# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1950_S1316
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

844 MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS

their contributions in the form of direct gifts to organizations or
individual families in need in war-torn areas. A conservative
estimate of these contributions in cash and kind during the past
war years easily totals more than $25,000,000.

This twenty-five-million figure does not include contributions
made by our people and congregations to CROP (Christian ‘Rural
Overseas Program), to which organization some $100,000 worth
of products have been given.

Other Agencies

These activities of relief, reconstruction, rehabilitation, and
mission expansion were channeled to countries in Europe such
as Germany (including the Russian Zone), Austria, Greece, Italy,
Finland, France, Yugoslavia; in Asia countries as China, Japan,
Korea, Pakistan, Okinawa, Palestine, the Philippines. Further-
more, the millions of pounds of food and clothing and the millions
of dollars expended by the Emergency Planning Council’s vast
relief program were channeled through a number of agencies,
notably, Church World Service, National Lutheran Council, Lu-
theran World Relief, Church Relief Agencies in Germany, Red
Cross, American Bible Society, Swedish Relief. ;

_ Emergency Planning Council Activities

The origin of the Emergency Planning Council goes back to
1942, when war workers, shifting populations, P.O. W.’s and urgent
postwar plannings presented immediate problems to our Synod.
Since that time the Emergency Planning Council, with the aid of
our consecrated people, has written many notable chapters into
the annals of time, has accomplished that which at first was thought
not accomplishable, and has expedited an enviable relief program.

Since the scope of this report is to deal only with the past
triennium of Synod, 1947—1950,. we shall confine the following
pages primarily to those relief activities which transpired since
the Centennial Convention in 1947, when a $2,500,000 collection was
voted for the cause of world relief.

Units for Europe

By September of 1947 the Emergency Planning Council relief
office activities had reached large proportions. Shipments of cloth-
ing, food, medicines, spiritual literature, orphans’ care, child-
feeding programs, were in progress at an accelerated pace. To
enable our people to assist all the more in their labor of love and

- to.meet the ever-increasing need abroad, a “Units for Europe”
program was launched throughout Synod. This program supported
six phases of relief work in which our Church was active — food,
clothing, medicine, orphans’ care, a child-feeding program, and