AFGT team provides relief in Florida

Published 3:35 am Thursday, October 18, 2018

A group of 13 adults and youth from the Andalusia Full Gospel Tabernacle traveled to Marianna, Fla., to help pass out more than 2,500 meals, deliver supplies, and help one family in need by clearing trees from their house on Saturday.

The group teamed up with Convoy of Hope on Saturday morning and then helped a person in need of their home being cleared of trees Saturday afternoon.

“The devastation is unbelievable,” Associate Pastor Travis Day said. “It’s not just every other home that was affected, it was 100 percent of the homes, especially in the Lynn Haven area.”

Connor O’Rourke carries a log as he helps a team from AFGT clear storm damage in Florida last weekend.

Day said that people in the Marianna area are completely without homes.

“It is catastrophic,” Day said. “People are displaced from their homes because they don’t have a home to go back to.”

In the evening, the group was able to help a person in need by clearing debris from his home. It took the group three hours to completely clear the trees in front of the home.

“Marianna is more inland than Panama City,” Day said. “So when you are driving through neighborhoods, it looks like you’re driving through the Conecuh Forest. The family knew a car was hidden under the debris, but we couldn’t even see it until we got most of the trees off of it.”

Day said that they are in constant communication with other pastors in the Panhandle area and they will continue to accept and deliver relief items.

“A lot of the churches in that area are acting as distribution centers,” Day said. “So we are in contact with them and making sure that we get them everything they need. There is a large red box in front of our church and people can still drop supplies there if no one is in the office.”

Day said that they will take another trailer on Saturday filled with materials other than water and bread.

“We will be taking propane tanks, chainsaws and tanks of gasoline on Saturday,” Day said. “We will also be taking some port-a-potties to be used by the elderly.”

Despite all of the destruction, Day and the group have taken the opportunity to spread the word of God during their time in Florida.

“We absolutely try to minister to the people,” Day said. “Along with all of the loss of property, we feel that our efforts there are to spread hope by the love of Jesus Christ. Every one has been extremely gracious.”

The AFGT group plans to work Marianna, Fla. , again this weekend.