LSS receives $40,000 disaster preparedness grant
April 28, 2008

Lutheran Social Services received a $40,000 disaster preparedness grant from Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR) to develop and maintain a permanent preparedness program and allow LSS to expand services to the nine Lutheran Synods and Districts in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana.

The grant will help fund the implementation of the 2008 preparedness program developed by LSS. The core effort of the program will be to create a structured network with the Lutheran Synods and Districts in the LSS service area. This network and the infrastructure to support it will facilitate a faster and more effective response to a disaster and allow LSS to more quickly reach those in need.

LSS is the local affiliate for Lutheran Disaster Response and has a long history of providing disaster services. Over the past two years, LSS has built upon that history through its extensive response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, including the coordination of more than 38,000 volunteers who performed more than 1.7 million hours of service.

"Building upon the lessons we learned from our Katrina and Rita response, we see it as our duty to continue to develop and maintain a permanent preparedness program that provides the skills needed to respond in times of crisis," said Associate Vice President of Disaster Response Heather Gatlin.

Lutheran Social Services of the South, Inc., is the social service arm of The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. LSS annually serves nearly 35,000 children, elderly and poor in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi regardless of religious beliefs, ethnicity, gender or age. Its ministry includes disaster response, children's centers, therapeutic foster care, adoption, adult day care, health care and retirement centers and emergency assistance.