Give: Financial gifts best provide immediate assistance when and where it's most needed. Send checks (write Haiti Earthquake Relief on the memo line) to ELCA Disaster Response, 39330 Treasury Center, Chicago, IL 60694-9300. Give via credit card online or call 800-638-3522. On 2009 federal tax returns, individuals can deduct donations for Haiti given through Feb. 28, 2010.
Volunteer: Call Kevin A. Massey, director, Lutheran Disaster Response, at 800-638-3522, ext. 2822, or visit www.elca.org/disaster.
As Elizabeth Ekdale and her daughter, Grace, watched news reports about Haiti, the 6-year-old asked, "Why did God let this earthquake happen?"
Among the unpredictable questions children ask, those about God's role amid suffering are tough to answer. Why? Many parents wonder about those questions too.
"When kids or adults ask these kinds of profound questions, there are no easy answers," said Ekdale, a pastor of St. Mark Lutheran Church, San Francisco. "My daughter and I talked about how the pictures on TV were hard to look at. We talked about how God didn't cause the earthquake, and how God is with people who hurt, how God cares for all of us and uses us to care for others. "
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