Hundreds of volunteer hours and lots of donated materials helped completely rebuild this Hammond home. (click on the image for a higher resolution image for use in print publications)
Imagine the terror of having someone knock on your door to inform you that you have 15 minutes to get out of town. Now imagine the devestation of coming back the next day, or several days later, to find your home completely destroyed by flood waters.
People in the Zumbro Falls/Hammond area of Minnesota experienced the hopelessness of such a loss in September 2010. For the next year Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota (LSS-MN), along with the support of Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR) and congregations of the ELCA, walked with the people in Hammond, Jerret, Millville, Oronoco, Pine Island, Woodville Chapel area, and Zumbro Falls.
Even though ELCA members are sometimes unaware, “Lutherans are known as the long term recovery experts in the United States,” says Nancy Beers, Director of Disaster Services for LSS-MN. Beers explains that when a disaster strikes, she and LDR coordinate to make LDR seed money available for a community. She uses that money to hire people in the community to begin the rebuiling process.
LSS-MN acts on behalf of LDR in Minnesota. They work directly with individual households, particularly those in vulnerable populations including the elderly and single-parent households. Their goal is to get families back into liveable conditions, either in their previous homes or into new homes if necessary. Their work often piggybacks on the work that FEMA is doing in a community, but LDR does not work to repair infastructure or businesses.
Experts are hired to coordinate material and human resources for cleanup and construction projects. Many of the people-hours put in are by volunteers from around the country. Craig Richard, the Construction and Rebuild Manager hired in the Hammond area, stated, “In all, 46 homes received extensive rebuild assistance, untilizing over 1,600 volunteers who contributed over 14,500 man hours of labor to help those affected.” The work done included assistance with everything from understanding the building processes and policies to the actual carpentry, electrical, plumbing, painting, and other projects necessary to make the homes livable.
Although the Zumbro Falls/Hammond area office closed on Friday, October 14, LSS-MN and LDR remain in the tornado-damaged communities of Wadena (through Christmas 2011) and North Minneapolis in Minnesota. LDR is working with other local partners in other communities in North Dakota, Indiana, Missouri, Tennessee, Alabama, and the Gulf Coast.
Lutherans are an important part of helping communties recover from disasters, and that is only possible thanks to members of congregations throughout the country giving of their time and financial resources. If your congregation wants to get involved, consider having LSS-MN talk to your congregation about setting up a volunteer response team. Financial contributions are always welcomed through LSS-MN (specify “Disaster Response”) or ELCA Disaster Response. Together we can rebuild homes…and lives.
Featured Resources
- Lutheran Social Servie of Minnesota Disaster Response – www.lssmn.org/disaster
- Lutheran Disaster Response - www.ldr.org
- ELCA Disaster Response – www.ELCA.org/disaster
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