September 8 – “Many thanks …”

Chris left the house early to see what help she could be at the Dickinson home that was badly damaged.  She took some old newspapers from here and then stopped at Home Depot and bought some packing paper and boxes.  That team was mucking out the house, but they were also being as respectful as they could of the homeowner’s massive collection of cookie jars.  That’s what the boxes were for in this case – to wrap and package them for storage.  That home still has a lot of work to go on it, as do the homes all around it in that section of Dickinson.  Many thanks to the Seasiders and to the folks from Texas City who joined them at this location.

I made a connection with a pastor whose church is right in the middle of the Alvin neighborhood that a group of Seasiders has adopted.  I steered him to some relief groups that were targeting churches to repair along with homes.  The agency is staged out of a church in Alta Loma, which isn’t all that far from Alvin.  I also asked if they had any place to store clothes if we brought a load there.  As I expected, he said there just wasn’t a place to put anything.  That’ by the way, is a good lesson to learn if you want to donate something.  The person receiving the donations has to have a place to put it all, or it just becomes part of the problem.  Make a connection first, before you donate items like clothes or furniture.  Those things tend be more appropriate in the reconstruction phase of recovery.  Pastor Domingo replied to my words with this: “Much thanks Pastor Kelley.  You’ve got a great bunch of folks.  Bless you all.”  Thank you, my new friend.  I already knew that.  And heartily concur.

I spent the morning in meetings here on the island.  The bigger relief groups are finally beginning to arrive and stage at strategic locations.  Once they get established, they will be the funneling point for volunteer groups to come into the area and help individual homeowners to do the work of mucking out houses, spraying for mold, and getting homes ready for contractors to come and begin rebuilding.  Their presence will be a great help to the locals who have been shouldering the initial burden since the floods began.  The Southern Baptist’s North American Mission Board and Samaritan’s Purse, an organization headed for many years by Franklin Graham, both made presentations.  Samaritan’s Purse is already in operation out of First Baptist Church in Alta Loma.  Their disaster relief unit phone number is 346-208-3774.  The Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief team is staged already at First Baptist Church in Texas City.  Their number is 573-556-0318.  The North American Mission Board Team does things through their Send Relief website: sendrelief.formstack.com/forms/srhelp_request. They plan to stage out of First Baptist Church in Galveston and should have teams on the Island starting Monday.  Many thanks to you, national groups.  We welcome you to the effort.

After that meeting I stopped by two of the fire stations to check on a few more of the fire fighters whose homes were severely damaged.  I also managed to catch one of the local Galveston business owners at work on his business.  He was among those relative few on the Island who did receive some flood damage.  It was heartwarming to be able to share a little bit of no strings attached money with them … “from Jesus, with love.”  Many thanks to the ones of you who have donated money to Seaside to make it possible to do that.

About 4:00, as Chris and I were finishing up preparing for home group, I received a text.  Seems that a trailer of donations was about an hour away, and they planned to drop off everything at Seaside.  All they needed was someone to help unload.  The trailer beat us there, as did a small army of Jamaica Beach unloaders.  We got the trailer unloaded in record time.  This one was from a Sea Isle homeowner who lives full time in Burleson, Texas.  They were loading up some things the wanted to donate, and their neighbors saw what they were doing and joined in.  Before long the trailer was full.  I will be heading over there in a little while to do the initial sorting, but as we unloaded I saw a box full of flip flops, baby things, and some cases of water.  There was also a collection of toys, and a whole lot of clothes.  Thankfully the clothes were already sorted and packaged by size.  We have had a few folks show up at the church wanting clothes, but that need is more for the next phase.  Now we just have to find someplace to store them until we can find either individuals who need them or an appropriate place to transfer them.  And we get to do it before Sunday when yet another load is on its way from our young school friends in Atoka, Oklahoma.  We wholeheartedly thank you, Burleson Neighbors.  May God bless you for your show of generosity and heart.  Many, many thanks.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, “Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.”

Father, please do bless all the folks who are donating from their heart.  And give us wisdom to know how to store and distribute what we have in your name and with your love.  Amen.