October 18, 2005

CHICAGO (ELCA) – The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) awarded Lutheran World Relief (LWR) a $2 million grant to support rehabilitation and recovery work in Sri Lanka, one of the countries hardest hit by the December 2004 tsunami. LWR is the overseas relief and development ministry of the ELCA and Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.

"The generous gifts from ELCA members and congregations to the Southeast Asian Tsunami disaster response have enabled our sustained support of our key hunger and disaster partner, Lutheran World Relief," said Kathryn Sime, director for the ELCA World Hunger and Disaster Appeal.

"We are grateful for the abundant generosity offered throughout the ELCA that has ensured our long-term commitment to our partners and companions throughout Southeast Asia following last December's tsunami," Sime said. As of Aug. 31 ELCA members donated $13.7 million specifically toward tsunami relief efforts.

"We are thrilled to forward $2 million to Lutheran Word Relief, our partner in ministry, to continue the work of recovery as we walk and work together with those most in need following the devastation of the tsunami," said the Rev. Donald M. Hallberg, executive director, ELCA Foundation.

"We are ever grateful to the response from members and congregations of the ELCA that ultimately make this grant possible. This truly is the church in mission," Hallberg said.

"We are incredibly grateful for the ELCA's commitment to our response in South and Southeast Asia," said Kathryn Wolford, LWR president, in an Oct. 14 news release. "This $2 million grant will allow us to engage in the kind of long-term work in Sri Lanka that LWR is known for – addressing the underlying conditions of chronic poverty and providing lasting change," she said.

"As a ministry of the ELCA, we treasure our relationship with the church body and its members. This grant is just one more example of the great things we can do together to help those we are called to serve," Wolford said.

Sri Lanka is an island nation of almost 20 million people in the Indian Ocean off the southeast coast of India. A massive Dec. 26 earthquake near Indonesia triggered a tsunami – a series of immense ocean waves – that killed more than 30,000 Sri Lankans.

LWR and its partner agencies in Sri Lanka immediately provided more than 45,500 survivors with food, water, tents, cooking utensils, clothing, medicine, school books and uniforms.

"The magnitude of this disaster compels us to support one another in our relief efforts and to build on each other's competencies," said the Rev. Rafael Malpica Padilla, executive director, ELCA Global Mission. "LWR has been a trusted and faithful companion through which our churches have maximized and extended our response to international disasters and development work."

The ELCA gave LWR a grant of $100,000 in January 2005. "The ELCA's initial support was vital in helping LWR respond during the emergency phase when saving lives was the priority," said Tim McCully, LWR vice president for international programs.

"This new donation is equally important as we shift from relief to longer term rehabilitation efforts," he said.

"This grant will allow LWR and our local partner organizations to work with more families in more communities. It will expand our work to increase peoples' ability to earn an income through their own skills, assist them in protecting and managing their natural resources and help them reduce their risks to future disasters," McCully said.

In the months since the disaster, LWR has helped repair damaged houses and schools. It has provided loans and training to restore and diversify livelihoods. It has also offered counseling for those most affected by the disaster.

LWR is in the second phase of a three-phase plan, transitioning from relief to rehabilitation. The rehabilitation phase is to last through 2005, when long-term projects will take over. The LWR news release said the ELCA grant will help meet long-term needs for permanent housing and steady, reliable sources of income in Sri Lanka.

ELCA News Service