Bringing hope to North Carolina
A group of Crosspointers recently teamed up again with Eight Days of Hope in areas of North Carolina, following Hurricane Helene. While her parents, Vince and Katrina Pachel are veteran servants with Eight Days of Hope, Anna Marie Martinez shares through her words and photos about her first-time experience in this mission field.
Eight Days of Hope partnered with Longs Chapel located in Waynesville, N.C. The majority of the time spent serving was in a small town nearby called Clyde.
The first day, the whole team gathered at a local church serving as a distribution center. The first part of the day was working to reorganize the supplies in the shed, trailers, and inside the church. The contributions were overwhelming. We worked primarily with a woman named Rinda Green who oversaw the entire operation, also a volunteer. Throughout the time we spent there, we probably helped 50% of people unload supplies and the other 50% were needing assistance with supplies. We gave out a variety of supplies including clothes, food, water, toiletries, blankets, and heaters.
As people came in, the primary goal of the ministry was to get their story and get to know them while also praying with them and sharing the gospel. No one said no to prayer, many weeping and saying they hadn’t been prayed with yet in the month since the storm. It was a special opportunity to serve as we not only got to help people coming in who had little to nothing but we also got to serve the church volunteers that were overwhelmed and hurting alongside their community, giving up hours and hours of their days to serve at the church.
As the week continued with much of the same for a few of us still at the church/distribution center, part of the team left from serving a week prior and a handful continued with other service opportunities. This included “mucking out” houses which basically meant shoveling heavy mud out of homes and into sleds to drag outside. Demolition was also a key part of this process once the mud was removed: this included taking years worth of ruined possessions out to the curb, ripping out soaking wet carpet or flooring, and tearing out inches of mold covered sheetrock.
Many homeowners were involved in the process, especially looking for sentimentals. Despite the mud, there were a few victory stories of finding anything from lost diamond earrings to $1,000 in cash. These opportunities were unique as the volunteers would get to know the homeowners over potentially several days, depending on how long the task would take. All homeowners were invited to share supper with the Eight Days of Hope volunteers and many would show up to attend. The homeowners were “interviewed” after supper, telling their emotional stories from the storm, what the volunteers had done, and expressing sincere thanks for everyone being there.
It was amazing to see God at work in a variety of ministry opportunities. We heard many hard stories of the trauma some had experienced: losing a 7-year-old daughter in the river, people losing everything and trying to figure out where to begin in the recovery, or spending many 30-degree nights either in a tent or car. But, we also heard many stories of HOPE. Prayer over a missing nephew that had been gone a week after the storm, found 2 days later. A woman washing and returning a missing quilt made by someone's mother to them. Relief tangibly showing on faces when basic needs were met with warm clothes or a heater. People showed up for each other in the community but also from all over the country.
There were over 30 states represented at Eight Days of Hope in the time they were serving the area. The original cap for the rapid response volunteers was originally at 60 people but over 140 people showed up at one point.
The experience of serving alongside other people who were also giving up their time was uplifting, one volunteer even accepted Christ while serving in the laundry trailer while doing laundry for the volunteers. The verse that came to mind constantly during the week was Luke 10:2, “And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
Please continue to pray for the regions of the country that were affected by both Helene and Milton. It is hard to return home knowing so many are in need, including those serving in the community that haven’t had a day off since the hurricanes hit. Many people said that the only reason they have been able to get by day to day was because of local churches. Specifically pray that the Lord would be shown to everyone in the hurting communities and the Gospel would continue to be shared.
The first day, the whole team gathered at a local church serving as a distribution center. The first part of the day was working to reorganize the supplies in the shed, trailers, and inside the church. The contributions were overwhelming. We worked primarily with a woman named Rinda Green who oversaw the entire operation, also a volunteer. Throughout the time we spent there, we probably helped 50% of people unload supplies and the other 50% were needing assistance with supplies. We gave out a variety of supplies including clothes, food, water, toiletries, blankets, and heaters.
As people came in, the primary goal of the ministry was to get their story and get to know them while also praying with them and sharing the gospel. No one said no to prayer, many weeping and saying they hadn’t been prayed with yet in the month since the storm. It was a special opportunity to serve as we not only got to help people coming in who had little to nothing but we also got to serve the church volunteers that were overwhelmed and hurting alongside their community, giving up hours and hours of their days to serve at the church.
As the week continued with much of the same for a few of us still at the church/distribution center, part of the team left from serving a week prior and a handful continued with other service opportunities. This included “mucking out” houses which basically meant shoveling heavy mud out of homes and into sleds to drag outside. Demolition was also a key part of this process once the mud was removed: this included taking years worth of ruined possessions out to the curb, ripping out soaking wet carpet or flooring, and tearing out inches of mold covered sheetrock.
Many homeowners were involved in the process, especially looking for sentimentals. Despite the mud, there were a few victory stories of finding anything from lost diamond earrings to $1,000 in cash. These opportunities were unique as the volunteers would get to know the homeowners over potentially several days, depending on how long the task would take. All homeowners were invited to share supper with the Eight Days of Hope volunteers and many would show up to attend. The homeowners were “interviewed” after supper, telling their emotional stories from the storm, what the volunteers had done, and expressing sincere thanks for everyone being there.
It was amazing to see God at work in a variety of ministry opportunities. We heard many hard stories of the trauma some had experienced: losing a 7-year-old daughter in the river, people losing everything and trying to figure out where to begin in the recovery, or spending many 30-degree nights either in a tent or car. But, we also heard many stories of HOPE. Prayer over a missing nephew that had been gone a week after the storm, found 2 days later. A woman washing and returning a missing quilt made by someone's mother to them. Relief tangibly showing on faces when basic needs were met with warm clothes or a heater. People showed up for each other in the community but also from all over the country.
There were over 30 states represented at Eight Days of Hope in the time they were serving the area. The original cap for the rapid response volunteers was originally at 60 people but over 140 people showed up at one point.
The experience of serving alongside other people who were also giving up their time was uplifting, one volunteer even accepted Christ while serving in the laundry trailer while doing laundry for the volunteers. The verse that came to mind constantly during the week was Luke 10:2, “And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
Please continue to pray for the regions of the country that were affected by both Helene and Milton. It is hard to return home knowing so many are in need, including those serving in the community that haven’t had a day off since the hurricanes hit. Many people said that the only reason they have been able to get by day to day was because of local churches. Specifically pray that the Lord would be shown to everyone in the hurting communities and the Gospel would continue to be shared.