 |
| Volunteers from Mountain Brook Community Church at work in Panama City, FL after Hurricane Michael |
Hurricane Michael came through with tremendous force and
left many communities and people devastated. Through connections, we found
Calloway Community Church and learned of the hope that they were providing for their
destroyed community. After speaking with Pastor Eddie Pitts, Executive Director
Tracy Hipps, knew CSM had to do more than send resources to help. Pastor Pitts
and his wife were living amongst the wreckage, trying their best to serve
others, while having lost their sense of normalcy. Birmingham knows all too
well how hard it is to continue serving others when your life situation is the
same as theirs and so we wanted to be able to serve Pastor Pitts as well.
 |
| Houses destroyed near Calloway Community Church |
During our first trip, we partnered with Mountain Brook
Community Church to send a team to work on the damaged church. Since the
hurricane destroyed one section and ripped the roof off the rest of the church
building, so the CSM Housing team was eager to help to restore the church
building as a center for help and worship. This team rebuilt rafters,
weatherproofed the roof, and built a storage shed for housing food and
supplies. They also gave out food and gift cards in the neighborhood, met with
people in the community, and helped the Pastor and his wife, secure their 5th
wheel to a sewer so they could continue to live there even though their house
had been damaged.
 |
| Our Construction Manager, Aaron Parsons, said “It’s a
nightmare! Panama City is devastated far beyond what we saw in 2011 after the
tornadoes. I am afraid everyone has already forgotten!” |
One CSM volunteer commented “Personally, as usual, I was
ready to get the job done and as usual that was not God’s plan. My heart was broken by the amount of devastation
and the hopelessness left behind by the hurricane. Seeing people live their lives in such utter
poverty, out of their cars, or in tents made a deep impression on me. The
appreciation on the faces of so many of the neighbors was evident and they didn’t
have to say a word. The people of Panama
City will need more help than we could ever give but we should keep on giving
and going and praying and helping in any way God our Father leads us. That is what the body of Christ does, not
because were good, but because He dwells in us and moves us to do His good work
for His Glory.”
 |
| Roof work at Calloway continues |
One need that was noticed while on the trip was a lack of
transportation. People were walking for several hours a day to get to the store
for basic necessities because cars were damaged or gas was non-existent.
Working with Bob’s Bike’s in Homewood along with several generous donors, we
were able to supply Calloway with brand new bicycles to share with their
community. The Pastor wasn’t sure how he was going to be able to store and
assemble all of the bikes but God had already made a way. A youth group from
Oak Mountain Presbyterian called CSM and said they would be in the area and
asked if there was anything they could do to help. So the youth group saved the
day, assembled the bikes, and helped remove debris and clean up the community!
The work was done quickly and the Pastor was encouraged by fellow believers
coming to help him and his community!
 |
| Youth from Oak Mountain Presbyterian Church in Birmingham help clean up the neighborhood around Calloway Community Church |
We will keep in touch with Pastor Pitts as his community
works to get back to their new normal and hope to continue providing hope and
resources as needed.
 |
| Mountain Brook Community Church, CSM Construction Team and volunteers, Next Step Storm, and Believer's Temple Church come together to repair the Calloway Community Church and serve residents in the neighborhood |
|
|
