WS Chronicle

Submitted photo

FROM SUBMITTED REPORTS

A group of churches and businesses from the Mocksville and Winston-Salem areas sent relief efforts to the people of Robeson County that were affected by Hurricane Matthew.

Also, members of Galilee Missionary Baptist Church in Winston-Salem took much-needed items to affected people in Kinston.

For the Robeson County assistance, an effort that was headed up by Cedar Grove Baptist Church, Mt. Zion Holiness Church of God of Mocksville as well as Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church in Winston-Salem and other local churches. They sent a truckload of water, toiletries, clothes, and cleaning supplies to Lumberton to help the people of Robeson County on Nov. 12.

Upon arriving into the city, the effect of the storm was evident as there were blocks of houses that had been condemned with the contents of those houses were made into rubble that sat in the yards.  Pastor Marion Franks of the Cedar Grove Baptist Church was on hand to help with the delivery of over 500 cases of water, 200 cases of cleaning supplies, and 15 boxes of clothes.

After seeing the area, he said “It is truly heartbreaking to see the loss that these people have experienced and we are happy that the people of Mocksville and Winston-Salem could come together and give an helping hand. We are especially thankful for companies like Ashley Furniture, WC Construction Company, Bojangles, VF Jeanswear, members of the Davie County High School Football Team, State Sen. Dr. Paul A. Lowe Jr.  and many of the churches in this area for sharing and caring.”

Lowe is pastor of Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church in Winston-Salem.

Though the waters have receded, there’s still a long way for the area to return to normal.  Many residents of Eastern North Carolina have just started the long road to recovery.

“We have done a lot, but we are not done,” said Franks. People interested in offering help should contact the Sandy Grove Baptist Church of Lumberton, which is the designated community site for donations.

For the Kinston effort, Chad Armstrong, the director of ministries for Galilee Missionary Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, says members are just following God’s command to love their neighbor.

“We just want to be a blessing to the people who were affected and the people who were displaced, and the people who experienced a little bit of loss and lack,” he says. “This time of year is a great time to give back.”

The church fed victims of the hurricane a hot meal and provided items such as socks, toiletries, food and gift cards.

Armstrong says they coordinated this event after speaking with Kinston native Pastor Roosevelt Whitehead about the damage done in this community. The items were delivered on Nov. 22.

“Several apartment buildings were flooded out and residents lost their homes completely and we had a lot of trees and things down in our neighborhood, so there was a lot of devastation,” Whitehead says.

Armstrong says they’ve been collecting donations for several weeks and more than 30 people from his church, plus more than a dozen others, volunteered to go to Kinston to help with the event.

Reports from WITN-TV in Kinston and Marion A. Franks, Ph.D., Pastor of Cedar Grove Baptist Church in Mocksville contributed to this report.