This morning dawned bright and clear in the High Country of North Carolina, where we stayed last night after an LDR Carolinas Sunday yesterday at Bethany Lutheran Church, just outside Boone. But we have been following closely the forecasts for Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas as Tropical Storm – now Hurricane – Debby approached and has made landfall in Florida. Intense rainfall and flooding are forecast for much of the Carolinas, particularly in the Lowcountry of South Carolina.

We spent the afternoon crafting Facebook posts and email messages to be shared with the LDR Carolinas Network, and with the NC and SC Synods. We invite you to join our network here to learn more about our work and the progress of Debby.

While we are busy encouraging those in the path of this dangerous storm to make their final preparations and checking in with the conference deans, we also want to share these important reminders with others:

Pray for those affected by the storm. Pray for individuals whose lives have been disrupted. Pray for congregations in the affected areas who work to help others in their communities. Pray for those who work to provide essential services such as utilities, medical care, and nursing care. 

Please do not self-deploy after a disaster. Certainly, help your neighbors as you can, but don’t venture into dangerous situations or attempt to do work that you are not trained to do safely. Removing downed trees from homes is a prime example.

Instead, volunteer through our partner organizations in VOAD (Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster) such as the American Red Cross, Salvation Army, United Methodist Committee on Relief, Baptists on Mission, and Team Rubicon. All of these organizations have teams who respond quickly to provide food, shelter, and emergency assistance. 

While we will be reaching out to our congregations immediately, the strengths of Lutheran Disaster Response are in providing spiritual and emotional care, disaster case management, and assisting with long-term recovery. We will still be at work long after other organizations have moved on.

Please do not send stuff. Not even food or bottled water, unless it has been requested and you know for certain that there is an organization in the disaster area ready to receive and distribute the materials. Watch for us to share information about items that we know are needed and how to get them to the appropriate locations.

Give! Donate financially to Lutheran Disaster Response either as a designated gift for this disaster or to be used wherever needed. Donate to the synod disaster funds in North Carolina and South Carolina through the synod office. Those funds are used to help congregations in need following a disaster. 

We also encourage you to consider the projects that we recently shared as ideas for God’s Work Our Hands Day, the ELCA Churchwide day of service, on September 8. Perhaps, given the current situation, you could even work on those clean up kits and children’s comfort kits right away! You can find more information here in our blog, on our Facebook page, and in recent e-newsletters from both NC and SC Synods. Here is a link to the downloadable instructions. We are still identifying collection points for these kits. Let us know if your congregation is able to help in that way!