"Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink!" I am not sure that the person who coined this line had Wisconsin or Iowa in June of 2008 in mind, but it rings true. In this week's update, I have included FEMA registration numbers (nearly 30,000 registered in Wisconsin alone) throughout 29 counties. I have also included a listing of disaster recovery centers and their phone numbers. If you have a team or group from the congregation who want to help, call "211" or one of these centers to see who is taking volunteers. If you have flood buckets that you would like to deliver, find the closest center to your area.

Most importantly, if you would like to donate to LDR or if you would like to begin a drive to collect funds for LDR, please go to the ELCA Disaster Response website and find the bulletin insert for the midwest flooding on the right side of the page. This would be a wonderful way to lift up the response to the congregation, and it is needed.

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans has also begun a program at the chapter level that will match funds collected for the relief efforts (see below).

Finally, we are trying to build capacity for what has become a far too common disaster occurrence across the two-state area. We need to know who has disaster response teams that can respond to a variety of needs. Most importantly, we need representatives from each synod or district to help collect that data. Can anyone help me? This is very important now that the Wisconsin VOAD (Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster) has begun meeting to look at and help define long-term recovery efforts.

Have a blessed Holiday and weekend. God bless,
 

Pastor Gary A. Grindeland
Vice President of Church & Community Relations
State Coordinator for Lutheran Disaster Response
Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin & Upper Michigan, Inc.
647 W. Virginia St., Suite 300
Milwaukee, WI 53204-1535
O) 414/325-3012
F) 414/325-3124
C) 414/659-4327
ggrindeland@lsswis.org

Link to Thrivent Financial for Lutherans 2008 Flood Response