The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod - Helping Sandy survivors with 'long, long' recovery

The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod - Helping Sandy survivors with 'long, long' recovery

Arlington church takes gifts to Sandy victims | Religion | Dallas-Fort Worth Lifestyles News ...

Arlington church takes gifts to Sandy victims | Religion | Dallas-Fort Worth Lifestyles News ...

Taking Disaster Supplies to Brooklyn

On Thursday November Second we began the process of transporting disaster buckets to St Peter's Lutheran in Brooklyn New York. We rounded up the bibles we had. Some were being marked some were stored in another area. We determined we were about 90 Bibles short of having one bible for every bucket, so we went and purchased 2 more cases of bibles. We were short quite an few mops and brooms, so we went to the two nearby Dollar tree around and bought out there brooms and mops. We Rented a U-Haul truck and brought it to the church and Began to load it. Our Quilters decided they wanted to send their quilts with us. They bagged up 100 quilts and they were loaded into the truck.  We Took 356 Buckets with a devotional inside., 362 Bibles, and 100 quilts.

Friday Morning we set out on our 1600 mile drive at 6:00 A.M. Central time. We drove through North East Texas Arkansas and Tennessee, before stopping at 11:20 Eastern Time. We got up Saturday Morning at and were on the road again by 6:15, and Drove to as far as Bethlehem, PA before hitting our first problem. We exited the highway to get gas only to find a very long  gas line. We decided to drive a little farther of the highway to see if we could find a shorter line. The road curved around and went back to Allentown were we found a shorter line. We got in line, and thirty minutes later were back on the road. We found a Wendy's, grabbed a quick lunch (It was already 3:00) and got back on the road an hour and a half and 8 miles back from were we exited.We cruised in to Brooklyn with the only other problem being New York Knicks Basketball traffic. We were met by Jose Pineda and a group of eager youth who helped us unload. We unloaded the truck, then I lead the group in a short devotion and prayer, then we returned the truck to U_hauls after hours drop off and walked back to the St Peter's,stopping to pick up what I was told is the best pizza in Brooklyn.

We slept at the church. We were fed Bagels, hot tea and coffee before being taken to the airport. Our flight was delayed, but we arrived at Charlotte, NC just in time to board the flight to Dallas. We were in the airport less than 10 minutes. We arrived in Dallas and had our luggage by 5:00.

We enjoyed talking with the youth at St Peter's about their experiences with the storm and about Brooklyn in general. They helped us take are personnel belongings inside. When I pulled my cowboy boots out of the truck one of the boys exclaimed," hey, this guy really is from Texas!"Many of them had to hold the boots, some had never seen cowboy boots up close before.

Loading the Truck

Driving to Brooklyn

Unloading at St Peter's Lutheran

The Unloading Crew

After Superstorm Sandy

As the days pass after Super Storm Sandy, the list of damage continues to grow. It is obvious that it will take years for total recovery to occur along the Eastern Coast.

Tomorrow, I will be heading to Brooklyn to deliver Disaster Buckets to St Peter's Lutheran Church. I am still looking for someone to ride along with me, so if you are interested, let me know. I will post some pictures and information when we return.

The Lutheran Church is on the groung in New York and New Jersey finding out what needs are and how they can help. We will continue to collect disaster buckets and plan to make a second trip in a week or so.

Below is a post to a video from LCMS President Rev Harrison on our response to this disaster
http://video.lcms.org/archives/1483

Response to Sandy

In the last 24 hr Hurricane Sandy has pounded the East Coast. It is estimated that the storm will negatively impact one in every four Americans before it leaves the country

As you may know, Beautiful Savior's's  Lutheran Church Disaster Care Ministry assembles disaster buckets to provide to families that are impacted by disaster. I have been in touch with Rev Glen Merrit, who coordinates disaster response for the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. Pastor Merritt and I believe there will be a real need for disaster buckets to be delivered as soon as it is safe to go into the devastated areas. We are working with Synod to coordinate delivery of as many buckets as possible.

 If you are willing to assist us in this effort you can assemble buckets using the information below, and delivering them to Beautiful Savior by Monday November 5. The address is 5851 New York Avenue, Arlington TX 75052.

Each Bucket is a five gallon bucket with lid and contains the following Items:

• Roll of Paper towels
  
• Disposable rags
  
• Glass cleaner
  
• Cleansing powder
  
• Liquid cleaner
  
• Bleach
  
• Scrub brush
  
• 2 pair of Rubber gloves
  
• Sponge(s)
  
• Mop or Broom
  

All items except the mop or broom should be placed in the bucket and the lid placed on top (so they can be stacked). Mops and brooms should be brought separately.

If you would like to help but can not bring buckets you can donate to the effort by donating to the General Hurricane fund set up by the Texas District. To donate online go to http://www.txdistlcms.org/emergency-donations.html

Thanks,

David Ricks

Disaster Care Ministry

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Hurricane Isaac Update

Late Yesterday Isaac was upgraded to a category 1 hurricane. Isaac is a very slow moving storm. It is currently moving at a pace of less than 6 miles an hour. The storm is wreaking havoc on Alabama, Mississippi and  Louisiana. Over 480,000 homes are reported to be without power. It will be days before the totally damage from the storm can be assessed.

One of the worst hit areas is Plaquemines Parish. The Ocean Surge there topped the sea wall. The Parish is experiencing wide scale flooding and people are being rescue from roof tops.

This is a very large storm and as it moves inland we can expect flooding to occur in its path.

I am in touch with Rev. Steve Misch ( the Disaster Response Coordinator for Texas District, LCMS), Rev. Dr. Edward O. Grimenstein (with LCMS World Relief and Human Care) and Rev Ed Brashier (Disaster Response Coordinator for the Sothern District, LCMS).  As we become aware of specific needs, I will share them with you.

Please Keep the people in Isaac's path in your prayers.

"Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me,
    for in you my soul takes refuge;
in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge,
     till the storms of destruction pass by. "   Psalm 57:1

Tropical Storm Isaac

Tropical Storm Issac is spinning off the U.S. Gulf Coast. Current wind speeds are about 70 mph (just 4 miles under hurricane speed). Forecasters are estimating that it will make landfall as a class 1 hurricane late this evening, or early tomorrow morning somewhere west of New Orleans.



This is a very large slow moving storm and is expected to cause a lot of flooding as it comes ashore. At this time we do not know what the need for assistance will be, but we are planning to be ready to help if our assistance is needed. If you would be interested in working with us to assist those impacted by the storm, you can e-mail me at disaster_care@sbcglobal.net (please put Isaac in the subject line). I will update the blog as more information becomes available.