Latest News
Spring 2010 newsletter viewable on-line
Orphan Grain Train’s Spring 2010 poster edition newsletter is now on-line. You may either click here or click “NEWSLETTER” at the www.ogt.org Home page and select newsletter edition “2010 Spring Newsletter” or “2010 Shipments Poster - 09” to view this edition in .pdf format. If the file does not open you may download a free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader at www.adobe.com. Please select “Get Adobe Reader.”
This edition of the newsletter is in two files. One is the annual shipments poster, and the other is the other four pages of this newsletter.
If you would like a printed copy of this poster edition newsletter on heavy, coated paper, and have not received a copy by July 14, 2010, please CLICK HERE to send us a text message containing your mailing information.
Elkhorn Valley Flood—130 miles Across Nebraska
Cities across a 130-mile stretch of the Elkhorn River in northeast Nebraska flooded this week. Seventy homes in Norfolk were inundated. One man was declared missing when a vital railroad bridge across the Elkhorn collapsed on Tuesday, June 15.
Flood-waters are slowly receding at Norfolk, but continue to rise downstream. Orphan Grain Train’s disaster response division is assembling a volunteer center for the American Red Cross and Orphan Grain Train. This “volunteer registration center” will include offices and supplies of clean-up materials, tools, and bottled drinking water.
American Red Cross is providing emergency shelter, Salvation Army is providing emergency food, and Orphan Grain Train will provide clean-up supplies as residents are permitted access to their homes.
Haiti Earthquake Relief Efforts
Click here to see the list of relief shipments to Haiti.
(Norfolk, Neb.) Orphan Grain Train, a Christian humanitarian relief organization, is sending several 40-ft. shipping containers filled with food, water, medical equipment, tents, and other goods to Haiti in response to the January 12 earthquake. The shipments are distributed in Haiti through Orphan Grain Train’s network in cooperation with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Haiti. Click here to see the list of relief shipments to Haiti.
Orphan Grain Train welcomes cash donations of any amount to help the survivors in Haiti. Shipping one semi-load to Haiti costs more than $5,000 in transportation costs. Checks may be sent to Orphan Grain Train, PO Box 1466, Norfolk, NE 68702-1466. Please write “Haiti” on the memo line. You may also give on-line by credit card. You will receive an email confirmation of your gift as it arrives in Orphan Grain Train’s account.
Other relief shipments have been sent to Haiti by Orphan Grain Train since 1998. For example, on February 15, 2006, a 40-ft. container loaded with clothing, medical and school supplies, and hospital equipment was shipped from Wisconsin Division, destination Cap-Haitien, Haiti. The container arrived March 28, 2006, and its contents were distributed between a Catholic orphanage and the Clinic Medical Le Lutherien (Lutheran Medical Clinic) in Cap-Haitien.
Orphan Grain Train shares the name and character of Jesus Christ along with humanitarian relief here in America and around the world. Each regional division’s volunteers sort and load donated supplies, clothing, equipment, and other needed items. Orphan Grain Train has shipped more than 1,600 semi-loads of relief supplies for human need to more than 40 countries and 25 U.S. states since 1992.
2009 Fall-Winter Newsletter on-line
The 2009 Fall-Winter edition of Orphan Grain Train’s quarterly newsletter is on-line as a .pdf file. You can view it with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader (down-loadable at http://www.adobe.com). You may either click here, or click “Newsletter” on our Home page
If you are on our list for the print edition you should receive it in the mail before December 31, 2009.
Thank you to all our volunteers and contributors for all that you’ve done through to bring “Relief for Human Need Worldwide” during 2009!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Touching Lives Across the Globe—Fall 2009 Newsletter
Orphan Grain Train’s Fall 2009 newsletter is viewable here as a .pdf file which may be viewed with Adobe Reader, a free download at www.adobe.com
This issue features four stories from the Norfolk Daily News, August 2009:
The Orphan Grain Train a ‘hands-on mission project,’
‘God’s work’ offers hope to poverty-stricken Russians,
Drought spurred domestic relief efforts, and
An Army of Volunteers
Fourth Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina
We encourage everyone to pray for the continuing Hurricane Katrina recovery effort as we observe the fourth anniversary of the most devastating natural disaster in America’s history. August 29, 2005, is a day never to be forgotten when 90,000 square miles along America’s Gulf Coast was affected.
Please ask your pastor to consider special prayers on Sunday, August 30, or anytime in the following weeks. For more information on how to hold a “K4 Sunday” please click here. This link will take you to our partner organization, RAI Ministries, and the resources prepared for this anniversary, including two different three-minute videos.
We ask Christians everywhere to pray for the recovery work that continues—and will for years to come. Orphan Grain Train has sent more than 147 semi loads of relief supplies and equipment to the Gulf Coast and continues to support the recovery efforts promoted in these videos.
The Katrina relief and recovery efforts of the past four years have been made possible by generous cash contributions and contributions of time and energy by those who wish to see true hope, recovery and restoration on America’s Gulf Coast in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank you, again, for what you have chosen to make possible by your generous gifts of time, talent, and treasure. You are putting blood, sweat, and tears into the old refrain, “They’ll know we are Christians by our love….”
Register now for Orphan Grain Train Convention 2009!
There are only a few days left to receive a $5 discount on early registration for Orphan Grain Train Convention 2009 at Norfolk, Nebraska. Registrations postmarked on or before Sep. 1 are $45 per person and $50 after that date.
Also, Norfolk motels are holding convention-priced blocks of rooms on a first-come-first-served basis through Sep. 1. Convention schedule, motel information, and information about sectional breakout sessions on Saturday, Sep. 19, are available here in .pdf files formatted for printing.
Central Nebraska Newsletter
Central Nebraska Division Warehouse Update and Newsletter
April 2010 Newsletter
Click here >2010-04-19_OGT_Central_Neb_April_nwsltr.pdfto read the latest newsletter, which includes:
news of our annual meeting, May 8
news of our mortgage payoff and what’s next for the warehouse, and
the outstanding support of Orphan Grain Train at our Apr. 11 dedication!
(The newsletter is viewable in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format. If you don’t have Adobe Reader on your computer, it’s a free download at www.adobe.com/reader.)
Donated Pickup—A Real Asset
Orphan Grain Train Central Nebraska Division has been blessed with a 2003 F300 Ford crew cab pickup. At present a Tommy lift is being installed to help facilitate the loading and unloading of heavy items. It will also be the vehicle to pull the fish feed trailer. Thank you!
Fund-raising a Continual Issue
The closer we get to opening the warehouse for business, the more shipping becomes a reality and we want to be ready for it. This will be an ongoing ministry. The following is a list of estimated costs for shipping:
Ysleta Mission, El Paso, Texas $2,000-$2,500
Baltics $8,000
Haiti $5,000
Africa $15,000-$20,000
To keep this mission going, we are asking each church in the division to prayerfully consider sponsoring one fundraiser during the year. Some churches are having fish feeds, but other churches have done bratwurst feeds, pie and ice cream socials, spaghetti suppers, etc. Some churches will designate one of their Lenten dinners’ proceeds to OGT. Your imagination is your only limitation. We welcome all your efforts.
Mission Opportunities
Ysleta Mission in El Paso, Texas, has been an active recipient of Orphan Grain Train support for some time. This year the mission is giving out school supplies at Christmas. In Mexico the children must provide all their own supplies or they cannot attend school. Bob and Beth Stark will be the contact point for anyone who would like to participate in this project. The following are items that are on the “most wanted” list:
Spiral Notebooks
Pencils
Crayons
Glue or glue sticks
Rulers
Pencil Sharpeners
Erasers
Please contact Beth Stark at (402) 463-8263 if you wish to participate.
Dry Spell
God is faithful and has provided the resources to purchase the warehouse on Shady Bend Road for HIs service by our deadline of June 30. Since that date, financial support has ceased to come in [to Central Nebraska Division], and we still have remodeling expenses to contend with. If you know of anyone who indicated they were willing to help us funancially buy has not yet done so, please give them a freindly reminder. Work will be going on every day until we are operational. We pray God will open hearts to support this ongoing purposeful effort.
Donation HInts
As clothing donations continue to come in we would like to let you know what we have the most need for. Summer clothing is always much in demand as many of the countries we send to are warrn weather countries. There is also a shortage of men’s clothing, so these could be areas of concentration. Good used toys, stuffed or hard, that would fit in an apple box are always welcome as well as nonbreakable household items, linens of any kind, sheets, pillow cases, bedspreads, etc. We would like to stress that all items be in good condition, without stains or holes. Sheets, however do not necessarily have to be in perfect condition as they can be used as batting in making quilts. Everything should, however, be clean.
Health/Hygiene Kits
Although Grand Island warehouse will not be ready to accept in-kind donations until approximately early November, it’s not too early to be thinking about some needs to fulfill. There is always a need for Health/Hygiene Kits. Suggested items for these kits are:
Soap
Washcloth
Deodorant
Toothpaste
Toothbrush
Comb
Shampoo
Towel
Disposible razors
Toothbrush
They can be packaged in a Ziplock bag to be handed out to people in need. These are always needed for disaster relief.
Click here for downloadable .pdf file of this newsletter.
Orphan Grain Train featured in Norfolk Daily News series
Orphan Grain Train was the subject of feature articles in the Norfolk Daily News, August 3 through 8. The Daily News editor notes: “Since its inception in 1992, the Orphan Grain Train has shipped more than 63 million pounds of goods around the world and has expanded to include 19 divisions situated around the country. This week, the Daily News is looking at some of the people behind the Norfolk-based organization and some of their special projects.”
Links to the series:
Norfolk Daily News, Monday, August 3
Norfolk Daily News, Tuesday, August 4
Norfolk Daily News, Wednesday, August 5
Norfolk Daily News, Thursday, August 6
Norfolk Daily News, Friday, August 7
Norfolk Daily News, Saturday, August 8
Summer 2009 Newsletter as printable .pdf file
Orphan Grain Train’s Summer 2009 newsletter is online as a printable .pdf file. Take a moment to read about some of the this year’s convention speakers, and other new features of this years convention in Norfolk, Nebraska, by clicking here.
Greensburg Tornado Volunteer Coordinator to Speak at Convention Sep. 19
By Kollen Long (from a story written in the springtime of 2009)
The book he is writing is called “Onions Will Grow Again.”
Matt Deighton invites you to read into that title what you will, but he suggests with a pleasant grin that it means life will, eventually, return to normal for Greensburg citizens, who had their lives upended when a massive tornado leveled nearly the entire town on May 4, 2007.
Families will gather themselves. Houses will be rebuilt. People will recover - emotionally and physically.
Onions will grow.
After serving in the exhaustive position of volunteer coordinator of the South Central Kansas Tornado Recovery Association for nearly two years, Deighton is uniquely qualified to examine what the town has experienced, and how it is recovering.
‘There was no manual’
Even before the tornado hit, Deighton was experiencing life-changing hardships that sometimes accompany middle age. He said his mother started showing signs of dementia; his father, who had served as the Kiowa County engineer, succumbed to lung cancer in November 2006.
“And then,” said Deighton with his customary wry grin, “came the tornado.”
As the sirens wailed about 20 minutes before the tornado hit, Deighton and his mother left their home and went across the street to a neighbor’s house, which was fortified with a concrete sub floor. Ten others were there in the basement, too, including Rick Engelken, a volunteer fireman. Engelken had his walkie-talkie, providing the group a foreboding “play by play” from other volunteer firefighters and townspeople as the tornado approached the house.
“So we knew we were basically bull’s-eye material,” Deighton said.
The tornado destroyed the house; no one in the group was hurt.
But Deighton immediately began hearing voices of people crying for help, so he and Engelken grabbed flashlights and began searching for survivors. Deighton and Engelken covered eight blocks, verifying the safety of 31 people. They soon learned, however, that eleven of their neighbors had perished in the storm.
Less than two months later, Deighton was named volunteer coordinator and logistics coordinator, positions funded by the Red Cross.
Volunteer Village, a makeshift headquarters for the relief effort, was established just north of Highway 54, off Kansas Street on the west side of town. The site had been occupied by Faith Tabernacle Church, which was destroyed.
The job ahead, for Deighton and all involved, was massive. The tornado, estimated to be 1.7 miles wide, destroyed 97 percent of Greensburg’s infrastructure and 95 percent of the town’s homes, Deighton said. “There was no manual about [how you cope with such loses or] rebuild from a tornado of this magnitude,” he said.
‘You gotta laugh’
Deighton described Volunteer Village as “a resort - where you have to bring a sleeping bag.” And he plans to paint his storm shelter camouflage - with a bull’s-eye, too. “Come on, that’s funny,” he said. “You gotta laugh.” Because, as the saying goes, it beats the alternative.
Deighton said he processed more than 14,000 volunteers from at least 19 states and 13 foreign countries during his time as volunteer coordinator. He estimates he helped 115 families. Deighton’s term ended March 31. When it was over, he was in a predictably sentimental mood. “I’ve met some wonderful people, and by me meeting these wonderful people, it’s made a better man out me,” he said.
Although he is no longer on the job, Deighton said he still drawn back to the storm by the inquiries of interested people. He doesn’t seem to mind, but he is looking forward to concentrating on his own affairs for a change.
“I want to work on my house,” he said. “I want to clean out my garage. I want to put my guttering on. I want to get my life together.” He has already started that task, at least symbolically. On May 4, to mark the second anniversary of the storm, Deighton planted onions in his yard.
“And they’re growing again,” he said.
A volunteer village similar to the one Matt managed at Greensburg, Kansas, will be on display at the Orphan Grain Train Convention, September 18-19 at Norfolk, Nebraska. Matt will present the story of the Greenburg tornado of May 4, 2007, and the two-year recovery effort that followed.
Motel Rooms for Orphan Grain Train Convention Will Fill up Fast
When booking your motel room in Norfolk, Nebraska, for the Orphan Grain Train Convention Sep. 18 and 19, there are several blocks of discounted motel rooms available. To take advantage of these prices, please mention you are coming to the Orphan Grain Train Convention, and ask for the convention rate. You may also quote the rates posted on the International Convention page for the motel of your choice. However to insure that you will find a room please try to make your reservation no later than Sep. 1 since several hundred pipeline workers will be staying in Norfolk starting in mid-August.
“In Our Own Words” Video Viewable Online
Orphan Grain Train’s six-minute video, “In Our Own Words” is now viewable online. It joins Orphan Grain Train’s previous seven videos on the Streaming Video page of this website.
All eight Orphan Grain Train videos (1997-2008) are also available on a single DVD for $10.00. Send your check or money order to: Orphan Grain Train Video, PO Box 1466, Norfolk, NE 68702-1466, and ask for a copy of the Orphan Grain Train DVD.
“God’s Gumbo Gang” to Bring Louisiana Cuisine to September Convention
Woody Keim of Baton Rouge has personal knowledge of hurricanes. He has the distinction of having every home he’s ever lived in destroyed by hurricanes. The southern Louisiana native moved to Baton Rouge—a bit further from hurricane reach—only to have Hurricane Gustav drop a tree on his current home.
Keim is the tenth generation of his family to live in south Louisiana, since the 1700’s. And he is one of “God’s Gumbo Gang” coming to Norfolk, Nebraska, to serve Louisiana gumbo and jambalaya at the Orphan Grain Train Convention’s Friday evening meal, September 18.
At Trinity Lutheran Church in Baton Rouge, after Hurricane Katrina, “We started thinking that we wanted a volunteer group other than a chainsaw gang,” says Keim. “We thought we would do something more personal, like serving food. That’s how the ‘Gumbo Gang’ was born.” “God’s Gumbo Gang” goes around and serves after hurricanes. A revolving number of people participate, from two to twelve people, depending on who is available, usually an average of four to six people.
To prepare the meals, two giant 20-gallon pots are used. One for gumbo and one for jambalaya.
What are these meals made of? Keim explains, “Jambalaya is rice with other stuff in it, such as sausage, chicken, or pork. Gumbo is a thick soup served over rice.” Jambalaya is drier than gumbo. To make gumbo, one “starts with a roux”—flour and oil mixture that is browned. Then, chicken stock and the “holy trinity of seasonings,” green bell pepper, onion, and celery are added, along with poultry, shrimp or pork, seasoned with salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper.
The Orphan Grain Train meal will not be as heavily spiced as the gumbo in Louisiana. However condiments will be available so one may season to taste.
Both dishes are coastal Louisiana in origin. The Cajuns and Creole’s both make these dishes, but their recipes are different. (Creoles are French in origin, and the Cajuns are originally Canadian French.) At Norfolk, God’s Gumbo Gang plans to serve Cajun Jambalaya and Creole Gumbo, which is seafood based. Of course the shrimp will be from Louisiana!
Keim, who is also the Chairman of the Board of RAI Ministries Camp Biloxi and Camp Restore, said that, “Offering a little bit of Louisiana cuisine is the least we could do to thank Orphan Grain Train for being so instrumental in our recovery efforts. Y’all have responded greatly with the love of Christ to the people affected by these devastating storms.”
Keim grew up in the seafood business. When not serving great Louisiana cuisine he practices family law in Baton Rouge.
**Note from Rev. Dave Buss, RAI Ministries Executive Director**
As a small token of our appreciation for the extraordinary aid and support in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and for the most gracious continued collaboration and disaster recovery assistance in the four years since Katrina and Rita, the Southern District LCMS, RAI Ministries, and “God’s Gumbo Gang” from Trinity Lutheran Church in Baton Rouge Louisiana, humbly ask that we be allowed to bring some Southern Cook’n’ to the good people of the Orphan Grain Train. We cannot repay you for all you have done for us; but please know that we thank God for you all.
2008 Annual Report
Mission Statement
In loving response to Christ, the Servant, the Orphan Grain Train movement encourages and enables God’s people to share personal and material resources in bringing Christ’s name and character to needy people both far and near. Sometimes that character expresses itself as a word well spoken, sometimes as a bandage well applied, and sometimes as a child well fed.
Accomplishments During 2008
By God’s grace and blessing, the many hands of Orphan Grain Train’s volunteers from 18 regional divisions and Norfolk, Neb., continued to lift up the downhearted and downtrodden with humanitarian aid and disaster relief supplies in 2008. The numbers tell the story: 147 total semi-loads, including 63 sent overseas and 84 sent in response to domestic disasters. In addition, 52 smaller 14-ft. or 16-ft. trailer-loads and van-loads were dispatched in response to floods and tornadoes here in America. “We thank the thousands of volunteers and contributors who supported Orphan Grain Train in 2008 with donations of time, talent, and treasure,” said Richard Jostes, Director of Development. “They make this ministry possible as a faith response in the name of Jesus Christ, bringing relief for human need worldwide.”
Disaster Response
Hurricane Katrina, Gustav, and Ike relief efforts continued during 2008 with nine semi-loads of aid delivered to relief camps and distribution centers on the Gulf Coast. More than 135 pieces of Orphan Grain Train-provided equipment are in use throughout the Gulf Coast area, from 14-foot-long tow trailers to semi-trailer sized bedroom units, storage units, and water tankers. The 45-ft. kitchen trailer, delivered to Camp Restore in New Orleans in September 2006, is still in daily use there. This equipment has been committed for an additional year as the clean up and rebuilding efforts continue.
“The Lutheran volunteer camps in Louisiana and Mississippi continue to welcome clean up and construction volunteers year-round,” said Jostes. After three years, over 2,000 homes have been restored. More than 2,000 are still on the list. More than 50,000 vacant properties remain in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005.
Meanwhile, 16-ft. and 18-ft. trailer-loads carried a merciful outpouring to flood survivors in Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, and Ohio. Orphan Grain Train’s Indiana and Ohio Regional Divisions sent four semi-loads and 45 small trailer-loads of relief supplies to flood recovery areas of Ohio for distribution by Lutheran Social Services (LSS) of Ohio. LSS-Ohio has been in non-stop flood response since 2007. The Indiana Division also responded to a flood in its region by adding a distribution warehouse in Columbus, Indiana, which served more than 300 families before Christmas.
Other Domestic Relief Efforts
Other shipments in America included 45 semi-loads to Texas border missions such as Ysleta Mission and Cornerstone Children’s Ranch. Another 13 semi-loads were sent to the aid of Native Americans through special ministries in South Dakota and New Mexico.
International Shipments
Thirty-five of the 63 foreign shipments in 2008 went to republics of the former Soviet Union. The total number of sponsored orphanages in Estonia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, and Russia rose to 53 last year. These orphanages are part of Orphan Grain Train’s “Adopt an Orphanage” sponsorship program whereby donors give monthly gifts restricted to their Orphan Grain Train-sponsored orphanage.
After 17 years of ministry, the most requested items continue to be food, clothing, quilts, medical equipment, and Bibles. Details about Orphan Grain Train projects and outreach efforts can be found in Orphan Grain Train’s quarterly newsletter.
Orphan Grain Train’s Board of Directors (as of January 7, 2010)
Kae Anderson, Pierce, Neb.
Clayton L. Andrews, , Vice-President, Norfolk, Neb.
James Brennemann, Treasurer, Norfolk, Neb.
Larry Dinkel, Norfolk, Neb.
Daniel Fullner, Atty., Madison, Neb.
Kay Marshall, Norfolk, Neb.
Gary Wieck, Grand Island, Neb.
Rev. Ray S. Wilke, President, Norfolk, Neb.
Bernie Wrede, Pierce, Neb.
Summary Report from Orphan Grain Train, Inc., Audited Financial Statements for the Year Ended May 31, 2008:
Mission (Program): $10,137,142 (96.4% of total expenditures)
Fund Raising: 161,123 (1.5% of total expenditures)
Administration: 216,232 (2.1% of total expenditures)
Total for Fiscal 2007-08: $10,514,497 (100% of total expenditures)
Net assets, end of year:
Unrestricted: $2,327,786
Temporarily Restricted: $502,151
Permanently Restricted $20,000
Total net assets: $2,849,937
Mighty Oaks From Little Acorns Grow
From “Four Score and More” column by Hub Foster of York, Nebraska
March 27, 2009, in the York News-Times (by permission from author)
Mighty Oaks From Little Acorns Grow
There is no better example of this adage than the story of the Orphan Grain Train. In the year 1992, the Rev. Ray Wilke, pastor of the Grace Lutheran Church in Norfolk, Nebraska, took a group of volunteers to Latvia and Russia to assist with a church mission. There they witnessed the desperate needs for humanitarian, spiritual and emotional help after the dissolution of the former Soviet Union.
The Latvian people begged Rev. Wilke for assistance and he promised to attempt to do something about their sad plight.
He envisioned a train which could travel through America’s Midwest, gathering carloads of donated grain and when it reached the east coast could be shipped to the starving peoples in eastern Europe. He approached Clayton Andrews, president of Andrews Van Lines of Norfolk, when he returned to the states. Andrews heard the story and never hesitated to assist. He threw his full resources and energy behind the idea. Therefore, the concept of the Orphan Grain Train was born and it really took off far beyond anyone’s expectations. The railroad concept was a bit impractical, but trucks filled the bill nicely. And Andrews owned many. Within a year the Grain Train’s first shipment, a container of clothing and quilts, arrived in Riga, Latvia.
The volunteer idea grew like a prairie wildfire, especially among the Lutherans in the Midwest. In addition to the original Norfolk warehouse and central offices, there have sprung up 17 more regional warehouses. They have delivered in the past 18 years more than 30,000,000 pounds of humanitarian aid to more than 40 countries on five continents. In addition there were more than 300 semi truckloads of hay delivered to drought stricken farmers in 2002-03 and 100 semi loads of supplies to the Gulf Coast in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Orphan Grain Train has become an important force in humanitarian aid and is now recognized internationally. It only serves to emphasize what great things volunteers can accomplish when properly motivated. It’s a hands-on, Christian based, disaster relief organization that collects, packs and ships more than 150 semi-truckloads of clothing, medications, bedding and other basic life-supporting necessities every year around the world. And it continues to grow!
Our Family Involved
I first became acquainted with the Orphan Grain Train through my two sons. Dr. Bill Foster joined OGT following his voluntary seven-year medical missionary service in the Ivory Coast. His expertise in procuring medical supplies served the OGT well, while he recovered from medical problems in Norfolk upon his return to the United States a few years ago.
Bill’s interest in OGT apparently prompted my son Dick to become involved. He has become the local coordinator for OGT through the Emmanuel Lutheran Church, organizing monthly trips to the Norfolk warehouse with carloads of clothing, etc. In fact, only last Tuesday, three carloads of local volunteers spent the day sorting and packing clothes at that site. Their automobiles literally bulged with donated clothing from local people who had extra garments to contribute. The nine volunteers unloaded these donations and then spent about five hours working at various assignments in the warehouse before heading back to York. Tired, but satisfied knowing they had done something worthwhile for those not as fortunate as they.
The Train’s annual report to contributors indicated the scope of this young organization’s influence! They now have warehouses in Napoleon, Ohio; Azaela, Ind.; Lancaster, CA; Culver City, CA; Bottineau, ND; Willington, Del; Los Angeles, CA; Westfield, WI; Sioux City, IA; St. Louis, MO; Rochester, MN; Schenectady NY; St. Paul, MN; and Columbus, Ind.
The list of destinations for their shipments is amazing. During the past 12 months, here are some of the countries served: Belarus, India, Nicaragua, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Dom. Republic, Haiti, Ukraine, Kenya, Nigeria, Tajikistan, Uganda, Sudan, Lithuania, the Philippines, Armenia, South Africa, Latvia and Swaziland.
Here are some of the items donated and shipped during the past year: medications, clothing of all types, shoes, blankets, quilts, Bibles, canned food, toys, chairs, medical supplies, canes, crutches, wheel chairs, bikes, hardware items, furniture, paint, musical instruments, school supplies, hospital equipment. You name it; Orphan Grain Train has probably handled it!
If anyone has articles to donate, call Dick Foster at 402-362-4882. If anyone has funds to contribute to the OGT, the address is Orphan Grain Train, Box 1466, Norfolk, NE 68702-1466.
Orphan Grain Train’s Privacy Policy
Orphan Grain Train’s Privacy Policy explains how donors’ on-line donation information is kept confidential and not stored by Orphan Grain Train. Also, Orphan Grain Train’s newsletter and donor lists are not shared with individuals or organizations outside of Orphan Grain Train. Orphan Grain Train no longer uses PayPal to process on-line donations. On-line donations to Orphan Grain Train are now made by credit card through Orphan Grain Train’s secure on-line giving page.
Orphan Grain Train website has new features
Orphan Grain Train’s website has a new look, but it provides the same features and information it has for 10 years. One of the new features is the “Search” function in the upper right-hand corner.
Orphan Grain Train Convention 2006 Presentations
The transcripts of presentations made by Rev. Ray S. Wilke, Orphan Grain Train President and Rev. Matthew Harrison, Executive Director of LCMS World Relief and Human Care are now online.
Tenting Towards Jerusalem
Rev. Ray S. Wilke
Rev. Wilke explains the theme of the convention, “Tenting Towards Jerusalem,” where our life on earth might be compared to the temporary tabernacle of the Old Testament Israelites as they journeyed towards the Promised Land. Likewise, we “tent” towards our heavenly home.
Exodus 36:1-2; 40:36 (KJV)
...In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle they would set out. But if the cloud did not lift they did not set out until the day it lifted.
So, the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day and a fire was in the cloud by night in the sight of all the house of Israel during all their travels.
Life is a journey, and we’re tenters. When I first traveled down to Katrina-land we were still one hundred miles out from the Gulf and big, two-foot diameter trees were toppled and whipped about. Roofs from barns and houses were lying beside the original foundations. Blue tarps and tents covered everything. The closer we got to the Gulf the more the tents, the more the tarps, until finally when we arrived at Ocean Springs there was a sea of tents. Everyone was living in tents. They even showered in tents. They ate in tents. They slept in tents. They housed their goods in tents. And the whole announcement to everyone viewing it was, “This is a temporary arrangement.”
Then the rule came down from FEMA or from New Orleans City Council, or the State of Mississippi, or the State of Louisiana, that there would come a time that there could be no more tents. But the tents were the things that protected them as the brackish water of Lake Pontchartrain swept over them, as the Mississippi River poured down its flood upon them, as the sea-salt spray from the Gulf washed in over them. They were awash in this amazing un-holy cocktail of water, brackish and briny. They huddled in tents. The brow was covered with the mist of the brackish water and they huddled in tents.
When Moses finished leading his rag-tag group of Hebrews through the Red Sea their brows were covered with the mist of the salt sea and they lived in tents. Moses huddled with God in a tent, a tent of meeting. Ever since the mountain experience, Moses had a lament. A lament is different than a complaint. A lament is allowable. A lament says, “Lord, I hurt, please help.” A complaint says, “Lord I hurt-it’s your fault.” Moses had a lament. The lament was, “Who will go with me on this amazing journey in tents to which you have set us forth?” The Golden Calf event had already taken place, so God said, “I will not go with you. I will not go with you because you are a stiff-necked people lest I slay you on the way.” Moses said, “Oh Lord, if you will not go with us, how shall we go, for you know we are a stiff-necked people, and you know we will lose our way on the journey.” Moses prevailed upon the Lord, and the Lord said, “Okay. My presence will go with you, and I will meet with you in the cloud.”
It’s good to have a travel companion. It’s good to have a travel companion. My heart always goes out especially to those who are widows or widowers who travel alone now. It’s not as much fun to travel alone. I’m a good driver. My wife is a good navigator. So we get along good. I drive and she navigates. It’s good to have a companion. Moses was right in asking, “Who will go with us?” The Lord said, “Alright then, since you prevailed upon me, I will go with you.” Moses said to the Lord, “You’ve been telling me lead these people, but you’ve not let me know whom you will send with me. You said, “I know you by name’, you’ve found favor with me; if you are pleased with me teach me your ways so that I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.” Then the Lord replied, “Alright then, my presence will go with you. And I will give you rest.” Then Moses said to him, “If your presence does not go with us O Lord, do not send us up from here. For what else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”
Isn’t it interesting that all across the face of the earth the Ecclesia, “the separated out ones,” the people of God, are in this hour, in this age, in our lifetime becoming distinct for their manner of behavior, for their manner of speaking, for the ability to stoop and bend low down in the mud with those who are broken? God sorts us out.
So now the Lord devises a plan whereby His presence will go with them. He first appeared to them at the tent-flap of Moses tent of meeting. Every time the cloud stood above Moses tent of meeting the Lord would meet with him, would hold council with him, would speak with him as I am speaking with you now. Moses would follow His instruction. You heard the instruction that the Lord gave for constructing a travel-tent. It was to be an image for us that Paul would pick up on very strongly. When Paul picked up to leave from one missionary area, he talked in terms of pulling up tent-stakes and he moved on. Jesus dwelling with us in the original language is, “He tented with us. He tabernacled with us.” And He lived in a tent, His body.
You’re living in a tent right now, your body. The Lord wants you to know when the wind blows and the frost comes and the products of deterioration begin to happen, that your tent is coming apart at the seams. Be ready. Be ready. Be ready. My father died unexpectedly and suddenly in the night, two hours after he took ill. He was ready. Be ready!
So the Shekina, the Doxa, the pillar of cloud, the pillar of fire went ahead of them day and night. That pillar of cloud and fire stood over the tabernacle all the days of their journey—forty years. Then it stood above the tabernacle and the house of David. Under Solomon it stood above the temple for six hundred and ninety-seven years. The pillar of cloud stayed with the people of God all that time, almost 700 years.
Seven hundred years of Shekina leading, then, one unholy day, in about the year 590 B.C., Ezekiel looked with alarm and saw the Shekina move and tremble and tilt and wobble and linger over the wall of the temple, and depart. And the temple was Icabod, without a head because God said, “I’ve had it, I’ve had it, I’ve had it. I will not go with you anymore.” And they went into captivity-God’s people who had been led so faithfully, O so many years. The Shekina did not go with them, and they languished.
There’s a wonderful conclusion to this story because they lived in expectation for 590 years and then one silent night, there were shepherds of Bethlehem keeping watch over their flock by night, and suddenly there was with them a multitude of the Heavenly Host appearing before them singing, “Glory to God in the highest! And good will toward men.” The Glory was back. The Shekina was back. The Doxa was back. The presence of God was back.
He “tents” with us still. He leads us still. You know, God spent two chapters with Moses on the mountain. Then He spent five chapters laying out this tent, because he was fussy about His travel equipment. We don’t put a gold ring in a pig’s snout, and God does not travel in a shabby tent. Then He instructed the people, “Bring your skills to the tent site.”
This reading in the Old Testament is a story of you. This reading in the Old Testament is a story in which you participate, in which one fine day you discover that the craft that I have been practicing my whole life was a practice session for the great work that the Lord has for me to do now. I can’t tell you how many people have come up to me—nurses, teachers, truck drivers, farmers—all manner of folk having all manner of crafting skills and saying, “You know, I’ve spent a lifetime never realizing that I was being groomed specifically for work in the Kingdom of God. Shame on the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod for not teaching us that sooner. That this “Priesthood of All Believers” that Luther discovered was left lying idle for so long; that you never knew earlier on that your “worship” is your “work-ship.” That the skill that you practice at the brick, the mill, and the plow is the skill that the Lord desires of you. That He particularly loves to employ in Kingdom things that touch Him. I’m so proud of you and of the fact that the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, the LCMS World Relief/Human Care, the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod Board for Missions, the Lutheran Hour Ministries, LWML [Lutheran Women’s Missionary League, and Lutheran Heritage Foundation, are for the first time in my life on the same page and doing amazing things. I think we’ve just begun.
“Then Moses summoned Bezaleel and Aholiab.” Bezaleel means, “In the protection of God,” and Aholiab means, “My tent is here.” Every skilled person whom the Lord had given ability and was willing to come and do the work.” They came, all manner of folk. They set up a tent. It was to be the image of our travel time. Inside the tent the best craftsmen of all crafted a lid. Its inside was acacia wood and its outside was hammered gold and it was heavy and good and beautiful with cherubim on each end. And one fine day the Shekina, the Doxa, the pillar of cloud moved from the tent of meeting to above the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies. Once a year the High Priest would come in with the blood of a goat or a lamb and pour it over the Ark of the Covenant that contained the Ten Commandments and the Lord’s demand for the Law shall have been covered over, and with the same blood He came out to sprinkle the people and our sins were forgiven. Then on that Great Day the Lord poured Christ’s own blood over those same Commandments and declared us to be free and holy and good, and fit craftsmen and women for the Kingdom. God bless us all in that work.
Why This Mercy?
Rev. Matt Harrison
Rev. Harrison outlines the biblical basis for Christian humanitarian relief efforts—the answer to why we do what we do in the name of Jesus Christ.
Our congregations need much more “in-reach.” That is, to be much more the body [of Christ] that cares for those in need. Acts chapter six shows us a circle of the church’s life. Dr. Walther says, “There is a circle of the pastor’s official duties. He is to see that the widow, the orphan, the needy are cared for. He is to see that it happens.” I suggest to you that our churches are so missiologically wane and languid because we have forgotten this very piece, in the context of our welfare state, and assumed that all those issues will be taken care of by somebody else. And the church that cares for people inside is the church that spills out and cares for people beyond itself. I’m absolutely convinced we should not set up systems of care in our congregations to grow our congregations. That may well happen—and should happen. But we do it because it’s who we are. I tell you, it’s who we are. How could Jesus not heal? It’s who Jesus is! How could he not preach the Gospel? It’s who He is! How could we not be who we are? So John says in his Gospel, “So I tell you if you close off your ‘splanchna’ (emotional response to others) you have denied the Gospel. You have denied Christ.” It’s who we are.
Acts Chapter 11… Paul and Barnabas are up in Antioch, Syrian Antioch, the first place that people are called “Christians.” And Agabus comes along and says, “There’s going to be a famine in the whole world!” Paul and Barnabas look at each other. They say, “The church in Jerusalem is hurting. What are we going to do? I have an idea. We’ll send some aid…”. That’s what they did. They took up a collection. And what did that collection demonstrate? It said, “We love you, in Christ. And we’re part of the same ‘koinonia,’ the fellowship.” And it was a wonderful success.
What happened to Paul as a result of his last trip to Jerusalem? He gets thrown in jail, he’s taken to Rome, and he’s martyred. Paul becomes a martyr because of his trip to care for the poor in Jerusalem. Did you ever consider that? Paul loses his life; he is so convinced that caring for people in need is central to the churches’ life. And I tell you the work of Orphan Grain Train, the work of mercy and care for people in need, has got to be at the heart of what the church is missiologically. At the heart!
Now, you know all the stewardship passages, don’t you? “God loves a cheerful giver.” “He who sows sparingly will reap sparingly.” “Just as you abound in all things, also abound in this grace of giving.” And there are several more! And we use them all the time. I’m sure they were used to build this wonderful facility. They’re used in your congregations to teach stewardship. They’re used in every place the church needs money except the place Paul himself used them. Every one of those texts is from Second Corinthians 8 and 9, and every one of those texts is directed to the Corinthians to be generous to the poor in Jerusalem. Every one! Care for the needy is not only at the missiological heart churches’ life. Care for the needy is at the heart of the churches’ life of stewardship.
Orphan Grain Train, you are at the nexus of the most important realities of the church’s life. You know the joy that comes by giving to people in need, don’t you? Where we have squeezed that out of our churches, where we have ignored personal need, where we have not developed capacity to deal with people in need—real need—I believe we have also choked back the joy of giving! If there is to be a rebirth of giving, if the joy of giving is to be restored to our congregations, mercy must come to the center. Mercy and care for the needy. Mercy is key to the churches’ stewardship life as well.
Why this mercy? Why does the church assist those in need? Diakonic love—and that just comes from “diakonia”—diakonic love has its source in the Holy Trinity. Look at the text: “Be ye merciful, as your Father in heaven is merciful.” [Luke 6:36] It’s more than doing. It’s about who God is. God’s very being! So, I tell you, “If we refuse to be merciful, it’s not merely breaking the law—it is denying God. “Be ye merciful as your Father in heaven is merciful.” It is who God is. For us to say, “No, I won’t be that way, God,” we’re saying, “I won’t have the Trinity for my God.” Nothing less.
Diakonic love is born of the incarnation and humiliation of Christ. “Though being rich, He became poor for your sakes.” We use that verse in the Catechism—Second Article of the Creed, Incarnation of Christ—but it doesn’t show up in care for the needy—anywhere. The very thing Paul wrote it for. I tell you, look at the text, 1 John 3: “In this we have known love that this one laid down His life in behalf of us.” John uses the great Paul word, “for us ... in our place.” And he goes on to say, “And we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” And then he goes on to say, “Whoever has the sustenance of life and beholds his brother having a need, and he closes his splanchna [‘bowels of compassion’] how can the love of God be in him? Children, let us love, not just with words and the tongue, but in deed and in truth.” I tell you, if we deny those around us the love and the mercy of Christ—the needy—we are not just breaking the law, we are denying the incarnation of Jesus Christ: Mercy Incarnate. Nothing less.
“God would have all come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved.” If our work of care for the needy does not recognize that people need to know Jesus then it might as well be the work of any secular organization. We can go into some places where we cannot be just “over the top” with evangelism. Sometimes we don’t speak much, but we should always speak Jesus. But at the heart and soul of what we do is this conviction: “Everybody Needs Jesus.” That isn’t the case among a lot of hitherto “Christian” work.
This is a little street boy in Kasumo. These children—there are about 2,500 of them. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya is caring for a thousand to fifteen hundred of these children in various ways. They live on the street. Their parents are dead—AIDS.
The Gospel gifts bring forgiveness and beget merciful living. I began to notice in the Bible when Paul taught about Baptism he soon taught about loving and caring. Again, our Catechism, and don’t get me wrong, the “blue Catechism” is the best thing going, but when it teaches Baptism it’s all me—me and Jesus, me and Jesus—which is great. But if I’m baptized into Jesus, and you’re baptized into Jesus—if you’re hurting, I’m hurting. And the Lord’s Supper drives us out to care for people in need. Christ is the model of care for the whole person. You know, I always thought all these miracles were just sort of an indication of the coming of the Kingdom. It was an eschatological event. It occurred once in time, and that the church is done with the healing part, and now it’s the Word, the Word, the Word. But I’ve become convinced that just as the Word is an indication of the presence of the Kingdom of Christ and continues to be, so [is] the church’s care for bodily needs of people. It’s a sign of the presence of Christ’s Kingdom.
Jesus cared for people, and the church continued to care for people, throughout the first centuries when it was missiologically vigorous. [Referring to photo] This is the Common Chest of Wittenberg. Luther wrote a tract on how the church and the community were to gather all of its funds so it could care for the needy. There are several different keys. Several different people, the pastor and others had keys, so everybody had to open it together. And from this chest the poor and the needy were cared for. Now what does Luther say here? He’s talking about Acts chapter 6:
“First you see how a Christian church should be formed in Acts 6 and a correct picture of a spiritual government. The Apostles proceed to care for souls, go around preaching and praying. And they see to it that also the body is cared for by setting up certain men who there distribute goods. Thus the Christian government or regiment is concerned with body and soul that no one suffers want as Luke says, and all are richly fed with respect to the soul and well cared for in the body. That’s a correct picture. It would be very good to begin this if there were people for it. A city such as Wittenberg, one could be divided into four or five sections; each would be given a preacher and a deacon who distribute goods to care for people who are ill.
That’s Luther on what the church should be.
Here’s a lovely picture of some AIDS orphans that we’re privileged to assist. How do you like their rocking horse? We helped children at a nearby orphanage, and I asked one boy “What do you think of this new orphanage we managed to build with the generosity of our donors?” And this boy said to me the most profound thing anybody in the world has ever told me. In this job I’ve been in thirty countries in the last several years. ... He said to me, “I thank God and Jesus Christ that somebody has regarded us as human beings.” That’s what we’re doing. That’s what Orphan Grain Train is doing. The Church has a corpo rate life of mercy, a la Acts. The Lutheran Confessions say the work of the Church is one of diakonic love also. And it’s in the Confessions—I love this passage in the Smalcald Articles: “The Church and its bishops or pastors are joined together in unity of doctrine, faith, sacraments, prayer, and works of love.” We’re joined together in works of love. The vocation of mercy is addressed to the Church at all levels—congregation, national, district, we should be working together. This is a great moment in the Churches’ life. It’s time to work together for mutual capacity to get it done! And forget about “turf!”
There are many diakonic vocations in the church, many different vocations of doctors, and nurses, people who care, people who know how to get trucks around. There are a thousand vocations that can be used in this work in the church. We’ve been giving cows to Kenyan pastors to improve their lives. And what a difference it’s made for them and for the sake of the Gospel! The Church’s work of mercy extends beyond its borders. It is not just to the Church that we work. We work outside and beyond. And we love people in need. Just as Christ is for all people, the Gospel is for all, so mercy is for all people. The challenge of the world right now is Islam. And the church cooperates with others in meeting human need. We can work well with other Christians, with other well-meaning citizens, with good people; the opportunities to partner for good ends are all around. It’s a fantastic moment.
My friends, there has never been a greater moment in history for this work. There has never been a greater moment in history to be Lutheran. The world is open. People around the world, partners, Lutherans who’ve never had anything to do with us are seeking our input, are seeking our partnership. It’s a fabulous moment. Doors are opening everywhere: in south Asia, in Kenya, in Africa, in East Africa, in West Africa, all over in Europe. Now is the moment for us with LCMS World Relief, LCMS World Mission, Orphan Grain Train, Lutheran Laymen’s League, Lutheran Women’s Missionary League, congregations, districts. Now is the time to move. No matter what! I don’t care what else is going on in the church. Now’s the time to go! Let’s go!
Drywall for flood victims arrives from Orphan Grain Train
You can view the article here:
http://www.ctcentral.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=326&dept_id=449012&newsid=18478510&PAG=461&rfi=9
First mercy conference draws 300
You can view the article here:
http://www.wfn.org/2007/06/msg00076.html
Orphan Grain Train announces Sudanese Medical Fund for van accident victims
May 1, 2007 (NORFOLK, Neb.) - “Orphan Grain Train and the Sudanese Lutheran community offer our concern and our prayers for the people injured as a result of the accident last Sunday as two adults and 18 children were returning from worship services in the Deshler, Neb. area.” - Rev. Ray S. Wilke, President of Orphan Grain Train, and Rev. John Deang, Assistant Pastor of Christ Lutheran Church in Lincoln, Neb., who also serves the Sudanese Lutheran Ministry in Nebraska.
Rev. Wilke added, “We remain supportive of the Sudanese Lutheran community in Nebraska and in the country of Sudan. The Sudanese people are our partners in mission.” Orphan Grain Train donated the van involved in Sunday’s accident to the Sudanese Lutheran Ministry last month.
Wilke reported that Rev. Deang has been in phone contact with the families of those injured and those still hospitalized, to offer consolation and support.
Both Wilke and Deang are currently attending a church conference in Saint Louis, Mo., where they are presenting plans to send a medical clinic to the Upper Nile Region of Sudan later this summer to serve refugees returning there from neighboring countries.
Orphan Grain Train has set up a special fund for the medical expenses of those injured in Sunday’s accident. Donations for the “Sudanese Medical Fund” may be sent payable to Orphan Grain Train, P. O. Box 1466, Norfolk, NE 68702-1466.
Donations for the “Sudanese Medical Fund” are also being collected by the LCMS Nebraska District Office, P.O. Box 407, Seward, NE 68434, and by Christ Lutheran Church, 4325 Sumner St., Lincoln, NE 68506.
Donations given to Orphan Grain Train for this fund will be administered by Christ Lutheran Church in Lincoln.
More information on the response of the LCMS Nebraska District office can be found here.
Orphan Grain Train is a Christian humanitarian relief ministry based at Norfolk, Neb., that shares in-kind donations of clothing, food, medical supplies, and equipment with church- related and other humanitarian ministries here in America and around the world.
New “Ag Board” plans aid in Liberia
You can view the article here:
https://www.lcms.org/pages/internal.asp?NavID=11305
Orphans Touch Heart of Martell Woman on Tour in Eastern Europe
By Carol Doeden
Reprinted here with permission from the VOICE News.
In the two weeks she spent touring Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Russia with the Orphan Grain Train, Gracie Bohmont, of rural Martell, had one inspirational moment after another.
Inspiration came when Gracie got to hold a baby in an abandoned babies orphanage outside St. Petersburg, Russia. Watching a couple from Connecticut arriving to pick up the child they were adopting was another such moment.
Seeing the semi trucks arrive, filled to the brim with needed supplies, and helping them unload, was still another.
Gracie usually spends her days watching her granddaughter, Lani. Her two sons, Brent and Matt, are grown and live in Lincoln. The widow of Monte Bohmont, Gracie still lives on the old Ralph and Amelia Drake place that the couple bought in 1979. She enjoys her time on her farm east of Crete, with Mr. Griffin, a yellow Labrador, and Molly, a beagle and two shy cats. She spends time with Princeton Countryside Church activities and her extension club.
But for two weeks in October, Gracie joined the director of orphanage and prison projects for Orphan Grain Train, Rev. John Reehl, his wife June, their daughter Karen Tiedeman, of Hickman, and several others, to tour eight orphanages, a women’s prison and two hospitals in Eastern Europe.
“Karen and I met when our kids were little, twenty or so years ago,” Gracie said. “We’ve always been friends.” It was Karen who encouraged Gracie to make the trip.
Gracie explained that Rev. Reehl and others try to visit the areas where aid is given about twice a year to verify that the money is being used as intended, and that the needs of the people receiving the aid are being met.
“Having other interested people come along allows them to see what’s being done. As the sponsors visit, they see needs for different things and find someone to fund it,” she said.
Her trip began October 4, 2006. The group arrived first at Riga, Latvia, a city of 700,000 people on the eastern edge of the Gulf of Riga, off the Baltic Sea. The land is very flat, with weather similar to that of Nebraska.
It was fall and the changing leaves were very pretty.
“We were immediately picked up by our driver extraordinaire, Juris. He never left our side all the while he was driving us. He speaks Russian, Latvian and German,” Gracie said.
From Riga, they quickly crossed through Latvia to St. Petersburg, Russia.
After purchasing fresh fruits and vegetables at the markets, the group visited hospitals, orphanages and a women’s prison, delivering the fresh produce along with supplies, and distributing Bibles.
Outside St. Petersburg, in the town of Vsevolozhsk, Gracie and the group visited an abandoned babies orphanage. “We toured the orphanage, saw all the babies and got to hold some of them, she said. “It was clean and well staffed. At one point we saw what we privately called a ‘potty-party’; a room filled with lots of kids sitting on toilets. Apparently they are toilet trained as a group, and fairly young.
“The orphanage sponsors also bought the children some outdoor play pens, so the children could have a way to get out and get some fresh air,” she said.
In addition to the orphanages, the group visited two hospitals, a children’s burn unit and one that cared for the elderly. McDonald’s restaurants have reached Russia, and that organization sponsored a playroom for the children’s burn hospital. Many of the children are badly burned from scalding, Gracie explained, because the whole nation drinks so much hot tea.
“The eldercare hospital was awful, Gracie said. “It had only two nurses for 60 patients on weekends. It smelled bad. But, I know it takes time for sponsorship to work,” she said.
In Sablino, Russia, Gracie and the group visited a women’s prison that housed nearly 1,000 women. Since the Orphan Grain Train has taken the prison under its wing, the prison is much improved. There is now a functional medical clinic, although Spartan by U.S. standards, that is run by a woman doctor, Dr. Galena. The clinic appears to be supplied at about the same level as the field hospitals the Americans have set up for triage and emergency surgery while occupying Iraq.
Gracie said that the incarcerated women loved having their photographs taken. They were eager to meet us and they all listened intently when we gave them the message of Jesus Christ and passed out Bibles and new underwear,” she said.
The final place they visited in Russia was a women’s initiative in Tassana, Russia, meant for women who have been released from prison, to train them to do crafts. While there, the group purchased some of the handmade dolls, intricately painted wooden apples and other handicraft items.
“It will take a long time to rebuild Russia and for the people to learn what freedom really is,” Gracie said. “When the Soviets took away their freedoms, the people lost hope.”
Upon reentering Latvia, they saw orphanages in Cesus, Valmera and Medona.
Traveling on to Tallinn, Estonia, to the north, Gracie was impressed with a children’s shelter for street children, called the Bethel Centre of Pastoral Care. Various groups co-sponsor this mission. The church had been used as a movie theater in Soviet times.
“It touched my heart,” Gracie said. “Kids from villages outside Tallinn, whose parents have no work; some of the kids have been neglected, while others are runaways.
“What impressed me is, the kids can stay at the Centre if they go to school, keep their rooms clean, and so on. They are learning accountability. And we reach out to the children with Russian Bibles. The passion in the heart is what came through from the people running this center, a passion to help people, especially kids, who have no hope.
“The hard part is accepting that it’s going to take a while,” she said.
In addition to visiting the sponsored services, the group went to a couple of Orphan Grain Train receiving centers in Latvia and Lithuania. “We got to Medona just as a semi-truck was coming in,” Gracie said. “We helped them unload. I found out that in each container there always is a stuffed animal, that is then given to a child.”
In Siauliai, Lithuania, Gracie had her breath taken away by a hill that is completely covered with crosses. While the Soviets ruled, they leveled the hills and buried the crosses they found there, over and over, and still, the crosses reappeared on the sacred hill. Finally, the government gave up and let the people have their hills. Now, millions of crosses are heaped onto these hills.
Before they headed home, the group returned to Riga, Latvia, and visited the Rumbula Holocaust Memorial Cemetery outside Riga. During World War II, the Germans rounded up all the Jews they could, took them out into the countryside and shot them. The bodies were then dumped in mass graves. There are five mounds, with many Stars of David naming each family buried there.
“Whole families!” Gracie said, still shocked.
Finally, somewhere in the woods of Latvia is an orphanage of kids who literally live in the woods. Their building had been sold and they found themselves with nowhere to go. Finally, someone sold a country retreat to the orphanage for half price. “It has indoor plumbing and everything,” Gracie said.
“The cap to the trip was to find these children out in the woods and to know they are okay,” Gracie said. “The people who run the orphanage have become guardians to some of the kids for their safety. The goal of the orphanage is to keep the kids out of the mafia, or away from prostitution, “I had never been overseas before,” Gracie said. “This was an incredible experience. But, it was the people who made it special, the people who have a passion for children, and for the work that they do.”
In all, Orphan Grain Train has either adopted or sponsored 40 orphanages in Eastern Europe, each housing from 80-90 children. The relief effort supplies the orphanages with such basic items as vitamins, diapers, baby wipes, blankets, clothing and shoes.
In addition to the work Gracie sampled in her two-week trip, Orphan Grain Train has sent relief and supplies all over the world. They respond to disasters such as Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma, the southeastern Asia tsunami, and needs in every continent of the world.
Now that she is back home, Gracie is doing what she can to spread the word about the Orphan Grain Train and what it does for those in need. She has already made presentations to the Home Service Extension Club, and for the Christian and Missionary Alliance. In the spring, she is planning more talks.
Why giving makes sense
You can view the article here:
http://cornandsoybeandigest.com/mag/soybean_why_giving_makes/index.html
Help for those in need
You can view the article here:
http://www.beatricedailysun.com/articles/2006/09/16/news/news1.txt
Volunteers Hop on Board to Load Grain Train
You can view the article here:
http://www.shawanoleader.com/articles/2006/06/20/news/news2.txt
An Easter message from Rev. Ray S. Wilke, President, OGT
“An Easterly Direction”
If you sail for 5,000 miles in an Easterly direction along the 26th South Parallel of latitude from Brisbane, Australia, you will eventually come to a small island called Easter.
Easter Island sits in the middle of the emptiest extent of ocean that there is in the world…it is utterly alone out there in the Pacific. It became known as Easter Island because the Dutch Admiral Roggeveen discovered it on Easter Sunday in 1722.
The island has baffled archeologists for years because they can’t understand how a primitive civilization on the island could have constructed and transported the more than 600 huge stone faces which guard the landscape, most weighing over 70 tons and standing more than 30 feet tall.
The stone builders were massacred by the Polynesians; the Polynesians were made slaves by the Peruvians; and the Peruvians were routed by Chile.
At one point in its history, the island was denuded of its trees by passing lumber ships and its population dwindled to less than 100 people. It was reduced to a barren lava rock, but today it boasts an international airport and thousands of inhabitants.
Easter has never meant the absence of death or trouble; rather Easter rises up right in the midst of the waves and trouble and death. With grayness and despair all around, Easter snatches life from the jaws of death.
* * *
It is obvious to me that for a long time now God has been in the habit of operating with Brinkmanship in the raising of his children.
Like a good parent, he offers his children the possibility for experimentation…but always stands ready for rescue. With a mighty hand he rescued them by miracle and plague in the land of Egypt.
The nearness of death for this rag-tag tribe of Hebrews was always before them - even as God led them steadily in an Easterly direction, in the direction of life. Even though they had seen the miraculous departure from Egypt, whenever problems arose, they digressed from their Easterly direction and sought refuge in the former land of slavery, Egypt, instead of high adventure and freedom in following the lead of the Lord.
The high drama of this escape from certain death - of this baptism of an entire nation - of this leading toward life and promised land - is absolute without parallel.
It is important to remember as we critique the behavior of the Hebrews that they were not without strong leadership in both human and spiritual terms. Moses’ leadership is unmatched in scripture; he is described as a counterpart of Christ.
And then there was the matter of the pillar of cloud and fire.
By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire of give them light so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people. - Exodus 13:21
There is much speculation on the part of scholars about that very risky night before the sea opened its mouth to provide safe passage for the Hebrews…and to swallow the Egyptians alive, horse, chariot and all.
The closest that I can come to recreating the drama using the names and locations that scripture and history provide is that they left Goshen and headed east, as if to go directly to Caanan, but when they hit the desert of Shur, as if in confusion, they turned again west, and entered a box canyon in the Lake of Menzaleh, surrounded on 3 ½ sides by water and desert.
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Sephon. Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.’ And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart and he will pursue them.” - Exodus 14:1
The Red Sea in Hebrew is translated Yam Suph, meaning Sea of Reeds.
An ancient Egyptian papyrus locates the Baal Zephon of Exodus as modern Tell Defneh, a box canyon of Lake Menzaleh three or four miles wide.
The more than two million Hebrews were as good as dead when Pharaoh, with his elite 600 chariots and horsemen, left Rameses on the 40-mile run to catch their prey.
Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.
The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. - Exodus 14:19
I wonder how much life insurance could have been sold to the Hebrews standing on the banks of the Sea of Reeds, with the Egyptian army on one side and four miles of the Sea of Menzealeh on the other.
These Hebrews were as good as dead…..but instead the Lord baptized them into Nationhood and deliverance.
I wonder how much life insurance Jesus could have bought, standing in the court of Ciaphas, or Annas or Pilate or with his back to the wall in the box canyon of Calvary. (He was as good as dead).
Even when he cried out from the cross: “IT IS FINISHED, FATHER INTO THY HANDS I COMMEND MY SPIRIT,” Jesus was still buying life insurance from the Father…..because he knew that the Father was moving him towards Easter.
The Father always delights to move his people in an Easterly resurrection direction, and heads them toward home.
* * *
A man was driving on a country road at about 50 mph when he saw a Monarch butterfly ahead flying on a collision course with his car. He swerved, but the butterfly disappeared into the front of the car. He drove the next 20 miles in sadness because he had killed the beautiful butterfly.
When he arrived at his destination he got out to see what had happened. Instead of being squashed against the hood, the butterfly was wedged in the crack along the edge of the hood. He thought to remove it to lay it respectfully to the edge of the road…but when he released the latch of the hood, the butterfly flapped its wings with power of its own and rose up on the south bound breeze to continue its 2,000-mile journey to Mexico and back.
The 3,000-pound car slamming into the weightless butterfly and the 20-mile ride down the highway had made the creature as good as dead in the mind of the driver, but still it rose and flew toward home.
Jesus was not just as good as dead, he was dead - but is now alive!
OGT Missouri-Illinois Division hurricane relief volunteer truck drivers story in Land Line Magazine
Orphan Grain Train Missouri-Illinois Division and LCMS World Relief volunteers Craig Hansen and Ron Johnson of Saint Louis, Mo., have driven several semi loads of relief supplies to the hurricane relief and work centers along the Gulf Coast. Recently their efforts were highlighted in the March/April 2006 issue of Land Line Magazine, the official publication of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association.
Article courtesy of Land Line Magazine: http://www.landlinemag.com
The calm after the storm
Hurricane season is over, but the relief effort continues
By David Tanner
Staff Writer
Land Line Magazine
http://www.landlinemag.com
OOIDA member Craig Hansen of St. Louis and retired trucker Ron Johnson of Fenton, MO, wanted to help out hurricane victims, so they went to church and asked if they could make a run.
Fourteen runs later - with several more on their schedule - Craig and Ron have no intention of slowing down.
“Each time we say it’s going to be the last trip, but sure enough you get down there and you see a reason to come back,” Craig said. “It’s been that way for the last five trips.”
Craig said even though the media coverage has switched gears in the hurricane-stricken southern states, there is a lot of work to be done. “They’re still in a cleanup,” Craig said. “The inland sections are pretty well recovered. Where there was water damage is still in rough shape.”
The pair is making regular deliveries from the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod to a food pantry set up at the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepard in Biloxi, MS.
“We thought, ‘If these people are so broke that they’ve got to eat our canned goods, what are they going to do for Christmas?’ ” Craig remembered Ron saying to him this past fall. “So we started calling our friends and raising a little bit of donations.”
Next thing they knew, their food trailer had a thousand toys added to it just prior to Christmas. Their wives, Debbie Hansen and Joann Johnson, bought the toys and did the shopping for the “Trucking Santas.”
The first load went to Baton Rouge, LA, and several loads went to Washington Parish, LA, before the pair decided on Biloxi as a regular run. When the truckers get to their destinations, they get help from some unexpected sources.
“Where I’ve went, I’ve had jail prisoners unload me with big smiles, and they were happy to do it,” Craig said. “The prisoners unboxed them and labeled them for the children, and the sheriff’s deputies gave out the toys in the Franklinton (LA) area.”
The rewards, they said, have far outweighed their expectations.
“I’m being more blessed by God in my life now than I’ve ever been, and I’m 50,” Craig said. “I’ve made more friends and been able to help more people in the last four months than I’ve helped in the last 50 years.”
Ron, 58, agrees with that assessment. “It’s an experience I wouldn’t trade a million bucks for,” he said. “It’s totally changed my life. You can’t explain in words the feeling you get . They were astounded that somebody would come from halfway across to country to help them.”
Church members in Biloxi were grateful to receive the assistance. “We couldn’t have done it without them. Not only did they bring food, but they brought supplies for the relief effort on the coast,” said church elder John Coyle. “You name it they brought it.”
The Biloxi area, Coyle said, still lacks the proper food, labor and building materials in its recovery process. Craig and Ron will continue to help. Craig has been in trucking for 29 years. When he’s not headed back and forth to the hurricane region, he hauls oversize loads around St. Louis to make ends meet.
“I’ve wondered if the church needed me or if I needed them,” Craig said. “When fuel went up, the bottom dropped out for me. The phone quit ringing. I said, ‘What the heck.’ “
Craig said he and Ron could not do something like they have done without learning a lot about people and about themselves. “I come home now, and I appreciate my house more than I ever did before,” Craig said. “There’s still a need. As long as the church says go, I’ll go. It’s not what I would call a high paying trucking job, but it pays in other ways.”
Even at Age 85, Norfolkan Keeps Trucking Along
Posted with permission from the Norfolk Daily News
By SHERYL SCHMECKPEPER, Norfolk (Neb.) Daily News
Thursday, March 9, 2006
Clayton Andrews lives by this motto: “When your mind tries to tell your body how old it is, you ignore it and just keep going.”
So far, it’s served him well because the 85-year-old Norfolkan is running two corporations that have worldwide impact.
The first is as old as he is. The second is just a teenager.
* * *
When World War II was declared, Andrews enlisted and served 50 months in the Army Air Corps. Most of his military service was spent as a test officer in the Air Corps Proving Ground Command at Elgin Field in Florida.
He requested overseas duty in Germany but instead was sent to Panama, where he served as an operational troubleshooter.
By the time Japan surrendered, Andrews had earned the rank of major. He was asked to consider making the military a career but instead chose to return home to fulfill his desire to help spur growth in Andrews Transfer and Storage, the company his father, A.R. Andrews, had founded 26 years earlier in 1920.
Andrews took over management of the company in 1954 when it had nine trucks that operated in 12 states.
Today, he’s president of Andrews Van Lines, a company that hauls freight in all 50 states and in 21 countries. The company has agents in large cities throughout the United States and in numerous foreign countries.
In the years he spent successfully expanding the family company, Andrews garnered a number of awards from the trucking industry, including the Pioneer Movers Hall of Fame Award and the Carroll Genovese Award, which recognizes leadership and service to the moving and storage industry.
The community also recognized his efforts by naming him Norfolk’s Outstanding Citizen in 1999 and honoring him with a Norfolk Oscar in 2003.
The awards reflect his involvement in Norfolk’s civic life, including his 14 years as chairman of the Norfolk Airport Authority, and his service on the Norfolk Area Chamber of Commerce and the former Lutheran Community Hospital boards of directors.
His support of Lutheran High Northeast in Norfolk caused the school’s leaders to name its activity center for him and his late wife, Vivian.
Despite the accolades, Andrews downplays his role in Norfolk’s community life. He spent most of his time growing his international business.
Others, he said, have done more.
* * *
If that was the case once, it probably isn’t now.
At about the time many people his age are retiring, Andrews took on a new task.
In 1992, the lifelong member of Grace Lutheran Church in Norfolk encountered a new challenge.
He was asked to find a way to send food, clothing and other donated supplies to Latvia and other countries in Eastern Europe.
Many of the countries had been under the rule of the Soviet Union and had not recovered from devastation caused by World War II. The Rev. Ray Wilke, Grace Lutheran’s pastor, had visited the area and recognized the need for spiritual and humanitarian aid.
Wilke came home determined to make a difference. And he turned to Andrews to help him do so.
The Orphan Grain Train was born.
Today, Andrews is vice president of the organization that last year provided $10 million in humanitarian aid to people around the world. He expects the 2006 total to reach $12 million.
That total includes donated food, clothing, medical supplies and literature as well as the volunteer labor and money needed for shipping the containers of goods around the world.
In 2004 alone, 65 shipments were sent overseas and 51 shipments were sent to sites in America. A total of 80 shipments have been sent to the areas damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
The shipments originate from Norfolk or one of the other 18 satellite offices of the Grain Train located throughout the United States.
Andrews’ title of vice president is more impressive than the pay he receives. He’s just another volunteer.
In all, the organization has only five paid staff members - a bookkeeper, fundraiser, administrative secretary, secretary and warehouse manager. They’re all based in Norfolk.
Hundreds of volunteers in Norfolk and at the satellite offices sort and pack supplies and manage the enormous number of details involved in getting goods from the United States to countries halfway around the world.
The volunteer manpower is the reason why 96 cents out of every dollar donated to the Orphan Grain Train is spent for the specific purpose it was donated, Andrews said.
Shipments are sent to partner organizations - many of which are associated with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod missionaries - that distribute the products.
* * *
Andrews hesitates to say he was “called” by God to do the work.
But there are times, he said, when he wonders if he didn’t spend 50 years learning the transportation business so he would be in the position to answer the call when Wilke came home from Latvia and asked, “How can we help these people?”
Yet he takes little credit for the organization’s success. He’s quick to praise the staff and volunteers, and he says the organization is “blessed.”
“If you think there isn’t a God, don’t be in this business. You’ll find out quickly that there is a God,” he said.
The work has become Andrews’ mission.
He still manages Andrews Van Lines and often stops there in the morning before going to the Orphan Grain Train.
“I’m acting more as a consultant to the Van Lines, as the personnel is doing such a good job, it does not take much of my attention,” he said.
On most days, you’ll find him overseeing Orphan Grain Train operations from his desk in the cramped front office of the organization’s headquarters on South Fifth Street.
The staff will move into the organization’s new international headquarters this summer. The 9,300-square-foot facility, located at Sixth Street and Phillip Avenue in Norfolk, will give the Orphan Grain Train room to grow.
And Andrews plans to be there.
Orphan Grain Train Annual Report for 2005
Orphan Grain Train finished 2005 with a record number of international and domestic semi-load relief shipments. The year 2005 also marked the “1,000th” shipment since Orphan Grain Train began.
Special contributions in response to the Asian Tsunami and hurricanes Katrina and Rita made it possible to increase the number of Christian humanitarian relief semi-load shipments from 118 in 2004 to 142 in 2005. In addition to this, 48 smaller trailer-loads were shipped to disaster areas during the past year, including flood survivors in the Ohio River Valley and Katrina survivors.
Ground was broken in March for a new office and volunteer center across the street from the Norfolk, Neb. warehouse. Construction began in June after several rain delays and continued until Christmastime. Laborers for Christ volunteers, affiliated with LCMS World Mission, will finish the interior this spring.
Last summer Orphan Grain Train once again shipped “By Kids For Kids” Global Care Packages for Lutheran Hour Ministries. Several thousand of these school supplies kits were shipped to Vietnam. A thankful response from Lutheran Hour’s receiving partners in Ho Chi Minh City was quickly forwarded to Orphan Grain Train. In addition to Vietnam, other new countries shipped to in 2005 were Mongolia, Ghana, and Uganda.
In September Orphan Grain Train shipped “Load 1,000” to Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia. Gary Thies of Mapleton, Iowa, and Tim and Rita Nickel from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, came to Norfolk to celebrate the loading of the historic “1,000th” shipping container.
Four new regional satellite divisions were added during 2005. Maryland was chartered in February, and South Dakota and Lincoln ( Neb.) began in June. In December the Rocky Mountain Division “spun off” the new Colorado West Division, bringing the total number of regional satellite divisions to eighteen.
The growth of warehouse locations and Orphan Grain Train volunteers has come when the needs of the United States Gulf Coast are at a critical stage. Katrina and Rita combined are probably the worst physical disasters in American history. Rebuilding has begun where clean up is finished. New volunteers have joined in the effort to move the extra shipments of food, supplies and equipment. As of December 30, more than 50 Katrina/Rita semi-loads have been sent to Gulf Coast relief centers.
Thousands of volunteers, working across the country and around the world, make up Orphan Grain Train. Operating costs are low, since volunteers do most of the daily work of the organization. Orphan Grain Train’s Int’l office in Norfolk, Neb., has four wage-earning staff members. Five full-time office staff are volunteers.
Orphan Grain Train’s name and character are explained by the words of Christ recorded in the Gospel of John chapter 14, verse 18: “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”
Expanding ‘God’s work’
By KATHRYN HARRIS
News Staff Writer
The plan started out simply enough.
The Rev. Ray Wilke of Grace Lutheran Church in Norfolk told his friend, Clayton Andrews, about his mission trip to Latvia. He told Andrews about the many destitute people in the povertystricken country who begged Wilke to do something to help them.
“He…kind of put his tongue in his cheek and he said, ‘I kind of told them I would.’ Then he stood there biting his lip, ” said Andrews, a longtime Norfolk businessman. “That’s how the Orphan Grain Train was organized.”
Andrews said he finds it difficult to believe that the organization has grown so much in the 13 years since that first conversation with Wilke, who serves as president of Orphan Grain Train.
Andrews was one of several people who spoke Tuesday afternoon at a groundbreaking ceremony for the organization’s new international office at the corner of Sixth Street and Phillip Avenue.
The Orphan Grain Train is a Norfolk-based international charity that provides humanitarian relief in disaster situations around the world.
Since its creation in 1992, the charity has grown to include 15 regional satellite divisions across the United States. It has shipped more than 900 semi-trailer loads of humanitarian goods worldwide and expects the 1,000th shipment to occur this year.
Continuous growth of the organization has made the additional headquarters space necessary.
Construction of the new facility is scheduled to begin in early April. The office building will serve the administrative needs of the 15 regional divisions of Orphan Grain Train nationwide. The new 9,300-square foot facility will provide the organization with more work space, meeting space and room for growth.
The new facility will replace the need for the office on South Fifth Street that the Orphan Grain Train currently rents.
“One thing I’ve learned is that if you do what God wants you to do, things just happen,” Andrews said of the development of Orphan Grain Train.
For example, Andrews said, the organization just happened to be sending a shipment of humanitarian aid to Bangalore, India, in December. He believes it was by God’s will that it arrived one day after the tsunami disaster.
“We didn’t know what we were doing, but isn’t it strange how they got where they belonged at the right time?” he asked.
The Rev. Russell Sommerfeld, a Norfolk native who serves as Nebraska District president of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, said he felt humbled to be in the presence of those involved with the Orphan Grain Train who carry out the “work of Christian compassion in demonstrating the very love of God in the lives of people.”
Sommerfeld said that in his work as a minister, he often reflects on the story of how the Samaritan helped the wounded man he found left for dead.
“So many others had passed him by and not come to care for him,” he said.
Sommerfeld said he’s reminded of that story when he thinks of the many people throughout the world who give of themselves to care with the compassion of Jesus Christ.
“Thanks be to God that the Orphan Grain Train is His work,” Sommerfeld said. “And we are but His instruments.”
Woman Gives Up Birthday Presents to Collect Underwear for Needy
By Tony Herrman, Hastings ( Neb.) Tribune
All Jan Shambaugh wanted for her birthday was underwear, and she got it.
In fact, she received more pairs and packages than she ever expected.
For her 65th birthday Nov. 13, the Hastings resident asked for an “Undie Sunday” birthday shower to benefit the Orphan Grain Train, an international non-profit organization with headquarters in Norfolk
Shambaugh said she got the idea for the shower when she and her sister, Kay Schutte, attended an Orphan Grain Train benefit at Zion Lutheran Church in Hastings. The two saw a flyer encouraging Sunday school groups to have “Undie Sundays.”
“I thought it would be fun to see if I could get 65 packages of underwear for the Orphan Grain Train instead of presents,” Shambaugh said.
So, Schutte prepared a flier of her own and e-mailed it to her sister’s fiends and family members
The flier quoted Shambaugh, who said, “I have everything I need and wouldn’t it be fun to have an ‘Undie Sunday’ shower and see if I would get 65 packages of undies for the Orphan Grain Train?”
Aside from a few friends who sent pairs of thong underwear as a joke, those who received the email embraced the project, Shambaugh said.
The reaction was really, really good,” Shambaugh said. “So many people sent underwear. We even got packages from some people I didn’t know.”
The response was so great that Shambaugh wound up with 258 packages of underwear, socks and T-shirts - about four times her goal.
“It was really fun doing it,” she said. “I’d come home, and there would be all these packages, and you knew what was in them but it was fun to see what you got and see them add up.”
Shambaugh received about the same number of packages for women’s underwear, at 63 pairs, boys’ underwear, 62 pairs, and girls’ underwear, 78 pairs. She received fewer packages of men’s underwear, with 30 pairs.
She also received 25 packages of socks and T-shirts.
“When my grandkids came, they each brought a package in their own size,” Shambaugh said. “When my 4-year-old granddaughter brought her package, she liked the underwear so much she wanted to keep them.”
When Shambaugh first began receiving packages of underwear, she stored them in a printer paper box. Once the box was overflowing, Shambaugh began adding boxes, eventually filling six printer paper boxes and three larger boxes.
“They are full,” she said.
According to its Web site, the Orphan Grain Train was co-founded in 1991 by Rev. Ray S. Wilke, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Norfolk, and Clayton Andrew’s, also of Norfolk.
Orphan Grain Train’s name originated from Wilke’s desire to gather train loads of donated grain in the Midwest and ship it to starving orphans in Eastern European orphanages.
The organization originally served orphans, but Shambaugh said it has extended its mission to anyone in need. She said most recently the Orphan Grain Train has been helping victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma.
“I think it’s wonderful,” Schutte said of the Orphan Grain Train. “One of the things that amazes me is not only the work they do, but how they’ve expanded the work they do in the short time they’ve been around.”
Shambaugh and her sister already tried to deliver the boxes twice, only to be thwarted by inclement weather and closing because of holidays.
“Because the Grain Train headquarters are in Norfolk, we thought it would be fun to take them to Norfolk,” Shambaugh said.
They will try again this Friday making the nearly 135-mile trek to Norfolk with the nine boxes in Shambaugh’s Oldsmobile Aurora.
“We’re going to make them fit,” Schutte said. “But it will be a tight fit, let me put it that way.”
This article appeared on Wednesday, January 4, 2006, in the Hastings Tribune. It was reprinted with permission.
Jan and her sister Kay made it to Norfolk in early January, delivered the boxes, and took a tour of the Orphan Grain Train warehouse.
Asian Disaster Relief Fund Matching Announced
NORFOLK, Neb. (January 4, 2005)-Orphan Grain Train, headquartered at Norfolk, Neb., announced today that all contributions for its Asian Disaster Relief Fund will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to $75,000 by LCMS World Relief and Human Care of Saint Louis, Mo.
“OGT has been a fantastic witness to the love of Christ in word and deed. We at LCMS World Relief/Human Care are deeply appreciative of its work, and we rejoice that in the midst this tragedy we can partner in the name of Christ, and show his love in speaking the gospel and caring for the hurting, together,” said Matthew Harrison, Executive Director, LCMS World Relief/Human Care.
LCMS World Relief and Human Care is the alliance of disaster relief, self-help, and human care ministries of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS), headquartered at Saint Louis, Mo. Orphan Grain Train is a Recognized Service Organization of the LCMS.
“We are deeply grateful. A tragedy of this scope brings to bear good will and generosity from many quarters,” said Rev. Ray S. Wilke, President of Orphan Grain Train. “Practicing Christians are especially eager to carry water and provision to Jesus in all His distressing disguises. We celebrate along with LCMS World Relief the willingness of believers all across the country to respond to the tragedy in an exceptional way. The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in all of its entities are responding as one personality. We at Orphan Grain Train deeply appreciate the Body of Christ spirit that pervades our dear church at this tragic time. LCMS World Relief and its executive, Matt Harrison, have been leaders in cultivating the spirit and maturity that Jesus seeks and blesses.”
Orphan Grain Train’s warehouse at Bangalore, India, is delivering clothing, food, bottled water, mats, and utensils to survivors in southeast India’s Tamil Nadu state. The distributions are being made in the cities of Cuddalore, Nagappattinam, and Kolachal. Local government officials have pledged to help. Orphan Grain Train ocean-freight shipping containers full of relief aid arrived at the warehouse shortly before and after the disaster hit. It takes six to eight weeks for an ocean-freight shipping container to reach Asia. That is why Orphan Grain Train is asking for cash donations to purchase immediate disaster relief supplies closer to the survivors. Additional shipping container-loads will be sent as part of long-term recovery efforts.
Checks should be made out to “Orphan Grain Train Asian Disaster Relief Fund,” P. O. Box 1466, Norfolk, NE 68702-1466. Secure on-line contributions may also be given through the Orphan Grain Train web site at http://www.ogt.org by clicking “Donate Now.” Donations will be used to purchase food (rice), clean water, and supplies for survivors in the affected areas. Orphan Grain Train’s assistance to the countries affected by this tsunami will continue as long as funds for the relief effort are available.
Orphan Grain Train’s 14 regional divisions located throughout the United States are all working in this Asian Relief response. Founded in 1992, Orphan Grain Train is a “hands-on” Christian humanitarian aid and disaster relief organization. It is a network of volunteers across the United States who bring necessary help in response to requests for food and clothing, medical supplies, and Christian literature. It also responds to survivors of natural disasters, such as floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, drought, earthquakes, and tsunamis. Orphan Grain Train will not ship overseas or in America until it has a secure partner receiving the relief supplies.
Orphan Grain Train’s name and character are explained by the words of Christ recorded in the Gospel of John chapter 14, verse 18, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”
Asian Disaster Relief Press Release
Orphan Grain Train, P.O. Box 1466, Norfolk, Nebraska 68702-1466. For more information contact: Richard Jostes, Dir. of Development, Norfolk, NE 68702. Phone: (402) 371-7393 FAX: (402) 371-7350
For immediate release
NORFOLK, Neb. (December 29, 2004) - Orphan Grain Train, headquartered at Norfolk, Nebraska, announced today that it’s warehouse in Bangalore, India, is now delivering humanitarian aid to the survivors of the recent tsunami, which hit India, Sri Lanka, and several other Asian countries. Orphan Grain Train is sending 40-foot-long shipping containers of humanitarian aid to the India warehouse to continue the disaster relief in progress.
It takes six to eight weeks for an ocean-freight shipping container to reach Asia. This will only help meet long-term needs. For short-term response needs, Orphan Grain Train is now taking cash donations to purchase disaster relief supplies from Asian suppliers.
Checks should be made out to “Orphan Grain Train Asian Disaster Relief Fund,” P. O. Box 1466, Norfolk, NE 68702-1466. Donations will be used to purchase food (rice), clean water, and supplies for survivors in the affected areas. Orphan Grain Train’s assistance to the countries affected by this tsunami will continue as long as funds for the relief effort are available.
All donations will be gratefully received. Orphan Grain Train’s 14 regional divisions located throughout the United States are all participating in this Asian Relief project.
Orphan Grain Train is a “hands-on” Christian humanitarian aid and disaster relief organization. It is a national network of volunteers with 14 regional divisions across the United States to bring necessary help in response to requests for food and clothing, medical supplies, and Christian literature. It also responds to survivors of natural disasters, such as floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, drought, earthquakes, and tsunamis. Orphan Grain Train will not ship overseas or in America until it has a secure partner receiving the relief supplies. Donated clothes, medical equipment, and medical supplies are collected, sorted, and packed by volunteers throughout the regional divisions.
Orphan Grain Train’s name and character are explained by the words of Christ recorded in the Gospel of John, chapter 14, verse 18, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”
Operation Hay and Grain Lift
As of May 14, 2003, Operation Hay & Grain Lift shipped 6,450.9 tons of hay and corn. Thus ended the Hay & Grain Lift which had begun in the summer of 2002. Volunteers and hay and grain donors working through the Operation Hay & Grain Lift Coalition shipped hay & corn to 327 recipients in Nebraska. Requests total 541. Requests totalling 180 were left unfilled.
Conservation Reserve (CRP) and cornstalk acres harvested = 852.5
Total cash spent: $165,733.94 for hay and transportation.
Value of purchased and donated hay shipped: $817,525.94!
During the hay & grain lift, an entire semi-load of alfalfa hay was purchased for $1,950 (26 to 30 bales per load). Cash donation were used to purchase hay when needed. With donations of cash, hay, grain, equipment, volunteer labor, Operation Hay & Grain Lift invested $165,733.94 and produced a total value of $817,525.94 for hay & grain relief.
The Nebraska Department of Agriculture web-site, http://www.droughtcentral.org has several important links for more drought-related information.
Orphan Grain Train is a “hands-on” Christian humanitarian aid and disaster relief organization. It is a national network of volunteers with regional divisions across the United States to bring necessary help in response to requests for food and clothing, medical supplies, and Christian literature. It also responds to survivors of natural disasters, such as drought. During 2002 it coordinated shipment of more than 300 semi-loads of hay for Operation Hay & Grain Lift in Nebraska. This totals more than 15,000,000 lbs. (750 tons) of supplies to needy people in the U. S. and around the world. Orphan Grain Train has responded to other disasters in North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Florida, Montana, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, and Ohio. In 1999 it sent hay to drought-stricken farmers in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Orphan Grain Train’s name and character are explained by Christ’s words recorded in John 14:18: “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”
500th Semi-truck-load of Relief Sent in July 2001
(August 10, 2001) - Orphan Grain Train, an international, Christian, humanitarian relief organization headquartered in Norfolk, Neb., announced today that it shipped its 500th semi-truck-load of humanitarian aid during the month of July.
Organized in May 1992, Orphan Grain Train shipped its first semi-truck-load overseas to Riga, Latvia in April 1993. The 500th shipment, weighing over 15,000 lbs., was sent on July 17 from Westfield, Wisconsin, to Christo El Salvador Lutheran Church at Del Rio, Texas. Pastor Gary Martin at Del Rio said the shipment included clothes, blankets, shoes, bicycles, soap and 150 church chairs which were “in great condition!” Orphan Grain Train has sent 17 semi-truck-loads of supplies and relief goods to this mission on the Mexican border in the past three years.
Orphan Grain Train’s 12 regional divisions have sent 504 semi-truck-loads worldwide through July 2001. This is more than 15,000,000 pounds of supplies for destitute people in the United States and around the world.
Orphan Grain Train is a “hands-on,” humanitarian aid and disaster relief organization. It is a national network, with regional divisions across the United States, providing necessary help in response to requests for food and clothing, medical supplies, and Christian literature. It was created in 1992 in response to appeals from people in the formerly Communist countries of the Soviet Union.
Soon after its beginnings, Orphan Grain Train became a project of the International Lutheran Laymen’s League (Lutheran Hour Ministries) of St. Louis Missouri. Since June 2000, it has continued to work as a partner organization of Lutheran Hour Ministries, but is now governed by its own Board of Directors.
Most of Orphan Grain Train’s semi-trailer-loads are packed and shipped by volunteers in Norfolk, Neb., Westfield, Wisc., Ida Grove, Iowa, Albany, New York and Bottineau, North Dakota.
New regional satellite divisions are being organized in St. Louis, Missouri, and Los Angeles, California. Meanwhile, volunteers in the Seymour, Indiana area, are increasing their fundraising efforts so that humanitarian shipments can be sent directly from that location also.
Orphan Grain Train’s shipping expenses average $7 to ship one apple-box of relief supplies where most needed.
Orphan Grain Train has also sent disaster aid to victims of hurricanes, floods, drought, and tornadoes in North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Florida, Montana, Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Orphan Grain Train’s foreign relief efforts are in cooperation with Lutheran Hour Ministries and the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod Board for Missions, both of St. Louis, Mo. In the United States, Orphan Grain Train also works with Lutheran Disaster Response and the American Red Cross in response to domestic disasters.
Orphan Grain Train’s name and character are explained by the words of Christ recorded in John 14:18: “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”
“With My Friends in Nicaragua” project
In late 1998, after pulling moisture into its clouds for three days off the coast of Honduras, Hurricane Mitch went inland and dropped 4 feet of rain in 24 hours on Central American Mountains at elevations above 10,000 feet. The resulting mud and rock slides wiped out villages and everything in their path.
By March of 2000, Orphan Grain Train sent a total 16 semi-loads of food, medicine, and housing kits to the countries of Central America since the end of Hurricane Mitch. These shipments were sent to secure distribution networks in Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, and Nicaragua.
“With My Friends in Nicaragua”
Was a cooperative effort of Orphan Grain Train and Lutheran Hour Ministries. In 1999-2000 the Reverends Rudy Schaser of Lutheran Hour Ministries and Ray Wilke of Orphan Grain Train visited Nicaragua’s Chinandega province and talked with students, parents, teachers and local community leaders. They met the local missionary who struggles to convey the message that God—and the members of God’s Family, the Church—care about them. The response to their needs is called Con Mis Amigos Nicaragua (“With My Friends in Nicaragua”), one part of a special effort to bring help and hope to the people of a devastated region in Nicaragua.
This effort began in the winter of 2000, and continued for several months.
The situation in Nicaragua after Hurricane Mitch:
- Hurricane Mitch wiped out bridges and ruined drinking water supplies.
- A simple thing like milk was viewed as an unattainable luxury.
- Many kids had no shoes on their feet.
- Many children could not attend school—for lack of school supplies.
- Many children walked 7 kilometers to and from school every day and arrived at school feeling dizzy because they had no breakfast.
- Children dressed in tatters.
- Six-year-olds selling tortillas to provide family income.
- Conjunctivitis (pink eye) was common.
- Also common were hair lice, ringworm and
- “Cataracts” (traced to a vitamin deficiency).
Since the initial effort in 1999-2000, Orphan Grain Train’s shipments to Nicaragua have helped local villages with special projects such as new water systems. We have also worked with hospitals and schools to provide needed equipment and supplies. These efforts have expanded to include the Leon, Nicaragua, area as well, thanks to the cooperative efforts of Lutheran Hour Ministries.
The Reverend of relief: Meet the man behind the Orphan Grain Train
By Tara Grunig-Perre
There’s nothing in the world like the sounds of hunger and misery.
Sounds that can be the haunting cries of children too young to understand why they are hungry and sick. Children too young to understand that their country has been crippled by the fall of Communism.
Those cries of Russian children were motivation enough for one man to start a movement now supported by thousands, if not millions-the Orphan Grain Train.
The Rev. Ray Wilke, an AAL member, and his wife, Lois, from Norfolk, Nebraska, went to Russia as part of a Lutheran Hour Ministries’ work project in 1992 to help build places for seminary instruction and worship, but while there, they found an even greater purpose.
“What we saw there was really very appalling,” Ray says. “It fractured us. We were just overwhelmed with the pain and misery that was present.”
The Wilkes visited Russia for three weeks and discovered a nation in turmoil as the Iron Curtain fell.
“A lot of their capital had been invested in the military and very little had been invested in people comforts and necessities,” Ray says. “The nation was on its knees even then, and it hasn’t got much better.”
Upon returning to the United States, the Wilkes immediately began telling people about the horrors they had witnessed in the former Soviet Union. Their stories always were followed by a resounding, “We have to do something!”
“Before we knew it, we had $60,000 on the table and the Orphan Grain Train was formed,” Ray says. “We immediately began sending food, clothing and medical supplies.”
But Ray couldn’t do it alone and sought the help of other Norfolk residents, in particular, AAL members Clayton Andrews and Dale Pinnt.
“He came to me and asked, ‘Do you want to do probably the greatest thing you’ve every done in your life?’ ” says Andrews, a Norfolk businessman. “When I heard what he wanted to do, I never hesitated, and it took off from there.”
So Andrews devised a skeletal plan for shipping the donated items to Russia using his expertise from his business, Andrews Van Lines, a worldwide mover of household goods, while Pinnt began managing the warehouse in Norfolk, which stores and prepares donated items for shipment.
Since its beginning, the Orphan Grain Train has expanded in volunteers and areas served to include other parts of the world and the United States, anywhere people are suffering from natural disasters and financial hard times.
At any time, there are six to 10 40-foot containers filled with medicine, food or clothes en route for those in need.
The people who help Ray with the Orphan Grain Train are quick to credit him.
“He’s a visionary with big dreams,” says Bruce Wurdeman, an AAL member and assistant director of Volunteer Opportunities at Lutheran Hour Ministries, a sister organization to the Orphan Grain Train. “A lot of people have great ideas but can’t make them happen. Ray is successful because he is able to put the people around him to make things happen.”
But Ray says it’s not about him.
“It’s about all the people,” he says. “It’s not some magic from Ray Wilke. It’s the Lord’s doing.”
Coordinating people for the Lord’s work is definitely Ray’s strong point. In addition to his volunteer role in the Orphan Grain Train, he is a full-time pastor at Grace Lutheran Church in Norfolk. There he guides his 965-member congregation with the assistance of a board of directors.
“He’s just a very dedicated man,” says Andrews, a member of Grace Lutheran’s board. “He takes care of his church and helps a lot of people through the Orphan Grain Train. He has a big heart and likes to help people-he’s a true disciple.”
And to top it off, Ray farms with his son, Ray Wilke II, in Norfolk. The duo farm 500 acres to provide feed for their dairy and beef cattle.
“Farming is my exercise,” says Ray Wilke. “And it’s something I love doing.”
Lois Wilke understands her husband’s motivation and helps out when she can at the Orphan Grain Train, the church and the farm, even though she’s a full-time registered nurse at Faith Regional Hospital in Norfolk.
“We do it to help people who are less fortunate than we are,” she says. “I think God expects that of us.”
Ray won’t soon give up of any of his commitments.
“I’ll do it all as long as I have the strength,” he says. “It’s not something you can retire from easily. The cries of the children are everywhere. How can you know that and do nothing?”
Tara Grunig-Perre works at AAL’s home office. She is a member of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. She can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Reprinted by permission of the author from the January-February 2000 AAL Correspondent magazine.
All Aboard! Volunteers keep Orphan Grain Train on the right track
By Tara Grunig-Perre
It’s not really a train, but it does deliver grain-sometimes.
And it does help orphans, but not exclusively.
The Orphan Grain Train started as a relief effort for starving Russian orphans, but it has grown past the origins of its name, for a good reason.
“There are so many people out there in need,” says Francis Sedlacek, an AAL* member and Orphan Grain Train volunteer in Loveland, Colorado. “The Orphan Grain Train reaches out to any place that asks and allows us to bring help and the Word of Jesus Christ.”
The Orphan Grain Train started in 1992 after AAL member the Rev. Ray Wilke and his wife, Lois, of Norfolk, Nebraska, visited Russia and found widespread hunger and despair after the fall of Communism. Since that time, it has expanded to help people all around the world, including the United States, fulfilling its mission to spread the Word of God by taking care of the whole person, beginning with the physical needs of food, clothing and medicine.
And the Orphan Grain Train does just that, whether helping farmers in the Midwest and East Coast recover from poor growing conditions, providing housing for Hurricane Mitch victims in Central America or helping orphans in Russia.
The train begins with the humble and able people who volunteer. They hold fund-raisers and clothing drives and ask for donations from businesses and hospitals alike, all with one purpose: to fill as many 40-foot semi-truck trailers as possible with supplies for the needy of the world.
“It’s very fulfilling after a hectic day in the office, to go out and do this,” says Nancy Helmke, an AAL member and volunteer for the Orphan Grain Train in Napoleon, Ohio. “You just know that you are planting a seed that someday might sprout and grow. You don’t know who you are helping, you just know you are helping someone.”
Since its beginning, volunteers have helped send more than 312 trailers of supplies worth more than $20 million.
Volunteers work in communities throughout the United States and coordinate through 13 regional divisions and the national office and warehouse in Norfolk. Helmke and Sedlacek help coordinate two of the regional efforts.
While Sedlacek is working with Colorado churches and businesses to hold fund-raisers, Helmke is calling companies in Ohio for in-kind donations like soup and dried, condensed milk. From these regional hubs, the donations, whether money, food or clothing, then are shipped to Norfolk or the area in need.
“We work with anyone who wants to get involved,” says Sedlacek. “It’s pretty exciting.”
Once the donations are in Norfolk or one of the regional divisions, other volunteers work to sort, clean, fold and pack clothes and other supplies in trailers for shipping. The containers then are trucked or railed to various locations for domestic delivery or to be loaded onto ships for overseas destinations. When the supplies reach their destination, Orphan Grain Train volunteers or other partner organizations-like Lutheran Hour Ministries-distribute the materials to the needy.
“On a practical level, the Orphan Grain Train volunteers in North America work to generate clothing, food and medical supplies to be sent to areas around the world where we are working,” says AAL member Walt Winters, Lutheran Hour Ministries director of international missions. “We help with getting it through customs and with distribution.”
Sedlacek says Orphan Grain Train volunteers appreciate any help they get and value the involvement AAL members and AAL have given to their efforts. In 1998 and the first nine months of 1999 alone, 40 AAL branches raised more than $28,000 and applied for another $21,000 in matching funds through AAL’s Helping Hands program.
“We try to choose projects everyone has an interest in,” says Marion Wolpert, AAL Branch 3213 coordinator in Albuquerque, New Mexico, whose branch raised $2,000 for the Orphan Grain Train. “We know they are doing great work around the world and helping many children.”
In addition, the Orphan Grain Train is working to get three emergency response vehicles, funded by a $40,000 AAL Innovations Grant, on the road. The vehicles, stationed in Nebraska, Wisconsin and North Dakota, will help feed volunteers warm meals and provide other front-line assistance when natural disasters strike.
“It’s all about taking the same approach Jesus did,” says Sedlacek. “Feed them, heal them and ease their burden before preaching to them. Wherever we go, we bring the Word of God.”
*AAL has merged with Lutheran Brotherhood to form “Thrivent for Lutherans” since this article was written.
Tara Grunig-Perre works at Thrivent for Lutherans’ home office. She is a member of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. She can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Reprinted by permission of the author.
Norfolk, Nebraska LSS-South Dakota Distinguished Corporate Partner Of 1998
The winter of 1996-97 was one of the most devastating on record in South Dakota. The losses and prolonged misery of thousands of citizens continues to be felt today. But in the midst of all that tragedy a champion emerged, who, in partnership with Lutheran Social Service (LSS) and Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR), brought a convoy of care - fueled by the love of Christ, to respond to the suffering, the hungry and those who felt themselves forgotten.
The Orphan Grain Train of Norfolk, NE is a voluntary organization affiliated with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and Lutheran Hour Ministries and is organized to respond to human suffering anywhere in the world. Beginning in November of 1997, they mobilized their incredible resources to aid in the outreach to South Dakotans who were victims of blizzards, floods and a tornado.
In the past fourteen months the Grain Train delivered over thirty semi-truck loads of food, clothing, building supplies and fencing materials, which were distributed by Lutheran Social Services volunteers to people living in over fifty SD communities and three Indian reservations. In all, the Grain Train has provided over 1,000,000 pounds of groceries, 80,000 pounds of clothing, thousands of fence posts and miles of barbed wire to people in need. They also delivered hundreds of donated cows through the One Good Cow program to replace cattle lost in the blizzards. Most recently, they have joined LSS in a partnership with the Second Harvest Food Bank to supply 440 needy families with monthly deliveries of groceries through May of 1999.
The ministry of the Grain Train was further magnified as it extended into the lives of scores of youth and other volunteers who were privileged to deliver food and re-build fences with materials supplied by OGT. When the tornado hit Spencer, the Grain Train was on the scene immediately and two days later delivered a truckload of food to supply the Armory. Over and over again, victims and volunteers alike were astounded at the generosity, quality, organization and capacity of the Grain Train’s resources. They were also greatly moved by the unqualified nature of the support, which was given solely in response to human suffering.
For many South Dakota families, the help provided by the Orphan Grain Train has enabled them to continue a viable farming or ranching operation because it came in addition to the family grants, counseling and re-building support supplied through our total disaster response. For the ministry of LSS, the partnership with the Orphan Grain Train allowed us to be present in even the most remote and otherwise forgotten places of the state with the same loving message of hope and help we tried to provide in more urban areas.
On behalf of the Board of Directors and staff of Lutheran Social Services it is my great honor to say thanks to the Orphan Grain Train for their magnificent partnership and loving service, and to present to them the Distinguished Corporate Partner Award for 1998.
This award and citation was presented at Sioux Falls, South Dakota, January 28, 1999, by Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota President & CEO, Mr. Jim Barclay.
Hurricane Mitch effort was launched Dec. 24, 1998
The Orphan Grain Train is collecting food and medicine as part of relief efforts for the countries of Central America hardest hit by Hurricane Mitch last November. Shipments will be sent to secure distribution networks in Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama.
After pulling moisture into its clouds for three days off the coast of Honduras, Hurricane Mitch went inland and dropped 48 inches of rain in 24 hours on Central American Mountains at elevations above 10,000 feet. The resulting sea of mud and debris scoured out everything in its path: people, homes, cattle, bridges, crops and trees. Seventy-four bridges in Honduras and another seventy-one in Nicaragua were wiped out or damaged along with villages and thousands of people.
Knowing it was unlikely that aid would come to them, thousands of survivors trudged toward perceived aid at airfields. Food and medicine is shipped to larger airports in Trujillo, San Pedro Sula, La Ceiba, and Tegucigalpa, Honduras. From there it is flown on smaller planes to remote areas in need. There it is transferred to waiting trucks which take it to the villages cut off from outside contact after bridges were washed away.
Orphan Grain Train has shipped over 360,000 pounds of corn flour, pinto beans, dried peas, and medicine. Clothing and housing kits will also be shipped later in response to specific requests from OGT’s relief partners.
Medications purchased at wholesale cost are sent to combat diarrhea and conjunctivitis along with ampicillin, penicillin and children’s vitamins.
OGT is appealing for cash donations to be used to purchase and ship these bulk quantities of food and medicine. Donations may be sent payable to Orphan Grain Train, PO Box 1466, Norfolk, NE 68701, or through secure forms at http://www.ogt.org on the world-wide web.
Orphan Grain Train is a “hands-on” humanitarian aid and disaster relief project, a national network with divisions across the country. It is organized to bring necessary help to the endless requests for food and clothing, medical supplies, and Christian-centered literature.
Begun in 1992 in response to appeals from people in the formerly Communist countries of the Soviet Union, OGT has sent over 250 forty-foot container loads (semi-loads) to date, including 75 loads in 1998.
Recipient partners have been in Russia, Latvia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, Liberia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and Brazil. Disaster aid has also been sent to victims of hurricanes, floods and tornadoes in this country. OGT partners with Lutheran Disaster Response and the American Red Cross when responding to domestic disasters.
Orphan Grain Train’s name and character are explained by the words of Christ recorded in John 14:18: “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”
One Hundred Thirty Miles of Missing Fence - REPLACED!
Thousands of volunteers have helped our neighbors in North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Minnesota with disaster recovery since the spring of 1997. The work continues. Blizzards from the winter of 1996-‘97 left snow-banks 20-feet-high in many places and killed livestock of all kinds in the three-state area. The floods that followed in South Dakota and along the Red River of the North made national news. Orphan Grain Train and “One Good Cow” shipped building supplies, equipment, and nearly 1,000 pregnant cows to North and South Dakota in ‘97-‘98. But the media did not report the lost fence-lines of the western Dakotas.
The first blizzard covered warm soil in October 1996. A new blizzard came each week until January 1997. Several feet of snow accumulated though out the winter with no thaw. The resulting ice pack drove fence-posts into the ground like “nails into a board.”
Melting snow made floods the next concern. By the time “One Good Cow” started shipping in the fall of 1997, Orphan Grain Train heard comments like, “Don’t send cattle until I get my fences fixed.” OGT volunteers and Lutheran Social Service (LSS) understood the need when they saw the miles of missing fence. Braids of barbed wire stretched from sunken post to sunken post, creating a landscape of “connect the dots.” Old-timers had seen nothing like it before.
Orphan Grain Train worked with LSS of South and North Dakota on fence replacement. With Lutheran Hour Ministries relief money, OGT purchased posts and wire at less than wholesale cost. Donated trucking moved the materials from Utah, Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas to the Dakota’s for use by Laborers for Christ and Lutheran Disaster Response volunteers.
This summer volunteers replaced over 130 miles of fence. As of September 30, the estimate in donated man-hours amounted to over 4,000. Estimated value of donated trucking, labor and food, as well as $86,000 worth of posts and wire, now total more than $400,000 for this project.
Gratitude to God has been etched on human hearts through this effort. Gifts from Lutheran Hour Ministries and Orphan Grain Train donors, coordination by OGT and LSS and much toil by Laborers for Christ made this work a blessing for those involved. One farmer, who could not finish re-fencing without help, thanked the Laborers for Christ foreman in a personal way. When the final strand of wire was hammered tight, the farmer reached into his pocket for an old arrowhead he found years ago. A prized memento of younger years, this gift for the foreman was his public tribute for help received.
Rev. Ray Wilke receives Point of Light award
August 19, 1998 - Rev. Ray S. Wilke, executive director of the Orphan Grain Train has received the Daily Points of Light award for Wednesday, August 19. The purpose of this awards programs is to recognize outstanding volunteers. Each day, Monday through Friday, a winner is selected somewhere in the U. S.
Each winner receives an official certificate, congratulatory letters from President Clinton and former President George Bush, along with a letter form Robert Goodwin, President and CEO of the Points of Light Foundation.
On receiving notification of this award, Rev. Wilke commented, “Whenever something like this happens, I always feel that I accept these things in the name of the many volunteers who in fact did most of the work. Such is the case with the Points of Light Award. I dedicate it to the Lord and the volunteers.”
Daily Points of Light Award Winner
August 19, 1998
REV. RAY WILKE
Norfolk, NE
Daily Point of Light #1185
Over six years ago, Rev. Ray Wilke had the opportunity to travel to Latvia (a country in the eastern block of Europe, formerly part of the USSR), and visit with the members of the community there. During his stay in Latvia, he saw the great needs of the people, especially for the orphaned children and the poor who were suffering in the new “free” Latvia. Upon his return to the United States, Wilke mobilized members of his church and community to start the OGT movement (Orphan Grain Train), with a goal of providing clothing, food and medical supplies to help the orphanages in Latvia survive.
Wilke is said to have begun his work with a passion. The first container of supplies was shipped early in 1993. Since then, over 200 containers (40-foot) have been sent to the former Soviet Union, Africa, the U.S. and Latin America. These shipments have included the first portable medical/dental clinic in the Republic of Kazakhstan, equipping medical clinics in Panama and providing school supplies for over 74,000 children in Russia, Ethiopia, Brazil and Panama.
Today, volunteer centers of OGT have been established in Wisconsin, North and South Dakota, Iowa, Kansas, New York, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Indiana and Colorado. Thousands of men, women and children give of their time and talents to reach out to those in need throughout the world. Volunteers have spent over two million man-hours during the past 5 years working for OGT.
Last year, Wilke made the national news with a project he started to assist ranchers in the Dakotas who had lost many cattle. “One Good Cow” was the program Wilke used to rally ranchers in the Midwest to donate one pregnant cow to a rancher in the affected areas of the Dakotas in an effort to replenish their herds. Wilke led a modern day “cattle drive” into the Dakotas with the first herd of relief animals.