
When most Texans were cooking on Thanksgiving eve, others wondered how they would feed their families. That’s especially true for disaster survivors as they face the immense challenge of overcoming a tragedy. But because of the generosity of the network church Our Savior Lutheran Austin and the Austin Disaster Relief Network, these survivors have one less challenge to manage.
On the day before Thanksgiving, Our Savior Lutheran provided more than 30 families impacted by disaster with complete turkey dinners that included trimmings, sides, and desserts. They connected with these families in crisis and distributed the goodies through ADRN.
Christopher Drew, the youth director at Our Savior Lutheran, said the church’s pastor and congregation cooked the turkeys themselves and donated the sides to ADRN for the families.
“We do this because God asks us to serve others. Jesus told us in Matthew 25:40, ‘whatever we do for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you do for me,’” Drew said.
Areli Cruz, whose family lost everything in a mobile house fire earlier this year, received one of the Thanksgiving meals.
“We don’t have close family here. My husband, Jonas, has a brother in San Antonio, but here in Austin, we only have our church friends, but today, ADRN called us and wanted to bless our family with dinner,” she said.
“That means a lot because we’ve gone through a hard time. We lost everything, but they pray with us whenever we work with ADRN. That’s a blessing for us,” Areli said.
While the meals will meet disaster survivors’ physical needs, they mean much more, according to Drew.
“They show each person that God loves them,” he said. “He provides for them. He provides for us all. And what better thing is there to do than to take care of our brothers and sisters?”
He (God) provides for them. He provides for us all. And what better thing is there to do than to take care of our brothers and sisters?
Christopher Drew, Our Savior Lutheran Tweet


