Warren, Bristol groups team up for hurricane relief drive

Warren church organizes multi-town relief drive for those affected by Harvey, Irma

By Ted Hayes
Posted 9/21/17

Flying over flooded towns ravaged by Hurricane Harvey, Pastor Sean Smith of Warren’s Stone Coast Community Church could only stare out the window at the devastation far below.

“It was just …

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Warren, Bristol groups team up for hurricane relief drive

Warren church organizes multi-town relief drive for those affected by Harvey, Irma

Posted

Flying over flooded towns ravaged by Hurricane Harvey, Pastor Sean Smith of Warren’s Stone Coast Community Church could only stare out the window at the devastation far below.

“It was just awful,” he said. “When you get up in a plane, you say ‘Wow, it just goes on and on.’ It was unbelievable.’”

Pastor Smith spent several days in Texas earlier this month, running relief missions with a private pilot friend to some of the areas hardest hit by Harvey and the flooding that followed. The experience touched him deeply, and when he got home he knew he needed to do more. Stone Coast Community Church has since launched a relief drive here for those affected by the recent hurricanes in Texas and Florida.

The multi-tiered effort is being run out of the Highlander School, where Stone Coast makes its home, but is a widespread effort that also includes the Bristol Department of Parks and Recreation, Bristol Warren Regional School District, East Bay Chamber of Commerce and more.

“We want to be a church that teams up with the community to meet needs,” he said. “After Texas I said, ‘We’ve gotta do something, we’ve gotta get involved. So that’s how it began.”

Pastor Smith flew down to Texas with a pilot friend of his, an elder in the Community Covenant Church in Rehoboth where he once served as pastor. The pilot, Scott Martin, owns a private plane and regularly uses it to run private relief missions; he has visited Haiti several times.

The friends flew out Wednesday, Aug. 30 and after a seven-hour flight landed at an air strip in Beaumont, Texas that had been converted to a relief staging area by a local church.

Over the next several days the two filled Mr. Martin’s plane with supplies five times and flew out to affected areas, bringing residents much-needed items including food and personal essentials. They were part of a group of about 10 to 15 private plane owners who had organized through the church.

“We were able to bring in a lot of supplies to affected areas,” Pastor Smith said.

Back home, Pastor Smith realized much more could be done, and the urgency only increased when Hurricane Irma lashed the Florida Keys, devastating the island chain. He soon got the ball rolling on a relief drive here.

How?

The local drive is being run through the church’s non-profit “Townsquare Partners” organization, which seeks to build relationships with the local community.

It works like this: Through Sunday, relief drop-off locations in Bristol and Warren will accept items for transport that will eventually be loaded into two 52-foot trailers donated by J&J Materials and driven to devastated areas. Pastor Smith doesn’t know if all of the items will go to Texas, all to Florida, or whether there will be a mix — it all depends on where the greatest need is, he said.

“We want to make sure these get directly to the people who need them the most,” he said Monday.

In addition, local business owners and other organizations are encouraged to hold their own drives and deliver donations to Highlander for eventual shipment. When the items are ready to go, they will be shipped by J&J staff; Townsquare Partners plans to continue the work for long thereafter, and there are plans to organize relief teams to travel to affected areas and help with eventual rebuilding.

What is needed?

Pastor Smith and his fellow organizers have a specific list of items they would like to collect. Please don’t donate clothing, shoes, perishable food or kitchen utensils.

Instead, the greatest need is for cleaning supplies and tools (mold killer, gloves, tray bags, hammers, bug repellent, sunscreen and other items), personal items (water, personal hygiene products, paper towels, first aid kits and more), baby and child needs (diapers, formula, zippy cups, blankets and small toys and games).

Bristol resident Nancy Stratton, who helped organize the Bristol end of the drive with Bristol Recreation Director Walter Burke and Harbormaster Greg Marsili, said she’s optimistic that Bristol and Warren residents will come together and donate generously to the cause:

“I think we’ll get there,” she said when asked about filling the two 52-foot trailers donated to the cause.

“We started collecting yesterday and we’ve nada great response. Like everyone else in America I’m heartbroken and I’m glad that the community is coming together to organize this relief.”

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