Hurricane Helene Relief
Many of you, I'm sure have been following reports from Western North Carolina related to the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene.
South Charlotte Baptist Academy is part of the North Carolina Christian School Association which has schools scattered all over the state, including Western North Carolina.
I just received the following (from Spruce Pines, NC) by way of the NCCSA office. It gives a first person account of the situation being faced by the residents of most communities in Western North Carolina.
I wanted to touch base with you all and share the sheer devastation in our Spruce Pine, North Carolina community. This is by far the worst devastation I have ever seen as a pastor of over 30 years. We have numerous folks who have lost their entire homes and livelihoods. We have some deceased.
One family had a landslide which pinned the husband, but the wife was able to get free. After hours of concentrated efforts the man was rescued, only to die six hours later from complications due to his injuries.
There is no power, cell phone signal and little water and gas available.
We have families trapped because bridges are washed away on both sides of the major highways.
I have to get far out of town just to be able to get a signal to be able to check messages and try to communicate. While away, I did see an email from you all asking for any updates.
It appears that our school building itself only sustained water damage and it was not very severe. Our church lost some shingles. Our parsonage has a tree on it, but I think that’ll be OK.
Please pray for those that are still missing and are unaccounted for. I’m still trying to get in touch with scores of people. God only knows what that situation may be. Even while am sending this message, I just learned of another family that lost their home to the flood but escaped with their lives
We need prayer, strength and wisdom. We are trying to set our fellowship hall up as a distribution center, but we are probably a day or two away from getting that launched.
Getting supplies into Spruce Pine is a huge issue. The folks that have generators are running out of gas. People are stranded and cannot get help.
People are being evacuated by helicopters and helicopters are going to bring supplies. The only way in to Spruce Pine is via Morganton and through Highway 181. Every other way is closed until repairs can be made. This is not an easy route for the big gas trucks.
We still have over 1000 people missing and unaccounted for. Since my last email we have 2 families reporting in that all is well considering current conditions. Praise God!
Pray for repairs and great improvements to be made in our infrastructure. It’s hard to move forward without accessible roads.
You are welcome to share and provide updates. We are thankful to the Lord and appreciate prayers and caring hearts more than folks realize!!
I am currently waiting to hear back from Hearts With Hands, a disaster relief organization here in North Carolina that has a proven track record of assisting communities during these types of events. I have contacted them to find out how we might best be able to help with Hurricane Helene relief.
Until I have something more substantial that I can share with you, regarding how we can help families devastated by his latest hurricane, I would encourage you to go to the Hearts With Hands website and make a financial contribution that they might be able to use to purchase supplies and to help these families. You can also visit Bethel Baptist Church's website as they also have a link that you can use to make a financial contribution to disaster relief.
Until then...Reach 1!
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