The LCC K-9 Comfort Dog Ministry and Hearts of Mercy & Compassion Ministry were honored and blessed to be in Surfside, Florida, serving this hurting community after the Champlain Towers South condominium collapse.
 
Your donations helped Lutheran Church Charities and our ministry teams be present during the recovery efforts for an unimaginable tragedy. Click each video to hear how your prayers and support continue to touch our ministry teams and those we serve!

God directed our deployed LCC K-9 Ministry team to be at the right place and the right time every step of the way. The nine LCC K-9 Comfort Dogs with their gentle hearts, loving eyes, and calming presence were there to serve the grieving friends and family, and the first responders working long and difficult hours to find each loved one lost in the collapse. The handlers were present to listen, love, and pray for each person they met during this difficult time.

Holy Cross Lutheran Church and Pastor Dennis Bartels of North Miami, Florida, have continued this mission by placing thirty-six additional Hearts of Mercy and Compassion markers as the names of those lost were recovered and identified. To date, there are ninety-seven Hearts of Mercy and Compassion markers placed along the Memorial Wall, including one marker with three names on it as requested by the family. The families, friends, and visitors are able to write messages and prayers on the markers as they continue to grieve those lost.

LCC K-9 Comfort Dogs Peace (Trinity – Orlando, Florida) and Lizzie (Trinity – Savannah, Georgia) and their ministry teams will make return visits to Surfside, Florida, as invited to give additional comfort, love, and presence to those in need, to the first responders, and all recovery staff.

LCC extends a heartfelt thank you to the following LCC K-9 Ministry teams who deployed to Surfside to share the love and hope of Jesus Christ with everyone they met:

LCC also extends a gracious thank you to Pastor Bartels and the members of Holy Cross Lutheran Church for inviting and hosting both the LCC K-9 Ministry and Hearts of Mercy & Compassion Ministry to help you continue to be present and serve the community.

We continue to pray for all the families and friends of those who lost a loved one in the collapse, for the community, and for the recovery team in Surfside.

LCC's K-9 Comfort Dog Ministry and Hearts of Mercy & Compassion Ministry never charge those we serve. Please prayerfully consider a donation to the LCC K-9 Travel and Hearts of Mercy & Compassion, Crosses for Losses Funds so that we may continue to show the Mercy, Compassion, Presence and Proclamation of Jesus Christ to those suffering and in need.

A 12-story oceanfront condominium tower partially collapsed in the early hours of Thursday, June 24 on Collins Avenue in the town of Surfside, Florida, spurring a massive search-and-rescue effort with dozens of rescue crews from across Miami-Dade and Broward counties. The partial collapse of the 12-story wing of Champlain Towers South resulted in four confirmed deaths and more than 159 persons still unaccounted for. Search and rescue crews continue to carry on the dire but delicate work of picking over and tunneling through tons of crumbled concrete and twisted steel in search of survivors.

The LCC K-9 Comfort Dogs have been invited in by Rev. Dr. Gregory Walton, LCMS District President for the Florida-Georgia District and Rev. Dennis Bartels Pastor of Holy Cross Lutheran Church in North Miami. Pastor Bartels has served this community for 35 years and is well connected to the community where we will be serving. Tim Hetzner, LCC President/CEO, and Bonnie Fear, LCC K-9 Crisis Response Coordinator, are working closely with Pastor Bartels to determine the appropriate time to have Boots and Paws on the ground.

The LCC K-9 Comfort Dogs will come in to serve first responders and their families that have worked around the clock doing search and rescue for the 159 people who are unaccounted for (at the time of this writing). First responders include: emergency medical technicians (EMTs), paramedics, firefighters, police officers, city, state, and federal personnel. They are all working tirelessly with the destruction of the Champlain Towers. In addition, LCC K9 Comfort Dogs will serve all in that area who have worked selflessly, as well as family members who have lost loved ones.

Our LCC K-9 Comfort Dog Teams will be driving to and staying in Miami. Travel and accommodations in the area will be expensive. LCC's K-9 Comfort Dog Ministry never charges those we serve as we bring the Mercy, Compassion, Presence and Proclamation of Jesus Christ to those suffering and in need.

Please prayerfully consider a donation to the LCC K-9 Travel Fund as we prepare to deploy to serve the first responders and this devastated community.

Please join LCC in keeping the families, first responders, and the community in your prayers as they move through these extremely trying times.

Serving Together, Serving Others in Need, as We Serve Jesus!

Tim Hetzner
President/CEO 
Lutheran Church Charities

Only in the arms of God is there a safe place!
“God is our safe place and our strength.
He is always our help when we are in trouble.”  
Psalm 46:1

Lutheran Church Charities is currently on multiple Disaster and Crisis Response deployments in California (mass shooting and fires) and in Florida (Hurricane Michael). The California deployment for the shootings is now also serving all the families displaced from their homes because of the fires happening right now – and we are in the middle of it.

There is still widespread devastation in Panama City, Florida, and our Disaster Response LERT volunteers are on the ground this week to do chainsaw work, tarping roofs, and anything that needs to be done to help those who are still not in their homes from Hurricane Michael. In addition, the semi-truck is arriving today with food and other critical items donated to help the 6,000 individuals each week that Trinity is serving.
 
We PUT and KEEP boots and paws on the ground to be with people who are suffering! Please keep everyone in California and Florida in your prayers – as in both places we are serving people who have been traumatized.

Here are just a few of the places where LCC K-9 Comfort Dogs Ruthie, Emma, Jacob and Hannah (LCC Staff), Cubby (Redeemer – Fort Collins, Colorado), Lois (First Good Shepherd – Las Vegas, Nevada), and Aaron (St. John’s – Napa, California) and their teams have been serving in Thousand Oaks:

• Borderline Bar & Grill: Saturday & Sunday vigils
  
• California Lutheran University (Cal Lutheran): Thursday night vigil, daily at counseling center, Monday town hall meeting  
• Christ the King Lutheran Church: Friday & Sunday morning
• La Quinta Hotel: evacuee guests
• Red Cross Evacuation Center, Thousand Oaks

The Camp Fire is in Northern California which completely and literally wiped off the map the town of Paradise. Nearly 40,000 displaced, most of whom lost their homes and everything. Untold numbers of people lost their lives or are unaccounted for.

Reports to date are stating that over 90 firefighters who have been risking their life to battle the horrendous flames have lost their own homes due to the current wild fires.

Lord of Life – LaFox: Larry Zagorski, Terry & Mary Kramer, Kevin Krage, Dave Smercina, Jeff Straughn
Prince of Peace – Palatine: Jim Beckley
St. John – Wheaton: Steve Chester, Marty Johnson, David Schesselman,
St. Peter – Schaumburg: Ken Kivarante, Tom Amundsen
Trinity – Lisle: Clay Arnold, Ed & Jan Boerman, Skip & Karen Sorensen, Mike Kostecki, Carl Witt
Trinity – Roanoke: Ron Wagner
Trinity – Roselle: Kristin Bilar, Bob Pautsch
Trinity – Tinley Park: Joel Powless

Indiana
St. John’s – Dillsboro: Steve Black

Almost every home and business has been affected in some way in Panama City. The destruction is widespread. Many families are living in damaged homes because of limited other housing options. The schools are planning to open this week with children now from several schools having to attend the ones not damaged too severely. The local hospital is not able to reopen for another three months. Only one grocery store is open in town and the checkout lines are always long. Everyone is managing the best they can in a difficult and trying situation.

Trinity Lutheran is helping their community by providing emotional, spiritual, and physical support. They are distributing food and supplies to thousands of affected residents each week with many willing volunteers. They are also housing the many teams who are coming in from all over the country to assist in recovery.

Our LERT team has already tarped several roofs after removing trees from them and doing chainsaw work and debris removal. We are privileged to show the mercy, compassion, presence and proclamation of Jesus Christ to those suffering and in need.

On Tuesday, November 13, Kathy O’Day and Sean McAdams, LCC Media Specialist, were invited to meet with Pastor Dave Gieseking from Living Water Lutheran Church in Mexico Beach, Florida. Hurricane Michael, with its 155 mph winds and 15’ storm surge, totally wiped his church and home away along with coastal towns. Pastor held worship service on the beach this past Sunday morning to offer the hope of Christ in the midst of chaos. Living Water was known as the “community church” as its doors were always open and they served the community needs with its presence and willing hearts and hands. Help will be needed in this community for many years to come.

CLICK HERE to view  to Pastor Dave as he shows the devastation and shares his story

With your help, LCC is blessed to provide the physical help and a comforting presence needed to help individuals, families, first responders, and volunteers in all of these communities who are shocked, devastated, and feeling hopeless and helpless. Please continue to support us with fervent prayer and if you are moved, continue to help us with expenses.

By day's end on Thursday, 6 of the 19 LCC K-9 Comfort Dog teams were on-site by the memorial that was building at Pine Trails Park which is less than a mile from the high school. Other K-9 teams continued to arrive through Sunday, including law enforcement handlers from the LCC K-9 Police Ministry. The park is a place to enjoy tennis, soccer, yoga, a playground, and has a recreation center and an amphitheater for activities. Since that tragic day, the recreation center is now a counseling and service center for victims of the shooting. The amphitheater and grassy field in front of it has become a solemn place to mourn, grieve, and pray.

Each day at Pine Trails Park, the number of people stopping by increased, and the students would return to visit the crosses and stars that marked the memory of their friends and family members. The LCC K-9 Comfort Dogs and their handlers did what they were trained to do – be present, listen, and pray. There is no comparison amongst tragedies. Nothing is the same and everyone has their own way of dealing with grief and loss. The LCC K-9 Comfort Dog Ministry teams worked tirelessly in their mission to bring the mercy, compassion, presence, and proclamation of Jesus Christ to those who are suffering and in need. Students would tearfully share their stories of their friends and where they were that day. Parents often accompanied their children to the park to be close to them.

Within days of being in Parkland, the LCC K-9 Comfort Dog Ministry teams received an invitation to work with the counselors of Broward County Schools. The Broward County School District is the sixth largest school district in the United States, with over 300 schools and approximately 300,000 students. The district had just finished their recovery from Hurricane Irma and had also assimilated thousands of children from Puerto Rico into the schools as a result of Hurricane Maria. It was an amazing accomplishment. The shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School would present another challenge that no school district would ever want to face.

During the first week on-site, along with being at the park, the LCC K-9 Ministry teams were assigned to visit over 20 elementary and middle schools in the surrounding communities to be with children who were afraid to come to or be in school. The teams visited the children and then worked with counselors to help specific children who were still having difficulty understanding what happened. The teams also visited schools where family members had lost loved ones and a school where a first grader had died in a fire. The teachers and staff at each of the schools are doing their very best to help the children feel safe and loved.

Teachers from the high school were brought together the Friday immediately following the shooting. After that, they had met mostly at funerals and at Pine Trails Park. Last Friday, the teachers were welcomed into the school to be with each other and to start planning their return. The LCC K-9 Comfort Dog teams were invited to be there to support the faculty, staff, and first responders. It was a reassuring moment and a positive break as they stood, sat, and laid with the dogs.

The second deployment is under way this week, with 12 LCC K-9 Ministry teams that will serve Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School when the students return on Wednesday, February 28.

The LCC K-9 Ministry thanks you for your continued prayers and support that helps us bring the mercy, compassion, presence and proclamation of Jesus Christ to the Parkland, Florida community. If you are so moved, please support us through donations to the K-9 Travel Expense Fund so that we can continue to serve this hurting community.