LARRI's August 2010 Newsletter is now available here on the web site. Just click on 'Newsletter' in the side menu to check it out.

By Michael Gonzalez - Post-Tribune Coorespondent   

Days ago, the tiny, often overlooked park next to the North Gleason Pavilion was weed-choked with bottles, discarded cigarette packs and other garbage strewn around.

By Friday, a group of teenagers on a mission trip from a Hershey, Pa., Lutheran church transformed it into a family friendly site with the start of a new, roofed pavilion with benches.

"Every year, I'm impressed with how much work we get done in such a short time," said Michael Brommer, an organizer with LutheranHANDS -- the latter part of the name standing for Helping And Serving.

"They're gifted by God to come here and do this work for their neighbors."

 By Lu Ann Franklin Times Correspondent 

More than 400 youth and adult volunteers with two national faith-based groups are in Northwest Indiana, laboring to assist with flood recovery efforts that continue nearly two years after the floodwaters of September 2008 receded.

The work by Lutheran Hands and Southern Baptist World Changers, as well as AmeriCorps, is being coordinated by Lakeshore Area Regional Recovery of Indiana, or LARRI, which formed to assist in the region's recovery from the widespread flooding of two years ago.

"With hundreds of willing volunteers available in one week, LARRI has been able to arrange opportunities for these group to not only assist some of the individual homeowners affected by the flood, but to impact entire communities," said Jane Delligatti, LARRI's executive director.