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the Lutheran
Connection
Vol. 6, Issue 1
Inside
2 Senior’s Lives...
Telling Stories
Fall 2006
Lutheran Disaster Response
My Life Will Never be the Same.
3 New Resettlement
Delivery Truck Saves
Time and Gas
Tree of Life
Legacy Society
In late August of 2005, our televisions were
inundated with pictures of Hurricane Katrina,
of homes under water and people stranded on
rooftops, of property owners and renters alike
Portions of the surrounding city
still looked like a ghost town.
Neighborhoods, where children
played and where people sat on
porches, had been reduced to
fields of rubble. What was left of
churches, schools and local markets
were buildings stricken with mildew.
Many homes had been torn off their
foundations and lay in complete ruin.
The rotting stench of debris made it
difficult to breath.
4 Employees of the
Quarter
Long-term Disaster
Recovery Fund
5 Seven Ways You Can
Make a Difference
Our Mission
Showing kindness,
doing justice, and
serving those in need.
Our Vision
Following the example of
Christ, LSMS will provide,
for all people, quality
human care services that
build and strengthen
individuals, families
and communities.
The Lutheran Connection is
published biannualy by
Lutheran Social Ministry of the Southwest
5049 E. Broadway Blvd., Ste. 102
Tucson, Arizona 85711
(520) 748-2300
Fax (520) 748-2355
Toll Free 877-258-2059
www.lsmsaz.org
We thank our Sponsors
evacuee. As I stood in its doorframe, thoughts
of what once was, welled up in my eyes.
My life will never be the same.
9th Ward, New Orleans, July 2006
My recent visit to New Orleans
turned Hurricane Katrina from a
collection of horrifying stories into
a life-altering experience, which
continues to remind me that we
should all be truly grateful for
what we have because tomorrow
it could all be gone.
without an address to return home to. Over
the course of the past year, I’ve worked with
many evacuees, who fled to Tucson from New
Orleans, and listened to the stories that went
with many of the pictures I’d previously seen.
Disaster Preparedness Training can save
lives and help you, your family, church and
community recover more quickly from the
devastation of storms the likes of Hurricanes
Katrina, Rita and Wilma.
Yet, none of them could prepare me for what
I would experience during my visit to the 9th
Ward on July 11, 2006, nearly one year after
Katrina struck. I visited the empty shell of a
home that was once owned by one Tucson
Are you prepared?
La’Tresa Jester
Regional Disaster Response Director
LSMS is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and recognized by the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
The Lutheran Connection
5049 E. Broadway Blvd., Suite 102
Tucson, AZ 85711
ACUCOMM INC.
85711
PAID
NONPROFIT ORG
US POSTAGE
Director’s Corner
It is difficult for most of us to
consider what our lives
would be like if we lost all of
our worldly possessions to
natural disasters the likes of
Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and
Wilma. It is hard to
comprehend the emotional
scars of suffering such
personal losses.
Seven Ways You Can Make a Difference:
Asylum Program of Arizona
Senior’s Lives…
Telling Stories
The financial, social and spiritual needs of the hurricane
evacuees continue to challenge our agency and our
community as a whole. Yet it is nearly impossible to put a
time limit on recovery... because healing takes time.
Seniors love to tell stories that are filled with warm experiences
and guiding wisdom. We want to share two stories from seniors
and their families who participate in our DayBreak Adult Day
Health Care and In-Home Care Services.
This is our legacy... showing kindness, doing justice and
serving those in need and is why we must forever remain
prepared to respond to those in our in our community
who need and deserve our help and support.
Mary spends her summers in Montana and her winters in
Arizona. She attends East Valley Adult Day Health Care in
Mesa. A long-time and well-loved teacher, Mary comes alive at
DayBreak. “This is my school and I love it here.” Now that she has
new hearing-aides, this 89 year old is the first with answers to
our crossword puzzles, geography and spelling bees. Her family
enthusiastically reports that Mary has become a different person
because of her experiences and friendships at DayBreak “We are
thrilled! DayBreak lifts her spirits!”
We are asking our friends and families to help make this
happen, by signing our Book of Life and adding their leaf
to our Tree of Life. Please join me in making an annual
donation to LSMS and pledging to include LSMS in your
will or estate plan.
Together, we can ensure that LSMS remains forever
vigilant and fulfill our life’s stewardship.
Lynn Baker
Executive Director
Susan loved her father and wanted to take care of him as his
body continued to deteriorate with aging. The only way she
could take care of “Tex” was to quit her job. Thanks to LSMS
In-Home family caregiver program, Susan was ‘hired’ as a paid
family attendant caregiver. She and “Tex” were able to spend
his last months, at peace with all the end of life issues – hour
after hour, day after day – just being in the moment of it all. He
ended his earthly walk in Susan’s arms – soft as a breeze. “I
heard all his stories – but best of all, I got to hear ‘I love you, kitten.”
LSMS Senior Services
covers Pima, Pinal, Gila,
Santa Cruz, Cochise
counties and a portion of
Maricopa County. To
learn
more
about
DayBreak Adult Day
Health Care and Inhome Services programs
for you or a loved one,
Time to Clean House?
Do you have used household items
you would like to donate to charity?
Lutheran Social Ministry’s Phoenix and Tucson Refugee
Resettlement Program is in need of used furniture and
house wares for refugees who are just beginning life in
the U.S. We can ALWAYS use:
Cars • Sofas
Beds • Tables
Pots and Pans • Dressers
Lamps • Baby Strollers
And Much More!
Your donation is tax deductible and we will gladly
pick up your items! For more information please
call Ben in Tucson at (520) 721-4444 or
Dragan in Phoenix at (602) 248-4400. Thank you!
2 The Lutheran Connection
call us toll free at: (866) 514-7642.
Position
Purpose
Document Translator* To translate legal
documents.
Interpreter*
To interpret for
asylum-seekers
Clerical Assistant/
Office receptionist
Transportation
Volunteers
Newsletter Editor
Webmaster
Law School Student
Internship
To provide support
to office staff.
To get APA clients
to appointments in
Tucson or Phoenix.
To publish informative
newsletter for the asylee
and refugee community.
To provide technical
support to the APA website
To provide support
to attorney
Responsibilities
Translate confidential case documents,
including birth and marriage certificates.
Interpret at local client appointments
and service provider visits, as well
as at asylum interviews.
Data entry, filing, making copies,
office reception
Transport clients to appointments.
Time Commitment
1-4 hrs/wk
As needed
1-4 hrs/wk
As needed
Collect articles and immigration service
contacts to publish in newsletter.
5-10 hours/month
Regularly updating the APA website.
5-10 hours/month
Work closely with attorney in
building a client cases, research
country conditions, collect evidence
of the client assertions and assist client
with completing immigration forms.
Semester
FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Raul Alcaraz, APA Volunteer Coordinator, Tucson (520) 623-4555
*Primary languages needed are French and Spanish.
Refugee Resettlement
Position
Group
Co-Sponsorship
or Individual
Family Mentor
Purpose
Be a part of a team
or work by yourself
reaching out to one
refugee family.
Interpreter
To interpret for refugees
– Farsi, Arabic, Turkish,
Russian and Burmese.
To provide support to
office staff.
To publish informative
newsletter for the asylee
and refugee community.
To provide needed items
for the refugees.
Clerical Assistant/
Office receptionist
Newsletter Editor
Donator
Case Management
Assistant Intern
To assist LSMS Case
Managers with
client needs.
Responsibilities
Time Commitment
Help the families settle into their new
1-4 hrs/weekly
lives here in Tucson and Phoenix.
Some possibilities: Greeting newly arriving
family at the airport; helping a family learn to
use the public library and grocery store; inviting
a family to go hiking or play soccer; helping a
family learn English; drive a family to the doctor.
Interpret at local client appointments
As needed
and at service provider visits.
Data entry, filing, making copies,
office reception.
Collect articles and immigration service
contacts to publish in newsletter.
3-20 hrs/wk
Donating gently used household items.
All large items can be picked up.
Call us at (520) 721-4444 in Tucson,
or (602) 248-4400 in Phoenix to
drop off small items.
15 minutes
5-10 hours/month
Assist the Case Manager with appointments, Semester
job interviews, and cultural orientation.
Work towards fulfilling internship.
The Lutheran Connection 5
Employees
of the Quarter
New Resettlement Delivery Truck Saves Time and Gas
2nd Quarter 2006
The big white box truck pulled up in front of the apartment
complex. Out jumped three energetic men who raised the back
door of the truck and began unloading beds, a table and chairs, a
sofa, a dresser and many other items. They hauled the heavy
items up the stairs and carefully placed them in the apartment.
Then, returning to the truck, they closed the back door and
headed off to the next apartment. Three refugee families would
have their apartments set up that day.
Phoenix Immigration
Services Team –
Multicultural Services
Congratulations to the Phoenix Immigration Services
Team on being chosen “Employees of the Quarter” for the
2nd Quarter of 2006! This team is comprised of team
leader Dragan Subotic and members: Wilo Ahmed,
Marielyn Almedia, Deborah Kosbad, Vjollca Musliu,
Aimee Reeves and Dylan Tessier. They complete and file
immigration paperwork to help reunite separated families
or to help refugees along the path to U.S. citizenship.
Paperwork can be extremely tedious, but the reward of
seeing families reunited after years of separation and
witnessing someone receive U.S. citizenship makes it all
worth it.
The Phoenix Immigration Team was selected due their
collective efforts which significantly increased the number
of immigration cases being processed through the Phoenix
Multicultural Services office, particularly in the area of
family reunification. Their combined efforts were recently
lauded, by Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services
(LIRS), during a recent monitoring visit.
Long-term Disaster
Recovery Fund
Rev. Jan Flaaten, Executive Director of the Arizona
Ecumenical Council, has offered to match every dollar we
raise up to $50,000 increasing the possibility of effectively
raising over $100,000 for this fund.
We are truly grateful to Mayor Walkup, Howard Paley,
Journal Broadcast Group, Rev. Flaaten and the Arizona
Ecumenical Council for their combined efforts.
4 The Lutheran Connection
So what’s next? Now our truck needs signage. We want to paint
the name of our program on the truck along with a nice picture
and our telephone number. It would be great advertising for the
refugee program. Who knows, someone seeing the truck might
decide to call and donate some furniture!
Tucson Mayor Bob Walkup partnered with LSMS in August to
help raise long-term disaster recovery funds to aid Hurricane
Katrina evacuees who are still struggling to rebuild their
shattered lives one year after surviving this nation’s most
devastating storm. “You and I can hardly imagine the
emotional and financial toll these evacuees have endured,” the
Mayor said.
Challenge Grant
Front row (left to right):
Aimee Reeves, Wilo Ahmed, Vjollca Musliu.
Back row (left to right):
Marielyn Almedia, Deborah Kosbad, Dylan Tessier,
Dragan Subotic.
How did a non-profit organization go from an “in need of
constant repair” small pickup to a nice, large 15-foot box truck?
The answer: Fourteen churches and the West Valley Lutheran
Thrift Shop responded to our need and provided enough funds
for LSMS to purchase the truck, which we could have never
accomplished on our own. We are truly grateful for their
generosity and goodwill. Thank you so much!
Mayor Bob Walkup
Walker Foard, Creative Director of the Journal Broadcast Group
and radio personality, Ed Alexander, teamed up with Howard
Paley on behalf of LSMS to write and record the Mayor’s PSA,
which aired on 92.9 MIX/FM in Tucson from August 30
through September 5.
You can contribute to the Long-Term
Disaster Recovery Fund by calling LSMS’s
administrative offices in Tucson, at (520)
748-2300 or on-line at www.lsmsaz.org.
This may not sound like an exciting story, but the staff of
Lutheran Social Ministry Southwest Refugee Resettlement
Program in Phoenix, are thrilled with it. “Now”, Kerim
Abadalecha beams, “we can load all the donations in one stop and
set up three apartments in one day. Before, with our small pickup, this would be a three-day process with many trips back and
forth just to set up one apartment. We can now make better use
of our time and conserve gas.” Kerim is the resource manager for
the program.
(left to right) Lawi Elias, Kerim Abadalecha and Kradee
Glaywon load furniture on the “big” truck.
We are looking for a generous partner or sign-company, who
might sponsor or donate the materials and labor needed to paint
the truck. If you or someone you may know is interested in
contributing to our truck-sign-painting fund, please contact Craig
Thoresen or Donna Buckles at: (602) 248-4400.
Tree of Life Legacy Society
This summer, we changed the name of our legacy society to the Tree
of Life Legacy Society.
LSMS Board Members will be among the first to sign our sacred Book
of Life and add their leaf to our commemorative wall sculpture that
will soon grace our administrative offices.
If you have already made a provision for LSMS in your
will or estate plan, please let us know... so we may
inscribe your name in the Book of Life and add your leaf
to our Tree of Life.
We are asking all of our friends and family to sign the Book of Life in
faithful support of Lutheran Social Ministry of the Southwest and help
endow our mission to provide for all people, quality human care
services that build and strengthen individuals, families and
communities in perpetuity.
In fulfilling our life’s stewardship, this is truly a legacy
we can leave our children and our children’s children.
This simple act of kindness will only take you a
moment, but can last a lifetime.
Please join us.
To inscribe the Book of Life and add your leaf to our
Tree of Life, please call Howard Paley, Development
Counsel, at: (520) 419-4816.
The Lutheran Connection 3