Tuesday, December 21, 2021
Disaster Response is a shared ministry. It takes us all.
Severe storms, straight line winds and tornadoes went through our area on December 10 - 11, 2021. We see the immense devastation in Kentucky. We grieve with the families who have lost loved ones and pray for those suffering injury and loss of homes from these horrible storms. In Tennessee many homes were severely damaged or destroyed as well. The needs are great. Right now people in both states are organizing to provide help for the survivors.
We need your help!
Right now we need people to staff the Crisis Clean Up line.
The Crisis Clean up Line takes calls from people whose homes have been damaged and need help with clean up or repair. It is a simple process of taking in information and imputing it on a form online. You can do it from your home. Our goal is to have a roster of trained individuals on standby to serve in the aftermath of a disaster. We are currently looking for 10 people who would volunteer 1 hour a day for two weeks. This would help cover the line during this intense time of need. The faster we can get the work online the faster the teams can pick up the job and get that job done and possibly a family back in their home. There is a short online in-service on being a Crisis Clean Up Volunteer and how to use the system. This training makes it possible for you to volunteer again in the aftermath of a new disaster in a different location all from your own home.
In a few months we will be offering Emotional Spiritual Care Camps to help children process the trauma of disaster. We will have a counselor onboard and need a team of volunteers who will assist with the children during the events. The program is a VBS style event. If you enjoy working with children, then you will enjoy this ministry opportunity. We have plans for camps here in Tennessee in Mt Juliet and two in Waverly. We also have plans for events in Newnan, Georgia. Our goal is to have 15 individuals trained to be a part of an Emotional Spiritual Care Mission team and help out with one or more of the events.
We need more volunteers for the Listening Line Ministry to make phone calls to check in on survivors after the disaster recovery operations are under way. This would entail making a call from your home to 1 or 2 survivors every 2-4 weeks to just remind them they are not forgotten and be a word of encouragement.
We are also planning a special training for rostered leaders to prepare for disaster chaplaincy. Our goal is to have pastors ready to respond in the event of a disaster in their community.
We are also looking for folks to form mission teams to help with clean up and help rebuild. If you can volunteer but can’t form a team, call us and we’ll put you together with others to form a team from your area!
If you can help in any of the ways above, please contact Beth Smith, Middle TN Disaster Coordinator at bethrand@comcast.net or Pastor Morgan Gordy at pmgordy@elca-ses.org
In addition to these needs listed above, we need funds. Funds are needed for relief and recovery after disasters hit our synod. We pull from our undesignated or general funds to respond especially to those communities that often go underserved. Please give as you are able to Southeastern Synod Disaster Response at https://www.elca-ses.org/support.
Thank you for your partnership in this holy work. Please continue to pray for all who are living in the aftermath of disaster. Join us and be a part of the response sharing God’s love in helping families recover.
God’s peace,
Pastor Morgan Gordy
Assistant to the Bishop for Disaster Ministry, ELCA Southeastern Synod
pmgordy@elca-ses.org
615-483-3060
