots of money for a very long time,” Day said.
“What the LCMS does very well is that we get in there immediately and then stay for the long haul. And we work with the people on the ground assessing – and meeting – the needs.”
Among those needs are some 30 LCMS families with destroyed homes and at least another 36 who reported storm damage.
“Now is the time for the Church to shine in all her glory, meeting immediate and urgent physical, emotional and spiritual needs all across the Eastern Seaboard,” said the Rev. Glenn F. Merritt, director, LCMS Disaster Response.
Merritt is leading a team that returned to the East Coast this week that is encouraging and supporting the ministries of the Atlantic and New Jersey Districts and their local congregations.
To help:
- make an online gift (http://www.lcms.org/givenow/disaster);
- mail checks payable to “The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod” (with a memo line or note designating “LCMS Disaster Response”) to The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, P.O. Box 66861, St. Louis, MO 63166-6861; or
- call toll-free 888-930-4438.
To view all the LCMS videos about Sandy, visit: http://video.lcms.org/archives/category/disaster-response.
In the last five years, the LCMS has provided more than $35 million for domestic and international disaster response efforts. Keep up to date on the LCMS’ disaster response effort at www.lcms.org/disaster.
About The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
The 2.3 million-member Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod is a mission-oriented, Bible-based, confessional Christian denomination headquartered in St. Louis. Through acts of witness and mercy, the church carries out its mission worldwide to make known the love of Jesus Christ. Learn more at www.lcms.org.