Hurricane Relief Efforts and Cleanup Continue, Restoration Process Begins

With nearly 200,000 people still without power in Florida Tuesday morning following Hurricane Milton, and North Carolina still reeling from the devastation from Hurricane Helene, Convoy of Hope continues to pour relief supplies into the region.

According to Convoy of Hope’s national spokesperson, Ethan Forhetz, the compassion organization has delivered — or is in the process of delivering — more than 150 semis of aid for victims of the two hurricanes.

“That totals more than 3.5 million pounds of relief supplies,” Forhetz says. “We have a warehouse located in the Sarasota (Florida) area and have been delivering aid to Tampa, St. Petersburg, West Palms Beach (due to a tornado there), and Sebring. For our Helene response, we’re continuing to distribute aid in the Asheville, North Carolina, area. We have a warehouse in nearby Morganton, which we’ve been regularly replenishing.”

Forhetz says that in addition to working with local churches and relief organizations, Convoy has partnered with the Spruce Pine Fire Department in North Carolina, delivering generators to the fire department who then sends firefighters out to set up the generators for elderly homeowners without power.

“They’re into their third week without power,” Forhetz says. “Helene was unprecedented — a Category 4 storm when it made landfall with major damage expected from flooding when it came ashore, but instead the major damage from flooding took place hundreds of miles away in North Carolina, which is really unheard of.”

Convoy of Hope is continuing to provide relief. Forhetz notes that volunteers will begin delivering relief supplies into neighborhoods in the Sarasota area, which have been difficult to get into (or out of) due to the flooding.

Forhetz says that Convoy has been partnering with multiple AG district offices and churches throughout the response to both hurricanes, including: in Georgia: Vidalia First AG, and Cornerstone Church (Augusta), and the Georgia district office; in South Carolina: Greenwood First AG; in North Carolina: FAM Church (Morganton), Revol Church and Crossroads AG in Asheville, and the North Carolina district; in Florida: Mayo First AG, Perry First AG, First AG (Cross City), Jasper AG, Radiant Church (St. Petersburg), Sebring First AG, Dream Church (Bradenton), Church of Hope (Palmetto), and the West Florida district office. In addition, multiple AG churches from Florida, North Carolina, Indiana, New Jersey have sent volunteers to work with Convoy.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

Chaplain Denny Nissley, an ordained AG minister for 40 years, is the founder of the Christ in Action ministry. Headquartered in Virginia, the ministry recently deployed to Florida, however, the main focus of Christ in Action is one of cleanup and restoration.

“There’s a lot of chainsaw work and gutting of homes we’ll be doing in Florida, and we need volunteers there — we need the church there like ants at a picnic,” Nissley says. “All you have to do is register and get there and we’ll house and feed you for free, line up work, and assign jobs that fit an individual’s skill level.”

Nissley says that in addition to “heavy labor,” people are needed to cook, deliver meals, clean, do administrative work, and a number of other jobs — no one is asked to work beyond their abilities.

“We have 42-foot commercial kitchen, commercial shower units — we are fully self-contained — except for the sleeping quarters,” Nissley explains. “We sleep on the church floor. We always partner with a local church, because when we’re gone, we want people to have a place to go, a place for people to anchor to.”

Christ in Action, founded in 1982, is setting up in New Port Richey, Florida, as officials have reported more than 17,000 homes damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Milton. He adds that those individuals who volunteer and travel in an RV will have water and electricity hook-ups available to them.

“People can come for a day, a week, a month, two months as we’ll be here at least until Dec. 16, if not longer,” Nissley says.

Currently, Nissley says, Christ in Action will not fully deploy to North Carolina for at least another week as they’ve been asked by the state’s Emergency Operation Center to wait. Although Christ in Action does have heavy equipment at its disposal, the state is still searching for missing people — hoping for rescues, but likely also facing recovery of the dead.

“We did send our 6,000-gallon tanker truck for hauling potable (drinking) water to North Carolina and we set up a water purification system there,” Nissley says.

Nissley, who notes that several of their vehicles were provided by Speed the Light, urges those interested in volunteering to sign up at the Christ in Action website. And if people have questions, to call Susan Boston, the volunteer coordinator, at 703-740-8626.

Information on contributing to hurricane disaster relief is available at AG Disaster Relief.

Dan Van Veen

Dan Van Veen is news editor of AG News. Prior to transitioning to AG News in 2001, Van Veen served as managing editor of AG U.S. Missions American Horizon magazine for five years. He attends Central Assembly of God in Springfield, Missouri, where he and his wife, Lori, teach preschool Sunday School and 4- and 5-year-old Rainbows boys and girls on Wednesdays.