Episcopalians and Lutherans Join for Tornado Disaster Relief in Alabama
Episcopal News Service. May 8, 1998 [98-2153]
Norma McKittrick, Editor of the Alabama Apostle
The Rt. Rev. Robert O. Miller, Bishop of Alabama, and the Rt. Rev. Henry N. Parsley Jr., Bishop Coadjutor of Alabama, have joined with the Rev. Dr. Ronald Barry Warren, Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America-Southeastern Synod, to coordinate resources and volunteer efforts to help victims of the tornadoes that ripped through Atlanta during Holy Week.
Working with the Lutheran Ministries of Alabama and the Lutheran Disaster Response Team, the Episcopal Diocese is preparing to respond to unmet needs and to continue assistance during the rebuilding phase of recovery. Most of the immediate needs for clothing, food and shelter are already being met. In the coming months hundreds of victims will need help obtaining supplies to rebuild their homes since only about half of the houses destroyed or structurally damaged were insured.
The Diocese of Alabama has already received a $25,000 emergency grant from the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief plus another S8, 000 in donations from local parishes, the neighboring Central Gulf Coast Diocese, the Diocese of Central Florida, Kanuga Conferences, and parishes and individuals from California to New York. Birmingham-area Lutherans have already raised S 100, 000 through a matching grant from the Aid Association for Lutherans, A Lutheran grant has also provided seed money to hire two staff coordinators for the next three to five months to work with both Episcopal and Lutheran parishes and volunteers to direct all the relief efforts through one local office, St. John's Episcopal Church in Ensley, Alabama, and Christ Episcopal Church in Fairfield, Alabama, are being considered as the site for the Episcopal/Lutheran Coordinating Office,
Individual parishes across the diocese have responded to the needs of the tornado victims in other ways as well. St. John's in Ensley, the parish closest to the affected area with parishioners living just blocks from the path of one of the tornadoes, has made a generous contribution to the Salvation Army. Working through Greater Birmingham Episcopal Campus Ministries, Episcopal students at Birmingham-Southern College are encouraging their Wow students to contribute to a disaster relief fund. Episcopal students from Canterbury Chapel joined with other University of Alabama students in providing assistance and raising funds for the three churches damaged by the tornadoes that touched down in the Tuscaloosa area. Youth groups from a number of parishes are assisting with the continuing cleanup and removal of debris. Members of the St. Stephen's Ministry of St. Luke's in Birmingham have made a commitment to provide support and pastoral care for victims on a long-term basis.
More than 75 representatives from Christian traditions and Jewish agencies met April 24h at Birmingham-Southern College to plan an Interfaith Disaster Response. Working with the Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, and various church agencies, this long-term response will initially focus on the cleanup, repairwork, and rebuilding phase of the dinner relief which will take more than a yea to complete. The interfaith community will continue to help during the recovery phase, when the churches of Birmingham will be need the most to provide pastoral care for the victims and their families.
Contributions for the tornado disaster relief efforts may be sent to the Diocese of Alabama at Carpenter House, 521 North 20th Street, Birmingham, AL 35203-2682. For more information please contact the Rev. William King, rector of AD Saints' Episcopal Church and Diocesan Ecumenical Officer, 110 West Hawthorne Road, Birmingham, AL 35209, (205) 979-965 1; or the Rev. Robert Morpeth, Deputy for Finance and Administration, Carpenter House, (205) 715-2060.