2008 Flood - Mission Damaged

Cedar Rapids, Iowa
June 16, 2008

Good evening everyone,

This is my first opportunity to get to my E-mail since power was turned off in downtown Cedar Rapids. I have wireless E-mail at home, and the antenna-modem is located downtown. Without power I do not have Internet access. The mission is unfortunately under water as well, so my office there is useless. I am currently sitting in a coffee bar with my laptop using their wireless Internet connection. All of our volunteers personal residences to the best of my knowledge, including my personal residence, was not affected by the flood. For that we are thankful to our Lord and Savior.
We are blessed that in loss of the mission to the community and the guests we serve, there was only one death and no major injuries. There is nothing lost that cannot be replaced with the help and support of the community.
We have not been allowed into the flood area to enter Cedar Christian Church to survey the damage, and take photographs. When we can, we will post them on the web site and notify everyone.
We are keeping all of the flood victims in our prayers, attending disaster relief meetings as we turn our thoughts to long term recovery which is estimated to be 3+ years, and beginning to think about rebuilding the mission. We will need financial donations, in-kind donations, volunteers, among our anticipated many needs. After we have been able to enter the mission and survey the damage, we will also begin to develop our needs list for recovery and will post it on the web site as well. What is certain, the folks we support in poverty are going to need us far worse now than before the flood.
As you make stewardship decisions about the gifts God has blessed you with, we pray that you will be generous with CrossRoads Mission in time, talent, and treasure to get us up and running again. As we hold you up in prayer, please keep us in your prayers.
The ministry at CrossRoads Mission has been asked by our Bishop and Lutheran Disaster Relief to take a lead in the long-term disaster relief efforts for Cedar Rapids/Linn County. I may be looking for some donated office space outside the flood zone yet near the mission, with an Internet connection, until we can have the mission back on line again. Thoughts and suggestions are welcomed.

Yours in Christ,

Pat Kane, Diaconal Minister
CrossRoads Mission
526 - 3rd Ave., SW
Cedar Rapids, IA 52404
Phone: 319-365-0707
Cell: 319-981-1273
Fax: 866-702-8991