Category: Hurricanes

Things are continuing to develop in Florida as several of our ACS Disaster Response Team members from various conferences are actively engaged in the Hurricane relief in the Gulf region of Florida. Significant damage to both our churches and the community at large has been reported. The conferences involved in the Recovery Efforts are Gulf States, South Central, Southeast, Florida, and Carolina.

Several local churches have been generous enough to lend their facility and services. The Gulf States Conference Spanish Church led by Pastor Guerrero, has been working to meet the needs of the community for the past week from his trailer. We are helping him meet some of the requests of the community by connecting him with donations, and also setting up a Warehouse. We are setting up more Distribution sites with the help of the Gulf States and South Atlantic conferences at the Panama City SDA Church and the Maranatha SDA Church. Due to the damage that the Maranatha church incurred from the storm, the property had to be cleared of debris before being housed as a Distribution site.

With the help of the Southeast Conference, we have secured a Warehouse in Tallahassee which will ensure that Distribution sites are kept stocked with needed items. Though this facility would benefit our sites around the State, it would function as a Multi-Agency Warehouse which would mean millions of people would ultimately be served. Conferences are working together to ensure a positive outcome for those affected. We also have unions and conferences from outside of the Southern Union such as the Pacific Union Conference, and the Northeastern, Greater New York, and Arkansas-Louisiana conferences that have agreed to assist our teams locally.

Just over ten days after Hurricane Florence hit North Carolina, Category 4 Hurricane Michael made landfall inland over the Florida Panhandle area early Thursday morning, leaving several parts of the State in ruin. Some of the most severely hit places include Mexico Beach and Panama City. Fatalities and destruction were also reported in the States of Georgia, Alabama, Virginia, and also the Carolinas.

The NAD ACS Disaster Response, Southern Union, and the affected States’ Conference ACS leaders have been in communication to discuss the positioning of our team members for Recovery Efforts throughout the affected States. The NAD, along with ADRA, made financial support available to each affected area through grant opportunities for their corresponding Conferences. We have also assigned some Contact people the responsibility of being our liaison to the State VOADs in the affected states of FL, AL, GA and NC, thus enabling us to gain understanding of the preparations that others are involved in as well.

The following Recovery Efforts are now taking place as we develop our response in key areas in Florida, Alabama, and Georgia:

1. Conferences are working to obtain items for the cleanup kits/flood buckets that will be needed in the coming weeks as Recovery efforts begin.
2. The South Central and Gulf States conferences have set up Distribution sites for incoming donations.
3. Deliveries of nonperishable food items, hygiene kits, and etc. are being prepared by Southeastern and Florida conferences.
4. Tallahassee Spanish SDA church has agreed to set up a Distribution Center for the community within the next few days.
5. Seeking feeding trucks to work in partnership with Salvation Army and State officials to feed communities.
6. The State of FL has asked us to have a team ready for the management of a Warehouse in Tallahassee. Both Florida and Southeast conferences are identifying individuals for this team.
7. Also, the Seminole and Daugherty counties in GA have requested Warehouses and we currently are working with them to identify a facility that can house these operations.

Our ACS Disaster Response Teams continue to be actively involved in the Hurricane Florence Recovery Efforts in North Carolina. Last week, the Chesapeake Conference delivered flood buckets, non-perishable food, and other items to the Ephesus SDA Church distribution site in Wilmington. The Chesapeake ACS Director Ignacio Goya and ACS DR Director John Belliveau, brought the Conference truck and trailer to the Middletown Valley SDA Church where they picked up several boxes of the supplies and went to the warehouse at Highland View Academy to fill 100 flood buckets. The Martinsburg SDA Church helped them coordinate their driver, Doug Ivany, who along with his wife, loaded up the trailer and delivered the supplies. The Ephesus SDA Church in New Bern also received buckets, cleaning supplies, and food from Tad Long of the Keene SDA Church of the Texas Conference. Furthermore, the Southwestern Union delivered over 2,000 buckets and hygiene kits.

The Recovery Efforts also took place in Whiteville and Fayetteville. About 25 Whiteville SDA Church members which also included some youth worked with the ACS DR Team to unload about 500 flood buckets. The Fayetteville community received over 1000 buckets and 1000 hygiene kits. On Sabbath, October 8, our Team members distributed these supplies via three separate mobile Distribution Units that were set up since many people in these areas don’t have transportation.

We also had the Northeastern Conference ACS DR Team led by Dr. Fitzgerald Kerr arrive in North Carolina late Sunday night to begin ‘muck-out’. Many of the homes which had been assessed over the course of last week, are now ready to be cleaned out and have debris removed. We concentrate our services on those that might be overlooked or denied flood insurance coverage and have limited options. “This work is needed, and ACS DR is being a light to the community, who in some cases have their first opportunity to hear of the Seventh Day Adventist Church during this most challenging time,” said W. Derrick Lea, NAD ACS Disaster Response Director.

Besides Fayetteville and New Bern, the town of Wilmington in North Carolina was also severely impacted by the flooding. The community was benefited from the 500 ACS flood buckets and other needed items that were distributed by our volunteers. The South Atlantic’s Ephesus SDA Church in Wilmington opened up their parking lot to set up a Distribution Center over the weekend. One of our ACS DR teams from the Greater New York Conference (GNYC) lent their support to the community. The ACS shower trailer from Michigan Conference also arrived, so that our workers could clean themselves after each day of work.

While Ephesus provided housing, the Carolina Conference’s Wilmington SDA Church coordinated the feeding for the arriving Team from GNYC. Wilmington had prepared breakfast for our GNYC Team who was scheduled to arrive early morning. However, due to detours along the way, they had informed the church that they would be arriving about an hour and a half later. Upon hearing this, Pr. George Wennerberg and his church members took the breakfast to Ephesus to begin serving the community. The GNYC Team finally arrived with 16 people and two vehicles. After having breakfast, they met with Derrick Lea and the leader of the Distribution Site, Cheryl Sparks. They reviewed the assessments that had been conducted over the previous two days, and outlined those homes that needed cleaning. By noon, our Team members had arrived at the homes where residents met them as if they were family.

Another service we will be offering to the community is Walmart gift cards. Rather than handing out money during events such as these, a process must be created that ensures everyone is treated in an equitable manner. Since resources are limited, we must be able to prove there is a system in place that guarantees fairness in distribution. The criteria for the gift cards would be based on the degree of damage done to a person’s home. ‘Damage Assessment’, one of the courses given by Derrick Lea, teaches students how to categorize homes that have been damaged by weather events and creates levels of damage to a structure. This class was conducted with both South Atlantic and Carolina conference team members in attendance. They’re all certified now and have begun assessing homes. This enables us to designate help based on the level of damage to a person’s home.

#HurricaneFlorence – September 24 Update

Hurricane Florence may have left the United States a week ago, but the effects of this weather-related tragedy are being felt across most of the eastern portions of North Carolina. Some of the most devastated areas include Wilmington, New Bern, and Fayetteville. The Carolina and South Atlantic Conferences that were directly affected by this disaster are working hard to determine how best to assist in this Recovery effort.

The Carolina Conference has set up a Warehouse in Winnesboro, SC, where supplies such as flood buckets, paper towels and tissues, food items, household items, and etc. are being stored. Phil Rosburg, the conference ACS DR Director, operates this facility by loading pallets of items that are being donated, and then transporting them to Centers where they’ll be distributed to those in need. Another area where we are engaged in is New Bern. Assessments of the New Bern community will be done by ACS DR and Southern University students.

The South Atlantic Conference ACS DR Teams met with the city leaders of Wilmington, and also the church leaders of the Ephesus SDA Church. They discussed the situation and developed a plan of action based on a ‘needs list’ for the area. A door to door assessment of the surrounding community will be conducted by local ACS volunteers, followed by Distribution of donated goods for the community. On Tuesday, a food distribution is planned in Fayetteville with the city officials for hot meals. On Wednesday, the Greater New York Conference DR Team, led by Walter Harris, will be arriving to assist in these communities.

Let us continue to remember the communities that have been affected, as well as the DR Teams that are actively involved in the Recovery Efforts.

Hurricane Florence is gradually making its way towards the East Coast mainland and is expected to make landfall late Thursday night/early Friday morning around the Carolinas. W. Derrick Lea, NAD ACS DR Director, met with the directors and coordinators of the Southern and Columbia Unions and some of the Conferences under the respective Unions: Carolina, South Atlantic, Allegheny East, Chesapeake, Potomac, and New Jersey. Our ACS DR Teams in the mentioned conferences appear positioned well. They have developed a plan of action for this type of a crisis event. Flood buckets are in place throughout each State that is in danger. Personal care kits are available and ready for use. Warehousing agreements are in place and our teams await the exact location for operations to begin. Some conferences that may not take a direct hit as anticipated earlier, are on standby to assist with the Recovery Efforts. We continue to have conversation with the State, American Red Cross, and ADRA as to how we might work in concert as Recovery begins. Please keep our ACS DR teams and each of the communities that will be affected in your prayers.

FEMA has set up a Warehouse in southern Florida for donations collected from military bases which will go towards the Hurricane survivors in Puerto Rico. The Warehouse, managed by Adventist Community Services DR Teams, has been in operation for about a month. Our Team led by South Central Conference is working hard to not only manage the products that are received, but continue to guide our Team Florida Conference personnel in the operation and management of the Warehouse. A few of our other Conferences are on standby for deployment. Plans are in place to include them in the Recovery effort towards the beginning of next year.

Additionally, FEMA has again requested that our services be ready for a possible Puerto Rico response, as well. Though this area is outside of our normal geographical response, the needs of those on the ground demand our knowledge, skills, and expertise in providing relief to the affected communities. Currently, we have placed a team on standby and await the request in the coming days.

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