As a Synod executive based in Texas and now Florida, Valerie Young is exceedingly familiar with Hurricanes. The striking thing about the one-two punch of Hurricanes Helene and Milton is the breadth of the area severely impacted by the storms.
The Presbyterian Disaster Assistance solidarity visit following Hurricanes Milton and Helene concluded last week with a day in Holston Presbytery in Tennessee, where resilience, innovation and togetherness were on display just as they were throughout the 10-day visit.
The next-to-last day of the solidarity visit Presbyterian Disaster Assistance held with churches and mid councils affected by the September hurricanes focused on Salem Presbytery in north-central North Carolina.
With several tables full of clergy and lay people gathered at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in Augusta, Georgia, on Saturday as part of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance’s solidarity visit to hurricane-affected communities, the Rev. Jim Kirk set the tone by drawing on the wisdom of consolation and desolation posited by St. Ignatius and taught to Kirk by the Rev. Dr. Laurie Kraus, the PC(USA)’s Director of Humanitarian and Global Ecumenical Engagement and the former director of PDA.
Just a few days before visitors from Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, the Synod of South Atlantic, the Presbytery of Tampa Bay, together with the Executive Director and Stated Clerk of the General Assembly for the interim unified agency, the Rev. Jihyun Oh, arrived at Maximo Presbyterian Church in St. Petersburg, Florida, on Thursday, “this place looked awful,” said the church’s pastor, the Rev. Bobby Musengwa.
On Wednesday, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance spent the first day of a 10-day solidarity tour with staff from the Synod of South Atlantic and Peace River Presbytery hearing from some of the faith communities affected by Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
More than 60 members and staff of at least eight churches in Eastern and Central Kentucky’s Presbytery of Transylvania gathered in the fellowship hall of First Presbyterian Church of Lexington late Sunday afternoon to fill large buckets with a plethora of supplies needed to begin recovery from a natural disaster like a hurricane or a flood.
A spirit of solidarity and hope was evident throughout a prayer service hosted by the Synod of South Atlantic last weekend to comfort those trying to rebound from recent storms — particularly Hurricane Helene and its more recent cousin, Milton — and to lift up those assisting survivors.
In the midst of the devastation from Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina, Black Mountain Presbyterian Church (BMPC) has become a refuge for those seeking food and comfort in a time of crisis.
