Hurricane Wilma 2005
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The 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was the most active Atlantic hurricane season
in recorded history, repeatedly shattering previous records. The most notable
storm being Katrina.
We decided to go to help the Katrina victims by joining the efforts of other CC's
in Mississippi. A group of people from our church signed up to join with us. A
few weeks before we were to leave, Wilma hit southern Florida. We prayed to see
if the Lord would have us still go to Katrina or stay closer to home and help out
with Wilma.
We contacted a couple of churches in the Naples area and a few of us took off to
help out and scout the area. We met one of the local church people in Naples at
one of their member's home and helped cut and clear trees and yard debris.
While there we found a couple of other neighbors who needed help.
By noon we were finished and asked if there was any other areas that needed
help. The locals directed us to an area where a couple of elderly mobile home
parks were located. This area was hard hit and the only people to show up to help
out were some scam artists promising a lot, taking money and doing nothing!
We immediately got to work and started cleaning up in the first park. As we
were cleaning one of the homes a couple, Sid & Dottie, were driving down the
road. They stopped and talked to Mary Jo and Melissa asking them who we were
and what we were doing.
Sid & Dottie were very overwhelmed with all that had happened and had no idea
where to start. They said they were ready to pack it in and just go back to
spending summers up north. They prayed that God would help them and show
them what to do and then we showed up!
We finished up where we were and headed down to help them. They had quite a
mess. We knew that God led us to this place and that he wanted us to work in
this area. We worked as late as we could, but needed to head back home. We
told Sid and Dottie that we needed to see what we could do to help them and their
neighbors and promised to get back to them.
We immediately contacted the rest of our team and said that we felt the Lord
directing us to work in this area as opposed to Mississippi and asked them and our
mission's pastor to pray. Together we concluded that was what the Lord wanted.
We called Sid & Dottie and said that we had a team that could come down and
work in their area. We also asked them if they knew of other people who needed
help. Dottie became our local advocate and immediately got busy lining up work
for us.
We took out team back down and worked on many homes. Not only was our team
able to all go down, but because of the proximity of the work, people who couldn't
have gone to Mississippi because of other commitments were able to come down
for one or two days as their schedules permitted and help serve.
To our knowledge no other relief agency was ever in the area, it was definitely a
God thing that we ended up in Naples rather than going to Mississippi. We
worked in two mobile home parks and on countless homes helping many people
get their lives back on track and enabled many more from our fellowship to
participate in the efforts. We have kept in contact with Sid & Dottie over the
years and try to visit when we're in the area.
We didn't forget about Katrina, and Mary Jo took her 7th grade class, along with
some adults there to help with the recovery efforts. You can read more about
this by clicking here.
in recorded history, repeatedly shattering previous records. The most notable
storm being Katrina.
We decided to go to help the Katrina victims by joining the efforts of other CC's
in Mississippi. A group of people from our church signed up to join with us. A
few weeks before we were to leave, Wilma hit southern Florida. We prayed to see
if the Lord would have us still go to Katrina or stay closer to home and help out
with Wilma.
We contacted a couple of churches in the Naples area and a few of us took off to
help out and scout the area. We met one of the local church people in Naples at
one of their member's home and helped cut and clear trees and yard debris.
While there we found a couple of other neighbors who needed help.
By noon we were finished and asked if there was any other areas that needed
help. The locals directed us to an area where a couple of elderly mobile home
parks were located. This area was hard hit and the only people to show up to help
out were some scam artists promising a lot, taking money and doing nothing!
We immediately got to work and started cleaning up in the first park. As we
were cleaning one of the homes a couple, Sid & Dottie, were driving down the
road. They stopped and talked to Mary Jo and Melissa asking them who we were
and what we were doing.
Sid & Dottie were very overwhelmed with all that had happened and had no idea
where to start. They said they were ready to pack it in and just go back to
spending summers up north. They prayed that God would help them and show
them what to do and then we showed up!
We finished up where we were and headed down to help them. They had quite a
mess. We knew that God led us to this place and that he wanted us to work in
this area. We worked as late as we could, but needed to head back home. We
told Sid and Dottie that we needed to see what we could do to help them and their
neighbors and promised to get back to them.
We immediately contacted the rest of our team and said that we felt the Lord
directing us to work in this area as opposed to Mississippi and asked them and our
mission's pastor to pray. Together we concluded that was what the Lord wanted.
We called Sid & Dottie and said that we had a team that could come down and
work in their area. We also asked them if they knew of other people who needed
help. Dottie became our local advocate and immediately got busy lining up work
for us.
We took out team back down and worked on many homes. Not only was our team
able to all go down, but because of the proximity of the work, people who couldn't
have gone to Mississippi because of other commitments were able to come down
for one or two days as their schedules permitted and help serve.
To our knowledge no other relief agency was ever in the area, it was definitely a
God thing that we ended up in Naples rather than going to Mississippi. We
worked in two mobile home parks and on countless homes helping many people
get their lives back on track and enabled many more from our fellowship to
participate in the efforts. We have kept in contact with Sid & Dottie over the
years and try to visit when we're in the area.
We didn't forget about Katrina, and Mary Jo took her 7th grade class, along with
some adults there to help with the recovery efforts. You can read more about
this by clicking here.
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the
darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. Isaiah 58:10
darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. Isaiah 58:10
