Lutheran Disaster Response > Long-Term Recovery

Disaster Preparedness Really works
Flood recovery begins in the Midwest

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When members of Trinity Lutheran Church in Mason City, Iowa participated in a disaster preparedness workshop last year, they never knew that the opportunity to practice their training would come along so soon. But when Mason City and the surrounding towns were flooded last month, the congregation’s Disaster Emergency Response Team, or DERT team, acted quickly to serve its members and its community. Now, Lutheran congregations from around the country are being called upon to give financially and serve as volunteers as the long-term recovery from the Midwest flooding begins.

In January of 2007, Craig Pross and other members of Trinity Lutheran Church invited Rev. Michael Stadie, Lutheran Disaster Response coordinator for Iowa, to hold a workshop on disaster preparedness at their church. About 15 members of Trinity attended the workshop, which focused on a variety of preparedness activities and helped in drafting a congregational preparedness plan. They also received a grant from Lutheran Disaster Response, through local affiliate Lutheran Services in Iowa, to help coordinate preparedness activities.

Following the meeting, the congregation formed their Disaster Emergency Response Team to implement their new plan. The team wrote plans for evacuations and lock-downs of the building and posted evacuation routes in all rooms. They evaluated their insurance coverage to ensure that they were properly insured to cover disaster damage, and they checked equipment like smoke detectors and fire extinguishers. They also designed a phone tree so that communication could happen quickly and effectively in a time of need. The team even signed an agreement with the American Red Cross to serve as a shelter or feeding station in the event that people in the area needed to be evacuated.


Then, in early June, the church attempted to send groups of volunteers to help with early clean-up efforts in Parkersburg, Iowa, which was devastated by an EF-5 tornado on May 25. However, both days that they tried to volunteer, it rained so hard that no effective work could actually be done. The rain itself was a sign of things to come, and the people of Mason City soon found themselves with a natural disaster of their own. As the flood waters rose in and around their town, the members of Trinity’s DERT team prepared to respond.

Over the days and weeks that have followed, the DERT team has been an active and important part of the community’s early recovery. About 35 volunteers from the congregation have helped to clean-up 15 homes in town, some belonging to members of Trinity and others that did not. While limited access to water kept the church from serving as an official Red Cross evacuee shelter, the Salvation Army used the parking lot to set up a mobile feeding station, and several households in town used the fellowship hall to gather and stay while they were unable to be in their homes.

Pross, who leads the DERT team at Trinity, reflected his satisfaction with the way that their training through Lutheran Disaster Response prepared them to be important in the recovery of Mason City. “And perhaps the most important role of the DERT team was to take stress and responsibilities away from the pastors. Because the pastors knew that we were actively responding to physical needs, they could do their important work – being with people, praying with them, and caring for their spiritual needs,” Pross said.

Pastor Jim Magelssen, who is the senior pastor at Trinity, is excited about the role that the congregation, in partnership with the other churches in town, will play in the long-term response to needs in the community. After speaking with a city manager, who happened to be new to Mason City, he was excited to share that “people are talking about the good things happening at Trinity Lutheran.”

“I can’t deny that this important work is also an outreach for our congregation,” Magelssen said. “Maybe in the midst of responding to the tangible needs of people in Mason City, some new people will show up at the church too.”