Welcome to the 20th DIAKONIA World Assembly

The DOTAC Region of the DIAKONIA World Federation and the DIAKONIA 2009 World Assembly Planning Committee have prepared an event that will provide time for fellowship and personal renewal. We are definitely looking forward to meeting you and to welcoming you to Atlanta. In case you have not already done so, please check out ATLANTA.

Your week in Atlanta will begin with registration at the Welcome Center, 939 Hemphill Avenue, on the West Campus of The Georgia Institute of Technology (GA Tech).

Here you will:

• check in,
• obtain your credentials for the assembly,
  pick up your Assembly Handbook, Attendee Bag, parking pass (if pre-purchased),
• obtain your apartment and room keys,
• and register for workshops.

The Welcome Center will be open daily from 8:30 AM to 9:30 PM. The telephone number for the Welcome Center is (404) 206-4000. This would be a good telephone number to leave back home, in case someone needed to reach you. Not all cell phones work all over the world.

The GA Tech campus is an urban campus with comfortable surroundings. Safety is always a concern in any urban setting. It is always a good practice in a different location or urban setting to not walk alone, especially after dark. GA Tech is proud of its reputation for being an eco-friendly university. We, too, are taking this approach for the World Assembly and minimizing the use of paper throughout the week. You will find speaker outlines, and what may have been handouts, on the DIAKONIA website following the assembly.

It is at the Welcome Center that you:

• Can check your email and send emails
• View the MESSAGE BOARD, a place where someone can leave a message for you if they want to get in touch with you
• Speak with someone at the Information Desk about Atlanta or the World Assembly
• Visit the Market Place—an opportunity to see and purchase items brought to the assembly from around the world (This is the only place on campus that items may be displayed and sold.)
• Talk with a Planning Committee person if you have questions about the assembly
  Meet with other attendees for fellowship

Please stop by the Welcome Center frequently during your visit to GA Tech.

There will be a Concierge Desk at the Student Center in the second floor lobby, the lobby most of us will be using. The hours of operation will be listed in your Assembly Handbook. You may stop at this desk for information on where a session is located, questions about GA Tech and to find the First Aid Station.

The Student Center, the building where most of the meetings will take place, about a 20 minute walk from the Welcome Center, is a 3 story building, with elevator. It contains the Ballroom where plenary sessions will be held and Meeting Rooms for Workshops and Small Groups. STUDENT CENTER MAP

Among the highlights of the week:

• Opportunity to meet and greet diaconal workers from over 20 countries and numerous denominations
• An Opening Celebration Worship at St. Mark United Methodist Church
• A welcoming by Mayor Shirley Franklin of Atlanta
• Additional words of welcome by Bishops of local denominations
• Words of wisdom from Ms. Sara Miles, author of “Take This Bread” and founder of the food pantry at St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church
• Small Group discussion times to reflect on the thoughts of the day
• DIAKONIA World Focus time updating world project activity
• Study of the Bible led by Ms. Glory Dharmaraj, Director of Spiritual Formation and Mission Theology, United Methodist Church
• Workshops to inform, equip and emulate
• A Spirituality Center offering a place for devotion and reflection
• DIAKONIA Regional Meetings, times for business and fellowship for the three DIAKONIA Regions
• Exploring Atlanta—a day of opportunity for visiting ministries and tourist attractions within the Metro Atlanta area
• Cultural Celebration—fun, fellowship and dance reflecting the local culture
• More words of wisdom from Dr. Walter Altmann, Moderator of the World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee, and, President of the Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil (IECLB)
• Worship opportunity at local churches
• A Closing Worship service with Holy Communion at Central Presbyterian Church

The plenary sessions will be interpreted in English and German. The receiver units are expensive and we will be charged for lost or misplaced units at the cost of $250. Lost or misplaced headsets will cost $25. Please help us by returning your equipment when leaving each meeting.

Each day will begin with Morning Prayer at 9 AM and the day’s planned activities will conclude by 9 PM each evening. Evening prayers for private or small group use will be in the Assembly Handbook.

The meals for the week will be served in the Woodruff Dining Hall. This is a Food Court concept dining experience, with many choices and tastes of food. Attendees who have special dietary requirements are encouraged to meet with a Manager at the Woodruff dining hall on Monday evening during the dinner hour. Please tell the Welcome Host at the Woodruff dining hall, as you enter, that you would like to speak with a manager. They will be expecting to speak with you.

(Note to early arrivals: The Woodruff Dining Hall will not be open on Sunday evening, July 19. Please check in the Welcome Center about available options for this meal.)

As you may already know, Atlanta is sometimes referred to as “Hotlanta”. It is hot and humid in the summer. You can expect the afternoon temperature to be in the mid-90’s F, mid-30’s C, with perhaps an afternoon thunder shower. Hydration is important so drinking water is critical to your personal health. A water station will be available in the back of the Ballroom Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. All of the facilities at GA Tech are air conditioned. Travelers not accustomed to air conditioning are encouraged to bring along a sweater, light jacket or extra shirt to wear, if you are easily chilled.

You will have ample opportunity to warm up. We will be walking between the facilities on campus. Each of them, the Woodruff dining hall, residence hall and Student Center, are about 20 minutes apart. Bus or van service will be available for those who have registered with mobility needs.

As you prepare to travel to Atlanta you want to remember that you are coming to university housing. Crecine Residence Hall will be the primary housing unit for the World Assembly guests. This residence hall will also house the guests for pre-event meetings of the DIAKONIA Executive Committee, the Deaconess Community of the ELCA and the Diaconal Ministers of the ELCA. Center Street North Residence Hall will also be used for World Assembly guests, speaker and vendor housing, and is where the Planning Committee will be living. Residence hall living means that rooms are configured for functionality and will be clean and orderly. Each apartment has a mini-kitchen, a small living room, 2 toilet/shower rooms and 4 private sleeping rooms. The sleeping rooms have a desk, chair, bed, dresser and closet. The closet does not come equipped with hangers.

Things you may want to consider bringing with you to make your stay more enjoyable:

• Shower Shoes
• Alarm Clock to get you up for breakfast and Morning Prayer
• Clothes hangers
• Umbrella for the possible afternoon showers
• Comfortable shoes for walking in hot weather
• Ethernet cable (if you plan to use the free Internet service provided by GA Tech)

If you have not as yet sent us your arrival information please do so now.
Without this information you will have to provide your own transportation
to the GA Tech campus.

The Atlanta airport is quite large. If you have mobility issues, it is recommended that you contact your travel agent or airline and arrange for wheelchair service from the gate to the baggage claim area.

Arriving in Atlanta
Monday July 20, 2009
By Air

The Local Arrangements Committee, with its Arrivals Team, has planned an airport welcome for Monday, July 20th. When you arrive at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport as an international traveler you will proceed through the US Customs processing, take the train to the Baggage Claim stop and ride an escalator to the top. Please look for someone wearing a DIAKONIA cap or having a DIAKONIA sign to assist you in finding your transportation.

When you arrive at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport as a domestic traveler (other than United and American) you will take the train to the Baggage Claim stop and ride an escalator to the top. Please look for someone wearing a DIAKONIA cap or having a DIAKONIA sign to assist you in finding your transportation.

 

When you arrive via United you proceed to the North (Blue) Baggage Claim area, on the same level as your arrival gate, to pick up your baggage. Please look for an Ambassador with a DIAKONIA cap or a DIAKONIA sign to assist you in finding your transportation.

When you arrive via American you pick up your baggage at the American Baggage Claim, on a lower level of the terminal. Once you have your baggage, then proceed to the North (Blue) Baggage Claim area. Please look for an Ambassador wearing a DIAKONIA cap or having a DIAKONIA sign in the main baggage claim area to assist you in finding your transportation.

Many of the concourses at the airport offer passenger cart services to and from the escalators. Please flag one down if this is of interest to you.

Once you have your baggage, an Arrival Ambassador will guide or direct you to the pickup area. There will be a bus leaving from the airport to GT Campus once an hour on the half hour, starting at 1:30 PM, with the last bus leaving at 4:30 PM. Most buses will depart from the lower level of the North (Blue) Terminal. Most airlines arrive in the Blue Terminal. The 3:30 PM bus is planning on leaving from the lower level of the South (Red) terminal. Please check with the Arrival Ambassador to make sure how to locate your bus.

Attendees arriving before Noon and after 3:30 PM will be transported by vans and not buses. Please check with the Arrival Ambassador to make sure how to locate your vehicle.

The bus will take you to Crecine Residence Hall, 900 Hemphill, and stop to unload passengers and baggage, placing your baggage under a tent. A team of baggage handlers will be present to help with baggage and watch your baggage while you cross the street and go to the Welcome Center to check-in.

After you check-in, and do all of the administrative stuff, you will have your keys and walk back across the street to pickup your baggage and take it to your room. The same applies to those assigned to Center Street North; however, you will have to cross the street again with your baggage and your lodging will be to your left.

Dinner Monday night is at 5:30 PM in the Woodruff Dining Hall. If you meet in the lobby of Crecine at 5:30 PM someone will walk you over to the Woodruff dining hall, about 3 blocks.

We will begin boarding buses, in front of the Crecine Residence Hall at 6:15 PM, to take us to St. Mark United Methodist Church for the Opening Worship celebration. The last bus will leave for St. Mark UMC at 7:10 PM.

Arriving in Atlanta
Before and After Monday July 20, 2009
By Air

The arrival procedures will be the same as described above; however, there will only be one individual to greet you at the airport, namely at the top of the escalator – regardless which airline you arrive on, and the transportation to campus will be via van.

Sometimes the availability of our vans, or the time of your arrival, may necessitate asking you to utilize a commercial service to travel from the airport to campus. More information will be made available to those to whom this option may apply.

The baggage process will be different on other days. The baggage handlers and the tent will only be available on July 20th, so you will have to take your baggage to the Welcome Center with you. A member of the Welcome Center staff will assist you with directions to finding your room.

Travel Questions upon arrival—July 18-July 26
Assembly Welcome Center—(404) 206-4000
8:30 AM-9:30 PM

Arriving in Atlanta by Car
Monday, July 20, 2009

When arriving at the Welcome Center by car on Monday, July 20 you will find “temporary reserved parking” in front of the Welcome Center. Barricades will be used to block off an area for NO PARKING but a portion of this space will be available for check-in parking only. There is also a parking lot for check-in parking.

Different ways to find the Welcome Center:

FROM THE SOUTH, including the airport:

1. Take Interstate 75/85 North to the 10th Street Exit (250)
2. At the traffic light, turn LEFT onto 10th Street
3. Proceed through 4 stoplights to the 5th stoplight (Hemphill Ave.)
4. Turn LEFT onto Hemphill Avenue.
5. The Center Street Apartments and Activity Room (Welcome Center) will be on your left.
6. After the pedestrian walkway, turn LEFT into the temporary parking lot
7. Follow the signs to the Welcome Center Check-in Parking.

(There will be a limited amount of temporary check-in parking located on Hemphill Ave. in front of the Welcome Center.)

FROM THE NORTH:

1. Take Interstate 75/85 South to the North Avenue Exit. (249 D)
2. Turn RIGHT onto North Avenue and travel 3/10ths of a mile to Cherry Street
3. Turn RIGHT onto Cherry Street
4. Turn LEFT onto Ferst Drive
5. Continue on Ferst Drive to Hemphill Avenue. You will pass the medical and recreation centers on your left. Keep going down the hill to a stop sign at Hemphill Ave.
6. Turn LEFT onto Hemphill
   The Center Street Apartments and Activity Room (Welcome Center) will be on your right.
7. Just beyond the Police Department will be an entrance to a parking lot.
8. Turn RIGHT into this lot into the temporary parking lot
9. Follow the signs to the Welcome Center Check-in Parking
   Welcome Center Check-in Parking
   (There will be a limited amount of temporary check-in parking located on Hemphill Ave. in front of the Welcome Center.)

Please obey all parking regulations while on campus to avoid receiving a parking ticket.

The address of the Welcome Center (Center Street Activity Room) is 939 Hemphill, Atlanta, GA. A Welcome Ambassador should be at the street to direct you to the Welcome Center for check-in.

One of the check-in activities will be to pickup your pre-purchased parking permit. This permit authorizes you to park in the Residence Hall surface parking spaces WR 29 (West Residence). There will be spaces along 8th Street marked WR 29, as well as two surface parking lots. These lots are located at the corner of 8th and McMillan, on either side of McMillan. (They are lots marked for Hefner and Armstrong residence halls, and, Folk and Caldwell residence halls.)

You may come and go from these parking places as frequently as you wish.

Please make certain that your parking permit is on the dash of your car at all times while parked in the WR 29 parking spaces.

Other WR 29 Parking is in the Woodruff parking lot, but does not include garage parking, metered spots or reserved parking spaces.

Arriving in Atlanta by Car
Before and After Monday, July 20, 2009

The reserved parking in front of the Welcome Center will be available only on Monday, July 20. Guests arriving at other times will need to park in a metered spot, or call the Welcome Center and ask that your parking permit be brought out to you. Call the Welcome Center (404) 206-4000, wait in your car, and ask them to bring you your parking permit. Then you can park your car in a WR 29 surface parking space and come into the Welcome Center to register.

The other notes for July 20 arrival parking apply – see above.

 

CHECK-IN

Check-in will take place in the Welcome Center, 939 Hemphill Ave. NW, Atlanta. All check-in activities for the DIAKONIA 2009 World Assembly will take place on Monday, July 20, 2009 starting at 11 AM and continuing until 9:30 PM. It will resume the following morning at 8:30 AM.

Room keys will be available for early arrivals in the Welcome Center, from 1 PM to 9 PM on Saturday, July 18 and from 1:30 PM to 9 PM Sunday, July 19.

Please have your picture ID ready for check-in. During the check-in process you will receive your credentials for the assembly, your room keys, your t-shirt (if you purchased one), your parking permit (if you purchased one), your Small Group assignment and your Assembly Handbook and Attendee Bag.

You will also have the opportunity to sign-up for Workshops, Exploring Atlanta opportunities, select a worship opportunity for Sunday morning, July 26th and sign-up for a bus time for a trip back to the airport on Monday, July 27th.

INTERNET SERVICE

There is free Internet service provided in the GA Tech residence halls. If you bring a computer and want to use this free service you must obtain your password during the check-in process. The free service requires you to bring your own Ethernet (RJ45) cable.

If you prefer to purchase wireless internet service, which can be used throughout the GA Tech campus, you may do so on a daily basis using your credit card.

 

CHECKOUT

All attendees must checkout of their rooms
by 11 AM on Monday, July 27, 2009.

Checkout on Monday, July 27

Crecine Residents:

• Place your linens (towels and sheets in the pillowcase) in a laundry bin located in the elevator lounge on your floor.
• Turn in your two keys (preferably in their original envelope) to the GA Tech housing team member who will be located in the lobby of Crecine.

Center Street North Residents:

• Place your linens (towels and sheets in the pillowcase) in a laundry bin located in the elevator lounge on the first floor.
• Turn in your two keys (preferably in their original envelope) to the Planning Committee team member who will be located in Welcome Center.

Please fold your blanket and put it on your bed
together with the pillow.
The blanket and pillow should remain in your room.

Checkout on days other than Monday, July 27

Turn in your two keys (preferably in their original envelope) and linens (towels and sheets in the pillowcase) to the Planning Committee team member who will be located in Welcome Center to collect keys and linens.

Please do not leave your keys or linens in the room when you leave campus. You are responsible for returning your two keys when you leave campus. Non-returned and lost keys will cost you $50 for each key.

 

DEPARTURES

 

Transportation to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta
International Airport (ATL)
Monday, July 27, 2009

Beginning at 9 AM, with a bus loading at 8:30 AM, bus service will be provided to attendees directly to the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The trip to the airport takes approximately 30 minutes. The bus will load in front of Crecine Residence Hall, on Hemphill.

The bus will continue to depart on the hour, until the last trip, which departs at 1 PM. (Please note checkout time is 11 AM). All buses will unload at the North (Blue) Terminal. After you have retrieved your baggage from the bus, you take an escalator to the ticketing level and check-in with your airline. Delta, Air France and Aero Mexico depart from the South (Red) Terminal. Terminal Map

You will be asked to sign-up for a specific bus time to the airport during check-in. Please keep in mind that international passengers are asked to be at the airport 2 and one-half hours prior to departure and domestic passengers are asked to be at the airport 1 and one-half hours prior to departure. The Planning Committee and Samson Trailways assume no responsibility for getting you to the airport at a specific time. It is your responsibility to sign-up for your bus departure time early enough to meet your check-in requirements.

Two of the trips will stop at the Atlanta Clarion Airport Hotel after a stop at the airport. This will allow attendees to the Lutheran Deaconess Conference RAM to take a bus to their meeting. If you are attending this meeting and would like to take a bus to the hotel, please sign-up for a 9 or 10 AM bus.

If you require transportation to the airport at other times, please discuss this with the Transportation Coordinator or Registrar during check-in at the Welcome Center.

MISCELLANEOUS

ELECTRICITY

Please remember that in the Unites States the utilities provide 110 volt electricity. In Europe the utilities provide 220 volt electricity. Therefore, an adapter may be needed to use the appliances you bring with you. Also, the plugs are different and the adapter will help you with that too.

TRAVEL DELAYS

If you encounter travel delays on Monday, July 20th, and do not see anyone at the airport with a DIAKONIA cap or sign to assist you, please call the Welcome Center, (404) 206-4000 between the hours of 8:30 AM and 9:30 PM, after you have retrieved your baggage.

If you encounter travel delays on other arrival days please call the Welcome Center, after you have retrieved your baggage.

SECURITY – POLICE

The Georgia Institute of Technology has its own police department. This is a fully accredited police force in the State of Georgia. In any emergency you should contact the GA Tech Police Department at (404) 894-2500. If you are calling the police from a campus phone please dial 9 – 4 – 2500.

If you experience a medical emergency while on campus and need medical attention you should contact the GA Tech Police Department for assistance. There will be a first aid kit you are welcome to use for minor emergencies at the Welcome Center.

We are working, with much intentionality, to have a nurse on duty at the Concierge Desk in the Student Center during the Concierge Desk hours. The nurse will be on duty Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday only.

H1N1 FLU – SWINE FLU

This memo was received earlier this summer from GA Tech regarding H1N1 Flu:

TO:         Georgia Tech Summer Community
SUBJECT: H1N1 Flu

Earlier today, the Georgia Public Health Laboratory confirmed a student has a case of H1N1 influenza. Georgia Tech health officials are following established protocols. The student is resting at home.

We remind the campus community that H1N1flu is considered no worse than seasonal flu and its symptoms are similar to those of the seasonal flu. Persons with chronic medical conditions who might be more likely to develop complications from influenza should seek medical attention if they experience flu-like symptoms.
Please keep in mind that everyday actions can help prevent the spread of germs that cause respiratory illnesses such as influenza. Some of these preventative measures include:
* Covering your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze, and
* Cleaning your hands after coughing or sneezing by washing with soap and warm water for 20 seconds or with alcohol-based hand cleaner.

Further information on influenza and H1N1 can be found at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site.
Jonathan Baker, Director
Georgia Tech Stamps Health Services

 

This information has been compiled for all attendees and guests at the DIAKONIA 2009 World Assembly,July 20-27, 2009, at GA Tech in Atlanta. It was not developed for attendees of any other pre-event meetings.
For further information please contact David Eickemeyer, Registrar, daeickemeyer@bellsouth.net.