Church welcomes all kinds of critters seeking shelter

Andalusia Full Gospel Tabernacle opened up its doors this weekend to help with many of the people who have been displaced by Hurricane Irma.

“We just wanted to get involved and do something special for the people who came up here seeking shelter from the storm,” AFGT associate pastor Travis Day said. “We have this building that we recently renovated and we thought, ‘Why not use it do some good.’ ”

On Sunday, AFGT had more than 30 people from Florida and Georgia that used the building as temporary housing from the storm.

“There have been people coming in from Florida and Georgia,” Day said. “We are giving them a place to stay, food, hot showers and helping them get the things that they need when they are able to go home. We couldn’t have done this without the help of the community. There has been an overwhelming amount of support from the community.”

Along with people seeking shelter, Day said they housed more than 30 pets including dogs, cats, chickens, roosters and geese.

The families that stayed at AFGT said they were extremely appreciative for the kindness that they have been shown while in Andalusia.

George from Valdosta said it’s going to be hard leave the good people of Andalusia.

“It’s gotten harder over the years to find a town that has as many good people as Andalusia does,” George said. “I had never even heard of this town until Sunday, but I can tell you now, it’s going to break my heart when I have to leave here.”

George said on Sunday that he made the decision to pack up a few belongings and head west to escape the storm.

“I didn’t have a destination in mind when I left and just started driving,” George said. “I ended up coming through Andalusia and stopping at Wal-Mart to get a bit eat from Subway. After that, I wasn’t able to find a hotel room and really didn’t have the money to stay in one if I could have found one, so I decided to take a quick nap in my car.”

While catching a little shuteye, George said he heard a knock on his window.

“I hear a knock and look up and there is this man standing by my window asking me to roll it down,” George said. “I rolled down my window and the man says, ‘Hey, I’m Frank (Shaffer) and I just wanted to make sure you were OK.’ I told that I was just running from the hurricane and trying to get some sleep before I found somewhere to stay. Frank then told me about AFGT and let me follow him up here. I’m very thankful for that. I’m not sure what I would have done if he hadn’t done that.”