This week, a team of friends and members of my church traveled to Steinhatchee to help a small church prepare and serve meals and sort donations for a community devastated by the impact of multiple hurricanes and storms in very rapid succession.

We left Tallahassee while it was still dark and arrived at sunrise. On a trip to the Friendship Chapel Church of God in Steinhatchee, miles of debris and extensive destruction to structures and forests were obscured by darkness. However, when we returned home in the afternoon, we were shocked and deeply saddened by what we saw.

On our way back from Tallahassee, we discussed what our experience might have been like. We could only imagine that the people in the kitchen would be traumatized, exhausted from more than three weeks of serving food and sorting donations, while also dealing with damage to their own property.

But when we arrived, we were greeted by a cheerful retired priest who came out of retirement to become a kitchen manager, a mother and daughter living in the fellowship hall because the roof had been blown off their house, and a friendly fellow. energetic woman helping the priest.

Fraternity hall as distribution center

The fraternity hall, which had become the district’s designated distribution center, resembled a warehouse filled with canned goods, diapers, cleaning supplies, personal hygiene products, bottled water and more.

The church had two large storage units brought in to stop the overflow, but these were not enough and some items had to be tarped or left under a roofed area adjacent to the congregation hall, which was not well protected from the weather. .

It soon became clear that the flooding from the storm, which these people had endured remarkably, was not the only overwhelming factor at play. Organizing the generous supplies and clothing given to help others and finding a way to deliver them to those in need was also a huge responsibility for this small congregation.

Our team set to work with great enthusiasm; Some of us are in the kitchen, some of us are at charity events.

gift of volunteering

At the end of the day, we saw that we made a difference: the ease with which people could find the things they needed from donations, the ability to feed people with a menu that was a little different from the regular meals. She had been gratefully eating every day for three weeks, giving church volunteers breathing space to stay out of the kitchen and sort, even if only for a short time.

Reaching out and helping others is almost always a gift for volunteers.

And that was certainly true in our experience. We are all amazed by the resilience of the human spirit to endure indescribable hardships. Today, we learned that the retired priest is dealing with knees that need immediate replacement and has postponed this much-needed surgery until January to help with this crisis.

It is not in his interest to cook for hours a day, but as those who come to eat say without asking, “The Pastor” is here because he loves us. It confirmed for me how important it is for ministers to love and uplift those they serve.

Managing a disaster

The senior pastor shared his own concerns about learning how to handle so many decisions and large needs simultaneously on the job. I know that my own theological training does not include how to manage a disaster in the way it is called to be.

Although he has some health concerns of his own, he remains positive and determined to do what he can to help his community, and they are grateful for that.

The friendly and resourceful woman who helps in the kitchen had been flooded before when she lived in New Orleans. I was surprised to learn that although her home had been completely destroyed by Helene, she still cooked and served meals as often as possible in the kitchen of a church that did not even have its own church.

Her bright spirit and beautiful voice singing while she worked sounded deep, not fake, and was a profound inspiration to me and others on our team.

Hot food, living in the car

Most of the community members who came for hot meals lived in their cars or, at best, a camper, but most did not have food preparation facilities or a refrigerator to store food.

The church has an ice trailer that provides people with ice for their coolers, which has been extremely helpful, but because the electrical wiring is still being replaced and the waiting list is long, even those who have a stove left can’t get it to work.

One woman mentioned having a small trailer in which she could store food or clothing, but not both. He and his mother decided to keep the food safe because the animals were attracted to the food in camping conditions at night.

Another woman said she lost her home when Helene hit Florida and later learned her second home in Georgia was destroyed in the same storm. With a confidence that defied such tragedy, he expressed his gratitude for another day and a warm meal, and his hopes for the future.

An older gentleman talked about sleeping in the recliner under the shelter instead of in the trailer where the mattress was too uncomfortable due to his arthritis. She asked if she could have a few more of the pecan pies we made to take with her, and it was a joy to imagine her lying in her recliner under the stars, eating donuts.

Lessons on how to give

I learned a lot about ways you and I can donate more effectively going forward. Sorting and identifying items before giving them to any charity makes a huge difference.

Having to take the time and space to grab a much-needed box of bed sheets and sort them by sheet size can be an overwhelming task. Putting together sheet sets with clearly marked sizes (even if the patterns don’t match) before donating makes distribution much easier.

I worked on a huge clothing box that contained at least six different sizes of clothing for men, women and children, making it a logistical nightmare. Donating a box labeled “Big Boys T-Shirts” would be a sight for sore eyes.

People who are traumatized but still try to help others, like the kind people at Friendship Chapel, need not participate in this overwhelming process of weeding out, which feels like defeat at best.

More ways to help

Figuring out how best to distribute the church’s amazing wealth is the next big step for Friendship Chapel. I know that a team coming this week from First Baptist Church Fort Walton Beach, including Kenny Phillips from Give Me Shelter Ministries, an organization that works with impoverished communities around the world on disaster relief, will make a big difference.

If you are interested in making a difference, I hope you will contact me at [email protected] for more information.

Steinhatchee and Keaton Beach are off-the-beaten-path, lovely old Florida to many who have never visited or been familiar with these communities. They are definitely on the road to recovery and will benefit from our prayers, well wishes, donations and, if possible, our time and energy.

Rev. Candace McKibben is an ordained minister and chaplain of Tallahassee Fellowship..

This article first appeared in the Tallahassee Democrat: Learning how to help in Steinhatchee from the inside out