When Hurricane Harvey hit Texas, it didn’t take long for the senior pastor of Peace, Saginaw to know that he and his church and school needed to do something.
“My wife, Karen, and I were married at Pilgrim Lutheran Church in Houston 32 years ago, and she taught at Pilgrim Lutheran School,” said Rev. C. William Weis. “When we found out that the church and school were flooded, we formed a plan to help.”
“Peace members gave generously during our special collection for Texas, and another Bucket Offering [took place last] weekend. We are also working closely with LERT to get much-needed supplies down to Texas within the next week or so.”
The Lutheran Early Response Team (LERT) is headed at Peace by member Dennis Browning, who is also the mayor of Saginaw. Browning has been working to secure donations of buckets, while members’ monetary donations will purchase the bleach, soaps, brushes, and other cleaning supplies that will fill the buckets.
Peace’s Youth Group led an assembly line to fill the buckets right after its Youth Service on Sunday, Sept. 10. The goal was to fill and deliver at least 200 flood buckets to Pilgrim Lutheran in Texas.
“The great thing about helping an organization like Pilgrim Lutheran Church and School is that, once they are cleaned up and operating again, they then begin their own outreach to the community,” said Rev. Matthew Hauser, pastor at Peace Lutheran School. “So the efforts we’re making 1,300 miles away to help this church in Houston will not only benefit the church and school, but also Pilgrim members whose homes were flooded, as well as the community at large.”
Each school year, Peace Lutheran School adopts an organization to support as its mission service project. The devastation in Texas, as well as the Peace ties to Pilgrim Lutheran Church and School, made this year’s project a no-brainer, Hauser said.
“Pilgrim and the surrounding community are going to need help for months and maybe even years,” Hauser said. “We are dedicating our school’s weekly offering all year long to helping their efforts because we know that, after the TV cameras are gone and something else is a bigger story, the folks in Texas are still going to need help.”
To learn more about Peace, Saginaw visit www.PeaceSaginaw.org. To learn more about Pilgrim Lutheran Church and School, visit www.plchouston.org.
Photo courtesy of Peace, Saginaw
