11/20/2014

A New Consortium Supports Lutheran Disaster Response, Social Ministry Affiliates

From the ELCA News Blog

Lutheran Disaster Response will participate in a new Midwest Disaster Consortium designed to create sustainability among four social ministry organizations affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s (ELCA) disaster response ministry. The social ministry organizations active in the consortium include Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota, Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota, Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota, and Lutheran Family and Children’s Services of Missouri.

“We are pleased to be able to help facilitate and participate in this consortium that will help our affiliates become more effective in their response to disasters, with the ultimate goal of effectively helping people and communities impacted by disasters,” said the Rev. Michael Stadie, program director for Lutheran Disaster Response.

The social ministry organizations that will compose the Midwest Disaster Consortium have been providing disaster response services for a combined total of more than 100 years. This consortium is made possible through a grant from the Margaret A. Cargill Foundation. The grant period began Oct. 1 and continues to Sept. 30, 2016. The sustainability provided by this grant ensures that each organization in the consortium will be able to continue its important work in assisting communities with disaster-related needs, especially among the most vulnerable populations in low-profile, non-federally declared disasters. The consortium will put an emphasis on developing best practices around disaster case management, which consists of helping those impacted by disaster navigate the recovery process on an individual basis and developing long-term recovery strategies, which include addressing the unmet needs of impacted communities that exist months and years after a disaster occurs.

Lutheran Disaster Response enables ELCA members and others to respond to disasters in the United States and overseas with a focus on long-term recovery, accompanying and providing assistance to people and communities impacted by disaster as they navigate their way through recovery.