Church collects flood buckets for East Coast hurricane victims
Published 9:47 am Tuesday, September 25, 2018
- Youth with First Methodist Church Port Neches create flood buckets to be sent to hurricane victims on the east coast. Courtesy photo
PORT NECHES — When Hurricane Florence took aim at the East Coast it brought a reminder of Harvey’s devastation on the Southeast Texas coast for the Rev. Alicia Coltzer Besser, the southeast district superintendent of the Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church.
“Last Thursday morning, the day of our charge conference training, Hurricane Florence was making her presence known on the East Coast. I sat up in bed, after watching the news with, vivid memories of last years Hurricane Harvey I thought of flood buckets,” Besser said via email. “As a DS (district superintendent), I was the point person for flood buckets. Calls from all over our area came in requesting as many as we could get our hands on. So with a district meeting planned, I called Scott Moore, director of missions for the conference to let him know we are collecting flood buckets. It is our way of returning the kindness of strangers. We know the need; we know the struggle and by collecting flood buckets, we join them in the recovery effort.”
Earlier this week a group of youth from First United Methodist Church Port Neches gathered together at the church and began assembling flood buckets. Other UMC groups from the area are challenged to do their own buckets and bring them to the Port Neches church, where they will be loaded up Monday through Wednesday and sent to the East Coast.
Youth with First Methodist Church Port Neches create flood buckets to be sent to hurricane victims on the east coast.
Courtesy photo
“It’s very important for us. We had a lot of people donate to us when we opened our church to first responders,” church member Robert Arnold said, adding that the Cajun Navy and Texas Task Force 1 and others stayed at the church in the aftermath of Harvey.
The church created flood buckets last year as well that are filled with different types of cleaning materials from soap to rags to brushes and more.
Arnold said the youth group director Misty Cohrt used the hand-on experience as a lesson for the youth.
“She told them it reminded them of last year when we got all of the items in,” Arnold said. “Tonight you were the hands of God putting all of this together for the people that need it.”
