21637: Lemieux: ELCA News Service: Lutherans Support Relief Efforts in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: JD Lemieux <lxhaiti@yahoo.com>

Lutherans Support Relief Efforts in Haiti

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>From NEWS@ELCA.ORG
Date Fri, 30 Apr 2004 10:34:30 -0500


ELCA NEWS SERVICE

April 30, 2004

Lutherans Support Relief Efforts in Haiti
04-086-MR

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Members of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church
in America (ELCA) have contributed $50,000 to
support relief
efforts in Haiti.  The recent political upheaval
surrounding the
departure of former President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide has created
a humanitarian crisis there.
     "An estimated 3 million people have been
affected by the
crisis," said the Rev. Y. Franklin Ishida,
director for
leadership development, ELCA Division for Global
Mission.  "More
than half of them are children under 18 years
old, and an
estimated 700,000 are women of child-bearing
age," he said.
     "Violence has resulted in an unknown number
of deaths, fear
and uncertainty, as well as up to $300 million in
damaged
property," Ishida reported.  Other concerns in
Haiti include
maintaining safety, ensuring humanitarian access,
providing food
and medical aid.
     The crisis has cut off water, sanitation and
electrical
systems.  Hospitals or clinics that have managed
to stay open are
severely overextended, according to Lutheran
World Relief, the
overseas relief and development organization of
the ELCA and the
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
     Through its International Disaster Response,
the ELCA sent
funds to Action by Churches Together (ACT) for
implementation by
the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), which has
been responding to
the crisis in Haiti, said Ishida.
     The ELCA World Hunger Program has been
supporting the work
of LWF since 1988, but the present humanitarian
"crisis goes well
beyond current support to meet the needs of the
Haitian people,"
he said.
     LWF will focus its relief efforts in first
aid and legal
assistance, food security, health assistance,
agricultural
recovery and income generating activities,
counseling and
conflict resolution.
     The Rev. Thomas L. Weitzel, director for
communication, ELCA
Florida-Bahamas Synod, Tampa, Fla., said
representatives of the
synod are "very concerned about the future" of
Haiti.  The ELCA
Florida-Bahamas Synod shares a "companion"
relationship with
Lutheran churches in Haiti, and it participates
in LWF's work in
Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
     Coordinated by the ELCA Division for Global
Mission,
International Disaster Response often channels
its funds through
international church organizations and relief
agencies.
     ACT is a worldwide network of churches and
related agencies
that meets human need through organized emergency
response.  ACT
is based with the World Council of Churches (WCC)
and LWF, both
in Geneva, Switzerland.  The ELCA is a member of
WCC and LWF.
     LWF is a global communion of Christian
churches in the
Lutheran tradition.  Founded in 1947, the LWF now
has 136 member
churches in 76 countries, representing 61.7
million of the world's
nearly 65.4 million Lutherans.






__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Win a $20,000 Career Makeover at Yahoo! HotJobs
http://hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/careermakeover