Grants provided for flood victims in Colorado, Mexico

LCMS Disaster Response in October approved more than $280,000 in grants to help families reeling from the recent flooding in northern Colorado and Mexico.

A scene near Glen Haven, Colo., shows road damage on Sept. 27, 2013 — two weeks after the flooding. LCMS Disaster Response has distributed more than $270,000 for material and financial aid to affected families. (LCMS Disaster Response/Ross Johnson)

A $171,483 grant to Mount Calvary Lutheran Church in Estes Park, Colo., will be used to assist 13 member families and 10 other families in the community. Another $100,000 is going to the Synod’s Rocky Mountain District for material and financial aid to families.

“With the winter closing in on the mountains, it is urgent that repairs are made before the ground freezes,” said the Rev. Glenn F. Merritt, director of LCMS Disaster Response. “The assistance goes for things such as replacing lost income, destroyed carpeting, flooring, sheetrock and insulation; fixing private roads; and replacing vehicles.”

According to the Rocky Mountain District, the flood affected 17 Colorado counties, destroying some 1,882 homes and damaging more than 16,000, with total damages to all properties estimated at more than $2 billion.

Merritt said the conditions in Colorado due to the floods are likely to result in close to $1 million in grant requests to LCMS Disaster Response from the district and area congregations to support recovery efforts. As of Oct. 23, there were at least four grants pending to other congregations in Colorado, he added.

Also receiving assistance from LCMS Disaster Response was El Buen Pastor Lutheran Church in McAllen, Texas, which will use its grant of $10,000 to help the Lutheran Synod of Mexico respond to unmet needs in the aftermath of Hurricane Manuel, which caused flooding and landslides responsible for the deaths of at least 80 people in mid-September.

LCMS Disaster Response also funded the delivery of more than 200 “flood buckets” of cleaning supplies from Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church in Arlington, Texas, to El Buen Pastor.

If you would like to help LCMS Disaster Response in its ministry to support those in need:

make an online gift at lcms.org/givenow/disaster.

mail checks payable to “The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod” (with a memo line or note designating “LCMS Disaster Relief”) to The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, P.O. Box 66861, St. Louis, MO 63166-6861.

call toll-free 888-930-4438 (8:10 a.m. to 4:10 p.m. Central Time, Monday through Friday).

For more information about the Synod’s response to disasters, visit lcms.org/disaster.

Updated Oct. 24, 2013