Reflections from the Front Line of Hurricane Wilma Recovery

Reflections From the Front Line of Hurricane Wilma Recovery
John Hicks, Pastor, First United Methodist Church of Clewiston

Shooting across south Florida and strengthening in the gulf, Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast just outside New Orleans, wiping out entire neighborhoods, flooding houses up to their roofs, swamping
Mississippi's beachfront and blowing out windows in hospitals, hotels and high-rises. The community of Clewiston came together to help out our neighbors to the north, with the churches holding a benefit concert to help the hurricane victims. Little did we realize that in less than a month, we would be at ground zero when a lady named Wilma worked her way across our community. Because of the intensity of the damage on the Gulf Coast, our crisis situation didn’t receive much headline news. Wilma wasn’t supposed to be as wicked as she was. Like many others, the ferocity of Wilma surprised me. Having grown up in Florida, hurricanes are not new to me. I wasn’t really worried. We were supposed to be on the “less severe” side. I prepared. I stored up ice and water in case they were needed. I made
sure that my generator was working. I purchased chocolate for my wife. I boarded up the windows. I was ready – or so I thought. I knew we were in trouble when the winds took out the columns on the front of the parsonage
and blew out a shuttered window.

We were blessed with a community coming together after the storm. Within hours after the storm passed, church members had come by and we had secured 4 by 4 ‘ s for support where the columns had been.
We went out to check on the elderly and others in our community who might need help. We had downed trees and flooding all around us. There was no telling how long the power would be out. Although our parsonage and office took a major hit, the rest of our facilities made it through with
minimal damage. The other larger churches in our community didn’t make out as well. We became a center for relief.

As a precaution before the storm, I had set aside a store of ice and food and had secured several generators to take to houses to recharge freezers in case power went out. Several people joked with me about the amount of supplies and materials I was hoarding before the storm. They were joking no more. With the church on bottled gas and having supplies, we set ourselves up as a distribution and feeding center, helping people and cooking meals from frozen-but-thawing food donated from home freezers. Supplies, however, fell short of the needs. But God is good and God’s people responded to His call for help. The strength of the United Methodist
connectional system really showed itself. The call for help had hardly gone out before churches started responding. Our Life Enrichment Center was set up as a distribution center as well as a supply source for satellite distribution centers for other churches around the community. Every day we emptied the supplies in the center. Every day additional supplies arrived so we could continue to fulfill needs.

But more than the supplies, love and support and prayers came our way. Special people did special things. One group brought us supplies, a filled hundred gallon hand pump gas tank, a chest freezer full of ice,
and generators to power the freezer and our church refrigerators. Another couple brought supplies but also asked what special things they could bring my wife and me. A work team showed up to take care of the
parsonage needs so I wouldn’t have to worry about it. A number of people came and cut up many of the large downed trees on the church property.
A young girl from Indiana, PA. by the name of Eliza heard that our youth’s pumpkin patch had been destroyed, and put forth an effort at her home church to raise money to help our youth go on their mission trip
that the pumpkin patch would have helped support. When a hotel renovated, a couple from the coast collected and delivered numerous truck loads of beds and then recliners to replace those lost by people in the storm. These are just some of the hundreds who have touched our lives and the lives of those in our community. It’s hard to believe that 20 months have come and gone since Hurricane Wilma struck. I think back
to when the mayor of Clewiston asked me as the head of the ministerial association to look into unmet needs in our community, and how that led to the formation of our long term recovery workforce, C.R.E.W. (Community Rebuilding Ecumenical Workforce.) I learned that each church denomination has its strength and is a puzzle piece that fits together with other churches to provide the disaster relief ministry picture. Our United Methodist Church has been the backbone in helping to train and support case management to help the victims of the hurricane, with strong support from the Presbyterian Church. Those are the dynamics. The real blessings came from the ministry that these dynamics set the stage for. Volumes could be written of the testimonies from the families helped and the hundreds who have come to help out. Each work team has their own special stories to share. More stories and testimonies are occurring each week as another household is helped back on its feet. Lives have been changed. God has been glorified. The 24-7-365 ministry has taken its toll on the ministers in our area. Five of the spiritual shepherds from
our churches have left the area. A number of the leaders who were instrumental in helping us get started in recovery have stepped down from their positions to pursue other work. I thank God for a church family that has insisted that their spiritual leader take time away to recreate and re-create. I thank God for Pastor Thom Street of First United Methodist Church of Moore Haven for being a being in ministry together in this situation. I thank God for a good support group of churches and pastors who have kept us in their hearts and prayers and have put legs on their prayers. I praise God that He has raised up new leaders to pick up the baton to finish this race in full stride.

When we first started our recovery and the enormous task that seemed to be in front of us, I compared our task to eating an elephant. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Each little bit that each of us
gives makes a large difference in the life of those we touch. Each bite we take reduces the elephant sized situation. We have been chewing on this elephant for some time now, and have accomplished much, but there is
still a portion of the elephant left. Mostly now our needs are in finishing roof repairs. In the name of God and for the blessing of God’s people and ourselves, we invite you to join us by taking a bite out of what’s left and helping to make a difference. Our little becomes much when placed in our
Master’s hands, and each step we take brings us closer to God’s heart for His people. Thank God we are not alone. This is where we find strength for the journey. Our Lord has given us an incredible promise: "Where two
or three come together in my name, there am I with them." When God is in our midst, we can make it through even the most devastating storm.