Texana – In light of the ongoing restoration to communities after Hurricane Helene, One Dozen Who Care held a Praise & Provision Gospel Singing for the area at the Texana Community Center on Nov. 16.
According to board member and program coordinator Sarah Hardman, the group recognized the immediate response of local communities and churches, as well as other responses from governmental agencies. However, the group “felt that there is such an ongoing need and we wanted to help fill those gaps, which may not be met since immediate needs have changed with the season and the weather.”
“We said, ‘We have to do something,’ and this is the best way to offer both support with physical needs and spiritual needs, something to help with these long-term efforts and needs,” Hardman said. “We also thank our community sponsors for coming together for this benefit for our neighbors as they navigate the difficulties facing them in this transition period.”
The day offered a brunch of home-cooked gravy and biscuits, hash brown casserole, fruit trays and beverages for cash donations. Attendees also brought donations of blankets, diapers and sanitary goods, such as detergent and hand wipes.
The program included members of the choir from Liberty Baptist Church in Sylva along with pastor Charles Lee, who has been on the ground in Buncombe County.
Lee recounted his experiences reaching out to residents. That included not being able to visit a woman who needed a generator to help with her oxygen delivery system before “she expired, because we weren’t able to meet her need due to the roads being washed away and many people, including her and others, wouldn’t visit shelters in their area because they were afraid to leave their homes, although they were in dire need.”
Lee also discussed the need for generators for those who face the direst needs for power for heat as well as crucial medical needs such as oxygen. The Mud Creek Baptist Mission Association is working to alleviate those needs by raising funds to purchase and deliver more than 15 generators for those most in need.
“We’re also seeing a lot of friends in the area who’ve lost everything. Businesses. Total devastation you won’t see posted anywhere. There is and will be such an ongoing need for months, even years,” Lee said regarding the conditions he has seen up close and personal.
“Too, there’s the red tape of filing insurance and Federal Emergency Management Agency claims. Folks need help with that, but scheduling is another difficulty. When you file and an appointment is made, that’s not always the case. There’s a lot of rescheduling, and if you’ve got to go to get supplies you may miss an appointment, so we’re trying to figure out ways to help people with those issues as well as just basic needs to live and exist.
“I’ve had my own experience with that, since a tree fell on my home during the storm, but with patience and God’s strength and grace I’ll recover along with everyone in this trial. Although it’s a frustrating process for so many people, we’ve got to persevere.”
Lee’s Sylva church choir was on hand along with God’s Cargo Quartet from Alcoa, Tenn., Messengers for Christ and the Rev. Louis Grant and the Little Mount Zion Baptist Church of Weaverville choir to sing and give praise for both trials and triumphs.
The opening prayer was given by Brenda Blount, who called upon God to provide all needs of the people in western North Carolina.
“God is love, and He will rebuild through that love. He will provide people to rebuild everything – bridges, businesses, homes and lives,” she said. “He will provide people to sustain and restructure our people, our neighbors.”
Malinda Austin and Michelle Lloyd regaled the crowd with moving interpretive dance performances to gospel hymns throughout the program, including to the gospel song “God is My Savior.”
Grant gave the keynote speech as well as introductions to the various performers, which included personal testimony of how the storm wreaked havoc along portions of Buncombe County along with more mountainous areas – but God only brings the storms with patience and ability to endure and rebuild.
In his closing remarks, Grant spoke about his 58 years of preaching and how he saw such a darkness in Asheville in the wake of this storm, However, there was also a light in that darkness as he knew of no church that had closed, only those who had gathered in Christ’s love to provide for those most in need during some of the most frightening and horrific conditions.
He recounted how churches came together to offer donations of food, jobs, gift cards and vehicles to get to those most affected as they were able. How God’s people came together to affect change, and how sometimes even when we thank God for both provision and from sparing us difficulties “it’s not a lot, but it’s all we’ve got. Our thanks to Him and to all who provide gifts from Him.”
Along with the brunch and music, there were also offerings for the crowd to join in as founding member Ann Miller Woodford led a communal singing of “Wade in the Water,” with the whole force of both the spirit of giving and the Spirit of living present.
Hardman said the event raised more than $2,300 with donations still being accepted at One Dozen Who Care’s website as well as a whole truckload full of diapers, which went to Babies Need Bottoms, which serves all the western North Carolina along with food donations to Mann Food Bank of Asheville particularly hard hit during Hurricane Helene with food deliveries to their extensive outreach area impacted for weeks after the storm.
Donations are still being accepted at the One Dozen Who Care website below for any interested in contributing to the ongoing needs of our region.
Details: Visit onedozenwhocare.org.