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Pastor Philip Schupmann and several members of the WELS Relief team traveled to Cedar Rapids, Iowa this past week. They toured the flooded areas around Cedar Rapids and got a firsthand look at some of the church members homes that were flooded as well as in rest of the community. Water had receded somewhat – at least it wasn’t over the tops of the bridges anymore. The relief team met with Pastor Wesley Bruss, who provided a tour of the area. Later they met with the church council and interested parties and discussed some options and provided ideas and resources about how relief efforts might proceed and how current funds might be spent. God’s word was studied and prayers for God’s providence were asked. WELS Relief also provided money grants for two other congregations. Help was provided for the flooding effort at Grace Ev. Lutheran Church in Oskaloosa, IA and tornado relief in Parkersburg, IA, through an ELS church. Much of the meetings with the local congregation centered on how providing information and answering questions.

Several areas in Wisconsin have been hard hit by the flooding also. Faculty members at Winnebago Lutheran Academy have reported personal losses and one teacher’s house blew up from a flood caused gas leak. WELS Relief will be meeting with leaders of WLA on Monday June 23^rd. A second meeting is planned with several affected congregations in Baraboo on Tuesday morning to help them assess their needs and the ability of the WELS Relief to help in their area.

Plans are to visit many of the congregations along the Rock River and offer assistance as needed. Within a week WELS Relief will have a video available describing more fully our efforts and some firsthand video of the areas affected.

Please consider a gift to the
WELS Committee on Relief for flooding.
You may do that by simply
connecting to WELSRelief.net

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