People in flood-stricken areas of Louisiana haul the sodden contents of their homes to the street for removal. By Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod Bishop Michael Rinehart.
Brothers & sisters in Louisiana minister to community
Sheryl Zeis is a youth worker at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Baton Rouge, La. She sends this report of flood recovery in her area of Louisiana — especially, what the congregation of St. Paul is doing to be the face of Christ to people who need a hot meal and a friendly smile.
Two more Lutheran churches, Lutheran Church of Our Saviour in Baton Rouge & First Lutheran in Lafayette, also are working hard to offer flood relief.
In the trenches
Here are some excerpts from Zeis’ posts:
To Donate
St. Paul’s needs help with their meal program. Checks may be sent to St. Paul Lutheran Church, 8710 Jefferson Highway, Baton Rouge, LA 70809-2233.
Come to “Ice Cream for Louisiana,” an ice cream social from 6:30-8pm Friday, Sept. 9. All donations will be matched by PEACE Lutheran Church, up to $1,000.
“My one turn to cook came up this weekend. When I said that I’d help with this meal, it was for 50. We had to be ready for 300. After multiple misadventures, we actually pulled it off.
“On Saturday, we had more than 75 volunteers from the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod here helping people to muck out homes in Lafayette and Baton Rouge. The debris piles in neighborhoods are truly just astonishing. (See photos posted by synod Bishop Mike Rinehart.)
“Saturday we were down to about 170 from the high of 305 on Friday. I think the rain kept the numbers down a little bit (Y’all…we are so sick of rain). Sunday we had 200, which I think is going to be pretty normal for us along the way.
“On Sunday, our bishop preached during worship. i was struck by two things he said in particular. First, he said that when he goes out and talks with congregations, they always ask him how they can get more people in their church. He said his answer is, “If your mission is to grow your church ‘club,’ nobody will ever come. But if your mission is to bring healing to the world, people will flock to you.” That’s what we have seen over the past couple weeks. From people from the community coming to help with meals to unexpected donations of food, clothing, etc., to all of our guests. We’ve had more visitors in our little church during these past 11 days than we have in many, many years.”
School Supplies Needed
Zeis writes:
“At St. Paul, we really need school supplies. School is starting again on September 6th in East Baton Rouge, and on September 12th in Livingston Parish.
“We support a local public elementary school in Baton Rouge, but so much of our effort has been spent on helping flood victims, that we haven’t been able to do as much for them. The school came out fine, but a lot of the students flooded and lost all their new school supplies. These kids are from one of the lowest income areas of Baton Rouge. Replacing what was lost is not going to be easy.”
School Supply Wish List through Lutheran Campus Ministry at Louisiana State University. This is another ministry to the community based at St. Paul.