Florida church receives blessing after blessing following Hurricane Isaias

LOUISVILLE — About a year before Hurricane Isaias arrived, First Presbyterian Church of Milton, Florida, decided to become a missional church, through programs for marginalized people, such as immigrants and unsheltered individuals.

So, when the hurricane made landfall near Destin, Florida, on Oct. 9, First Presbyterian Church already was known as a place likely to assist those in need in their northwestern Florida community. 

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Still, the church's pastor was pleasantly surprised when offerings of help began to roll in after the storm, which had arrived as a Category 2 hurricane, downing trees, blowing off shingles and disrupting power with its 105 mph winds.

“It's been so inspiring watching the congregation” come together with a diverse group of volunteers and neighbors, the Rev. Deborah Potter said.  “It’s the body of Christ.”

The church became a hub not only for people who live in the hard-hit Milton area but also volunteers who’ve been able to use the church as a site for respite and for doing good work, from serving food to clearing trees.

“What happens is people know you as ‘The Place,’ and then you get the phone calls,” Potter said.

For example, there was the call from Yassin Terou, a “wonderful gentleman” she’d never met, asking if he could come down from Tennessee to feed a couple of hundred people a day. 

When he made the request, “he waited a long time while I tried to not cry, so I could talk, and I said, ‘That would be amazing,’” Potter said.

Terou, a Syrian immigrant, operates Yassin’s Falafel House in Knoxville and has a charity called Seeds & Bridges. 

“They literally got there at 6:30 in the evening and pulled out huge roasting pans of delicious food for anyone who could get there to eat,” said Potter, who noted that Terou was referred to the church by City Hall.

The blessings did not stop there, however. The Florida Presbyterian Disaster Assistance Network, also known as FLAPDAN, helped connect the church with Faith Responders, a nonprofit disaster recovery group that needed a place for volunteers to stay while in the area, helping with cleanup, such as the removal of downed trees. 

The work is crucial because, for example, “we had one widow, who lives around the corner from the church, who couldn't really get out of her house," Potter said. “Her carport was covered by trees.”

First Presbyterian Church is not a formal Presbyterian Disaster Assistance host site for volunteers, yet was quick to agree to be a temporary home for the responders and considered it such a blessing to have them, said Kathy Broyard, executive director of FLAPDAN.

“It's so wonderful to have a church step up and say, ‘Yeah, we’ll open our doors and they can come,’” Broyard said. 

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The Rev. Mario Bolivar, equipping presbyter and stated clerk of the Presbytery of Florida, also was impressed. He has been reaching out to churches to assess their needs in the wake of Isaias and recently visited Potter’s church. 

“They are truly caring for the least of these, and it is something for us to celebrate,” he said at a FLAPDAN meeting. “So, I’m thankful for Deborah and her leadership as a pastor and for this wonderful community.”

Serving meals was essential the first few days, but as the recovery evolved, First Presbyterian Church decided to switch gears to expand its food pantry to provide groceries for people in need.

For the grocery effort, Potter hopped in her husband’s small truck to head to Sam's Club to pick up as much food as she could.

While in the store, she received a call saying that some mission partners wanted to help. They arrived there and loaded up five pallets of food and supplies and paid the bill to help storm survivors.

“We’ve just gotten blessing after blessing after blessing of support and help, and also other Presbyterian churches calling us and saying, ‘We have money. How can we send it to you? What do you need?’” Potter said.

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To further assist, PDA has provided an initial assistance grant to the Presbytery of Florida. It’s designed to help First Presbyterian Church’s efforts to serve the community, including immigrants and unhoused people who may not have access to insurance or other forms of assistance, said the Rev. Kathy Lee-Cornell, associate for national disaster response for PDA.

“What makes people safe and resilient is a network of community, and so when the church steps in to be the community, that's how we get people to safety, and that's how we show them that they're loved and cared for by Christ,” Lee-Cornell said.

In a presbytery newsletter shortly after the storm, Bolivar noted that the presbytery had “received numerous reports of damage to both church and private properties, including water intrusion, damaged roofs, windows, fences, fallen trees and widespread power outages.”

Isaias also impacted some other states, including Alabama. However, “two of our Alabama presbyteries have confirmed there are currently no church damage or needs,” Lee-Cornell said.  

At least eight people were killed across Florida and Alabama, and there were billions of dollars in total damage and economic losses across the Gulf Coast and eastern United States, according to news reports.

First Presbyterian Church of Milton has continued helping neighbors despite finding out that it has some recovery of its own to do. The roof was damaged and the deductible is thousands of dollars.

“I feel so blessed and lucky that we do have insurance, but we will be looking for support in meeting that deductible as we try to meet the needs of our community as well,” Potter said at the FLAPDAN meeting.

Meanwhile, “we feel so blessed and humble to be able to serve in the ways that we have been,” Potter said. “I think it just opens up more ministries for after this because now we know more partners and more neighbors.”

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is a ministry of Presbyterian Life & Witness, an agency of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Consider supporting hurricane recovery efforts by making a gift here.