Late in September, Hurricane Helene formed and struck several southeastern states. This hurricane now marks one of the deadliest hurricanes to strike the mainland United States since hurricane Katrina in August of 2005, nearly 20 years prior to Helene. With countless damages caused by the hurricane, relief groups from all across the country have made their way to areas affected in order to offer support, supplies, and physical labor in an effort to bring comfort and stability to the lives of those affected. One of these groups is a team sent from Grace Seaford Church, led by head pastor Larry Davis.
Davis has been the pastor at the church for nine years and got involved in disaster relief after tornados damaged Laurel. One of the members of the church had a desire to do further disaster relief work when word of Helene’s damage hit the news, leading the church to reach out on social media platforms to put together a team to head to the Carolinas. After getting in contact with a former associate pastor who now resides in Anderson, South Carolina, a group of around 20 individuals set off to Anderson to begin helping out with wind damage and other problems. Additionally, they’ve had smaller teams of those 20 spend time going into Asheville, North Carolina, to provide supplies that have been gathered here in Delaware.
Shown are volunteers working on a tree from damage caused by Hurricane Helene. Photo by Amanda Jones, Moon and Sage Photography
The first team had been there for a week, and there are already plans to set up new teams to go to Anderson to help out. “We already have a gentleman in Delmar who is a professional logger who has expressed a desire to start bringing down a second team in probably two weeks,” Davis said, “But we’ll probably be coming down here off and on for the next year with teams.”
There are also plans underway to communicate with churches in Florida to see about providing relief following the devastation brought by hurricane Milton. “If you’ve been disaster relief trained officially you can come through the state and federal agencies, but everyone you bring would have to be trained,” Davis explained. “If you work church to church, you don’t have to have that training, you can operate under the local church’s operations. That’s why we did (Anderson).”
Davis spoke about some of the impact that’s been made by his team there in Anderson. “We primarily focused upon praying with people, we brought them goods and supplies,” Davis said. “The biggest impact for us has been spiritual as we pray with them and talk about their lives.”
The people of Anderson have also been highly receptive to the support of Davis and his team, with people offering money to pay for equipment and offering food for the team while they work on clearing collapsed trees and other debris. In Asheville, many people have lost their homes, and countless roads are completely inaccessible, hindering the delivery of supplies and support to residents of the area. As a result, the church that Davis and his team are working with is stockpiling the supplies for when roads are cleared.
As far as helping with supplies, Davis mentioned that non-perishables/canned goods, water, and personal hygiene items are important. Reports from the Carolinas also make mention of requests for personal generators and other supplies. If you would like to donate supplies, there are collections held at the American Legion Post 6, 230 N Front Street in Seaford, or at Century 21 located on 959 Norman Eskridge Hwy, which is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Additionally, the church has set up a special account for disaster relief, and monetary donations can be made through the church website at www.graceseaford.com. If you have any questions in regard to forming a team or providing aid to the Carolinas you can contact Larry Davis through the church website as well.