Your Donations Enable LCC Partners in Haiti to Bring Food to People in Starving in Villages11/27/2019
Lutheran Church Charities (LCC) continues to work through our Haiti Mission Partners, Ministry in Mission and Mission:Haiti to send emergency funds to Haiti during a current critical humanitarian crisis due to the political unrest. Thanks to your generous donations, LCC is able to continue to send financial support for food to our mission partners. Jackie Rychel, Ministry in Mission reports: "Haitians living in a small village have had no access to food as the streets have been blocked for weeks to the larger cities. The poorest walk to markets but even that is unsafe in these difficult times and often the markets are not open. Ministry in Mission has trusted partners such as Lutheran Church Charities that are able to support our Haitians partners that can bring food in to these starving villages. The process has to be done quietly and with great planning as the situation is so desperate that moving through the streets to deliver food is dangerous. Those receiving the food are grateful. The photos depict food purchased, sorted, packed and delivered to the community of Simone, Haiti." Please prayerfully consider making a monetary donation to enable Lutheran Church Charities to continue to send emergency funds to Haiti to help provide food for Haitian adults and children. Thirty dollars will buy enough rice, oil, maggi, canned fish, spaghetti, and soup to feed one person two meals a day for three weeks. LCC Haiti mission partners are helping the most nutritionally vulnerable but need financial support to do so. Join LCC as we pray for the protection of the Haitian people and our mission partners, and for peace in Haiti. Kathy O’Day, LCC Director of Disaster Response was invited to meet with Akiko Iizuka PhD., Assistant Professor from the Center for International Exchange-Utsunomiya University, Japan and Steve Cain, Indiana Department of Homeland Security Foundation Chairman to discuss best practices of disaster case management, how non-governmental (NGOs) and faith-based organizations respond to disasters and work with disaster affected communities utilizing volunteers. This semester, Akiko is delivering lectures on “Building Resilient Communities”, “Risk Management”, “Disaster Studies”, “Disaster and International Cooperation,” and other disaster-related subjects at Northeastern College in Boston, Massachusetts. Akiko has served as a project coordinator in overseas disaster recovery and rehabilitation projects in Japan, Sri Lanka, Iran and Afghanistan. Akiko is spending a few days in the Chicago area meeting with several government agencies, NGOs and faith-based organizations. Kathy was honored to share and exchange disaster response experience with Akiko. 
On Friday, November 22, LCC K-9 Comfort Dogs Pax and Phoebe (St. Paul - Fort Worth, Texas), and Triton (Messiah - Plano, Texas) visited Dallas Lutheran School in Dallas, Texas following the destruction of a locally damaging tornado that touched down on October 20. The school sustained millions of dollars in damages but the staff quickly rallied to get the students back in school. On-line education was first established while recover companies worked to modify larger undamaged buildings into classroom spaces. Portable buildings have begun arriving and after the first of the year, classes will move into those areas while insurance decisions are made regarding the remainder of the damaged areas. The K-9s were honored to be with the students and staff. They offered comfort, love and compassion to those they met. Hearing the students say the school is their safe place let us know how much they appreciate all of the efforts that are continuing to normalize the situation. When we left, we told them to invite us back anytime and that we would continue to lift them up in prayer as well as share their story. While at the school, we did present the librarian with a copy of "Extraordinary Dogs" featuring 20 LCC K-9 Comfort Dogs. She was thrilled! The original library housed over 7,000 books and although not that many were damaged, the space was lost. The library has been moved into a commons area near the lunchroom and the most commonly used books are set up there for the students to use. Before we left, their new book, "Extraordinary Dogs" had found its place among those books.
 Two students died, multiple injured "For the LORD comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones." Isaiah 49:13  Thursday, November 14 started out like any other day at Saugus High School, Santa Clarita, California as students gathered in the early morning hour in the common area. The day would quickly come to an abrupt halt as a 16-year-old student opened fire taking the lives of two students and then turning the gun on himself inflicting, what turned out to be, a fatal shot. Within an hour of the shooting, Lutheran Church Charities (LCC) was invited by Pastor Joseph Beran, Bethlehem Lutheran SCV (Santa Clarita Valley) Church in Santa Clarita, California to bring the LCC K-9 Comfort Dogs to be with the students, faculty, and community that surrounds Saugus High School. In less than 24 hours LCC K-9 Comfort Dog Ministry teams were on their way. The first on the ground was LCC K-9 Comfort Dog Aaron (St. John - Napa Valley, California), Micah (Light of the Valley – Elk Grove, California), and Lois (First Good Shepherd - Las Vegas, Nevada) followed by LCC K-9 Comfort Dog Ruthie (LCC Staff) with LCC Director of K-9 Ministries, Rich Martin. The LCC K-9 Comfort Dog Ministry teams were also assisted by St. Andrews Lutheran Church in Stockton, California and Faith Community Church in Las Vegas, Nevada who sent ministry team partners. Both churches are in the process of starting a K-9 Ministry. Central Park in Santa Clarita located less than a mile from Saugus High School soon became a gathering place that was also used as the reunification center for students and their families. There, at the flagpole, a vigil was set up for remembrances where the flag displayed at half-staff. The K-9s and their handlers met with many students, their families, and the community at Central Park, Mountain View Park, and Bethlehem Lutheran SVC. They also met with first responders to thank them for their services. One evening, the teams had a chance encounter with a Cal Fire Strike Team that was staging for the upcoming Santa Ana winds. The command station for the recent fires in the area served as the same one for the shooting. There were many “divine” appointments where God had led individuals into the presence of the teams to share their stories. Please keep the Santa Clarita community in your prayers as they continue to move forward after the tragic event. LCC never goes where we are not invited and LCC K-9 Comfort Dog Ministry NEVER charges those we serve. We pick up all of our travel, hotel, and meal costs. We also always put boots and paws on the ground within 24 hours (often fewer) from the time we get the invite. |
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