These three faith-based outreaches are efforting supplies and encouragement to multiple regions affected by the catastrophic effects of Hurricane Helene
CityServe
CityServe International, in partnership with Spokes of Hope, 180 Disaster Relief and Wings of the Spirit, launches a $5 million relief initiative in response to Hurricane Helene’s path of destruction across 5 states: Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. Truckloads filled with water, food, clothes and emergency relief supplies will be deployed as soon as roads are cleared and accessible.
While officials say it may take weeks to fully assess the hurricane’s devastation, it is now considered the most powerful storm to ever strike Florida’s Big Bend region. When it made landfall late Thursday as a monster Category 4 storm, many residents were still reeling from Hurricane Debbie, which struck the area in early August.
“Whenever a storm of this magnitude hits,” says CityServe co-founder and CEO Dave Donaldson, “we know we’re on the clock right away. People are in desperate need of help right away, so it’s critical to get relief out to them immediately.”
Send Relief
Following the damage from Hurricane Helene in Florida and Georgia, Send Relief, in coordination with Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, is providing relief supplies to serve communities in Georgia, Florida and the Carolinas. Mobile kitchens and response sites are being coordinated immediately. Supplies include:
- Clean drinking water
- Temporary roofing
- Flood recovery kits
- Generators
- Much-needed meals
Send Relief is coordinating efforts in the Big Bend area of Florida and Valdosta, Ga., where it has a ministry center, and will continue to provide supplies to teams on the ground as they aid relief efforts in the weeks to come. Send Relief is a faith-based relief organization that works across the U.S. and around the world to meet needs and change lives through crisis response and compassionate outreach.
Samaritan's Purse
Samaritan’s Purse is responding to overwhelming needs in Western North Carolina, Eastern Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida following the catastrophic damage from Hurricane Helene. The Category 4 storm made its historic landfall with 140mph winds along Florida’s Big Bend region on Thursday night leaving an enormous path of destruction that flattened homes and inundated communities. More than 50 lives were lost across multiple states, and search and rescue efforts are ongoing.
Samaritan’s Purse disaster relief specialists arrived in Georgia and Florida on Friday afternoon to begin assessments. Two Disaster Relief Units—tractor-trailers stocked with tools and equipment— also departed North Carolina on Friday to serve as a base of operations for volunteer teams. Additionally, the N.C.-based organization is responding in Western North Carolina through disaster relief as well as setting up a field hospital unit in the parking lot of the Watauga Medical Center to provide oxygen for patients who have no power at home.
“Samaritan's Purse responds to help with storms and crises around the world every day, but now the storm has hit in our own backyard. Hurricane Helene slammed western North Carolina and the surrounding area, as well as Georgia and Florida. Homes have been flooded and some even washed away, trees are down, and tens of thousands are still without power,” said Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan’s Purse. “Our hearts go out to all those who have lost so much and we want to help as many as we can in Jesus’ Name.”
In the coming days, volunteers from across the country will assist families in Western North Carolina; Eastern Tennessee; Perry, Florida; the greater Tampa area; and Valdosta, Georgia. By securing tarps on damaged roofs, removing downed trees, and cleaning out waterlogged homes, volunteers will remind families that even in the midst of tragedy, God has not forgotten them.