ELCA Domestic Disaster Response, working with our Lutheran Disaster Response partners throughout the Gulf Coast region, is already caring for disaster survivors. Of particular concern are those who were in vulnerable situations even before Katrina struck, including the 28 percent of New Orleans’ residents living below the poverty line, those who were homeless, and migrant farm families.

As in past disasters, our church’s response to this hurricane will include spiritual and emotional counseling, care for caregivers, hardship grants, volunteer support, and, eventually, home rebuilding. You can find more information, including giving and volunteering opportunities, at www.elca.org/disaster

Your gifts to ELCA Domestic Disaster Response, designated for 2005 Hurricane, will ensure that we can accompany disaster survivors at every stage of the relief and rebuilding process. All—100 percent—of your gifts will go to help individuals and communities rebuild their lives following this disaster.

Please pray for those whose lives have been uprooted by the disaster, and for the health and safety of rescuers and caregivers.

“God is our refuge in the day of disaster.” (Jeremiah 17:17)

Mail donations to Women of the ELCA, P.O. Box 71256, Chicago, IL 60694-1256. Checks should be made payable to Women of the ELCA; indicate "WO-Hurricane Response" on the check memo line (indicate this on the check memo line even if using the offering transmittal form B).

Give through your congregation, or send directly to ELCA Domestic Disaster Response, P.O. Box 71764, Chicago, IL 60694-1764, or call 800-638-3522 to give by credit card. For more information, go to www.elca.org/giving

Members of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans: please visit www.thrivent.com/fraternal/katrina.html to learn about an opportunity to supplement your gift.

Early-response volunteers/professionals needed (as of 9/5/05)

• Skilled/certified search and rescue volunteers. 
  Send an e-mail with "search and rescue volunteer" in the subject line, along with full contact information to ddr@elca.org 
• Self-sufficient debris removal crews
   (able to provide their own food, water, sleeping arrangements). Debris-removal crews are being coordinated at a local high school in Wiggins, Mississippi. It has been requested that you call the following number prior to going: 601-249-3695. Self-sufficient volunteer crews may also contact Hal Shope (hshope@allthingsnewministry.org  678-580-3371) or Bob Tribble (trib713@juno.com 404-313-7878) LDR Volunteer Coordinators.
• Health and medical professionals should contact the Department of Health and Human Services at 866-528-6334, volunteer.hhs.gov or www.hhs.gov 
• Individuals seeking employment with FEMA should call 800-879-6076 to receive instruction for faxing an application or resume to 540-542-2484.
• Contractors seeking opportunities with FEMA should visit www.swern.gov 

Later response volunteers

Volunteers will be needed for Hurricane Katrina relief and recovery efforts long into the future. Groups should watch www.elca.org/disaster for volunteer opportunities or, after the immediate crisis has past, send their contact information to ddr@elca.org  with "volunteer" in the subject line.

Donations of food and "new" clothing

Multi-agency warehouses have been established to accept delivered donations of food, paper products, and NEW clothing. (The warehouses are temperature-controlled facilities, so clothing donations will not mildew. We are not working with anyone at this time willing to accept donations of used clothing.) These warehouses serve as receiving and delivery points and are set up to receive semi-truck deliveries. If you are coordinating a donations drive, and plan to place the items on a semi-tractor trailer, if at all possible, please have these donations placed on pallets for easy removal from the trucks. The warehouses will accept donations if they are not on pallets, but it would help with the unloading process. Since mail services in these areas are uncertain, donations should be taken and not mailed. Contact information is below.

Louisiana
1102 E. Admiral-Doyle Dr., New Iberia, LA 70560
Stanley Buckmaster, Manager, 405-612-4602

Mississippi
4750 Northside Methodist Home Rd., Jackson, MS 39213
Ray Elsberry, Manager, 601-405-2975

Alabama (information not confirmed as yet)

• Latest News on LDR for Hurricane Katrina >
  
• Why Give to the ELCA rather than the Red Cross?  Find out >  
  
• Letter requesting prayers from Director of Lutheran Disaster Response.  Read it > 
  
• "Letter from Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson on the Devastation of
  Hurricane Katrina".  Read it > 
  
• Important message from Jim Barclay, President of Lutheran Family Services of Colorado.  Read it > 
  
• Chaplain Eric Meyners, serving on the Rocky Mountain Synod roster at the US Army 14th Combat Support Hospital at Fort Benning, GA, sent a letter to the Rocky Mountain Synod.  Read his letter >
  
• Leslie Whited Vance, LSS of Utah, has requested prayers for four diaconal ministers who are involved in responding to the Gulf coast disaster: Sheryl, Elaine, Heather, and Morgan.
  
• Financial gifts to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) through Sept. 15 totaled more than $6.1 million to support disaster relief and recovery efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Many of the church's 4.9 million members and others contributed the funds by mail, by phone or through the ELCA's Web site.
  "This overwhelmingly generous response from Lutherans will enable a comprehensive relief and recovery effort now and for years to come," said Kathryn Sime, director, ELCA World Hunger and Disaster Appeal. 
  
• HOUSING NEEDED FOR NEW ORLEANS DISPLACED WORKERS
  
  Jim Johnson is a member of Bethany Lutheran Church, Denver. His company, Johnson Storage and Moving/United Van Lines, employs about 50 persons in New Orleans.
  He has offered those from New Orleans jobs in his other offices (Denver, Colorado Springs, Cheyenne, Longmont, Santa Fe, Dallas and San Diego), but he is at a loss of how to house them for short term (one to six months) in affordable housing.  Contact Jim Johnson, Johnson Storage and Moving/United Van Lines, 303 785 4343 if you have any leads or housing opportunities. You may email him at jjohnson@johnson-united.com .
  
• Recommended Book: "Act of God, Active God: Recovering from Natural Disasters" >
• Prayers: "Prayers, Reflections and Worship Resources in Times of Disaster" >