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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:
Wendy Healy: 203-744-6367, wendy@LDRNY.org

Pr. Ann Tiemeyer: 212-669-6131 amtiemeyer@aol.com

SERVANT EVENT PARTNERS YOUTH FROM TWO

SYNODS TO SHARE FAITH & HEALING AFTER DISASTER

NEW YORK, N.Y. – May 1 – Fifteen young people from ELCA churches in the Metropolitan New York Synod will travel to the Oklahoma/Arkansas Synod this summer to share experiences of healing and faith after disasters such as the Oklahoma City bombing and 9/11.

The Servant Event, which teaches young people to reach out in service to those in need, is being coordinated by the Metropolitan New York Synod’s Children, Youth and Family Committee and Koinonia, NYC, an urban ministry of community-building through recovery, discovery and hospitality with local Lutheran congregations, agencies and schools. Koinonia NYC was formed after the disaster of 9/11 in New York City, in partnership with Lutheran Disaster Response of New York (LDRNY), to foster healing. Both are joint ministries of the Metropolitan New York Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Atlantic District of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.

“New York young people feel a special connection to Oklahoma City and vice versa,” said Pr. Ann Tiemeyer, director of Koinonia NYC, since both cities have experienced firsthand how a human-caused disaster – such as 9/11 and the Oklahoma City bombing – can affect a community.

The event is being coordinated with the Arkansas/Oklahoma Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, for two weeks this summer.  From July 3 to 9, 15 young Lutherans and their chaperones will visit New York City from the Arkansas/Oklahoma Synod.  They will work at area emergency food ministries which all experienced increased need after 9/11. The group will also take a Faith Walk at Ground Zero, and see the healing and rebuilding that is underway.

Then, from July 31 to Aug. 6, the New York group will go to Oklahoma City to work at the Oaks Indian Center, a ministry of the ELCA witnessing to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the heart of the Cherokee Nation.

This is one of more than 10 Servant Events this year hosted by Koinonia NYC. It is being funded by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, LDRNY, the Metropolitan New York Synod of the ELCA and Koinonia. The organization also sponsors Faith Walks at Ground Zero.

For more information about participating in a Servant Event or a Faith Walk, visit LDRNY.org or www.Koinonianyc.org.

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