News
March 27, 2020
LAMPA will continue to share COVID-19 updates here as they are received. LAMPa staff is working with partners addressing the needs of all people in the Commonwealth, especially our most vulnerable residents. We hold all of your communities in prayer as we endeavor to respond faithfully to the presence of COVID-19. We all wrestle with...
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March 31, 2020
April 1, 2020 is National Census Day. By this date, every home will have received their invitation to participate in the 2020 Census. When you respond to the Census, you tell the U.S. Census Bureau where you are living as of April 1, 2020. Every household can respond to the 2020 Census online, by mail,...
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March 31, 2020
On March 27, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, H.R. 748 (CARES Act), a third economic aid package to help bring direct relief to families, reinforce struggling industries and the healthcare sector, and extend assistance to vital state and federal support programs. Members of Congress and their staff worked intensely to...
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March 28, 2020
Dear church, The last couple of weeks have been trying ones for everyone across this church. Our synods, congregations and ministries are facing challenges that they’ve never faced before. Being church together means more now than ever before. The churchwide office is launching a comprehensive Covid-19 response across the ELCA beginning today. We have three...
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March 28, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the world in ways we could never have imagined. Lives are being lost, schools and businesses are closed, and our way of life has drastically changed. An additional consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic are the increasing volume of hate/bias crimes and incidents targeting members of the Asian American Community. These...
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March 27, 2020
Governor Tom Wolf signed four bills today to fight the COVID-19 pandemic in Pennsylvania that bolster the health care system, benefit workers and schools, and reschedule the 2020 primary election for June 2. These bills were passed earlier this week by the General Assembly following their first-ever remote voting. House Bill 1232, provides $50 million...
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March 26, 2020
Governor Tom Wolf sent a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue asking that USDA waive eligibility requirements for the Emergency Food Assistance Program; reconsider Pennsylvania’s request for temporary waivers to allow more food to be distributed at school feeding sites and food banks; and to be flexible and change its interpretation of...
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March 26, 2020
Pennsylvania’s Surprise Balance Billing Protection Act, HB 1862, bill passed out of committee unanimously, and is now sitting on the House floor, waiting for second consideration. The bill keeps consumers stay out of the middle of this issue in an emergency situation by allowing them to pay the expected in-network rate. In this bill, out...
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March 26, 2020
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in American (ELCA) has shared The First Draft of the Social Message on Government and Civic Engagement: Discipleship in a Democracy. The development of this message on government, civic engagement, the relationship of church and state and related matters, was called for by the 2019 ELCA Churchwide Assembly. This is not...
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March 24, 2020
March 24, 2020 Dear Church, The Evangelical Lutheran Church America, as part of the body of Christ, is united with other Christians in our communities, in our country and around the world. This unity takes many forms, including prayer. I am writing to extend an invitation we have received from Pope Francis, through the Lutheran...
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