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As the days get longer and the weather gets warmer, we begin to think of Easter, spring cleaning, planting, gardening and… hurricanes!  Hurricane season officially begins June 1 and ends on November 30 and will be here sooner than we would like.

Currently we have an active group of parishioners who are experienced in disaster recovery and have responded in North Carolina to Hurricane Helene victims.  Our parish maintains a disaster response trailer with supplies and equipment to help open roads and repair damage in hurricane affected areas.  Several opportunities to help in disaster recovery throughout the country are ongoing. More information on how you can help as a participant or donor can be found on the Anglican Relief and Development Fund website.

In addition, we will soon begin several local projects to build up reserve supplies on Johns Island for future disasters.  We will begin a campaign to gather supplies for muck buckets, hygiene kits for both men/women and first aid packets. Muck buckets are five-gallon buckets filled with supplies to help clean and repair flood-damaged homes.  These buckets will be made available after worship service in the next few weeks along with a list of supplies for each bucket or kit.  Once obtained, the supplies can be returned to Resurrection Hall or brought to the worship service to be stored in our trailer.

Another aspect of our mission is to insure each of you are prepared in the event of a disaster.  In our area, hurricanes are the most common but other disaster situations that may occur include flooding, earthquakes, tornadoes and other man-made disasters such as chemical spills. Being prepared for these situations helps to be able to minimize damage and speed recovery.  

Things to think about before a disaster occurs include:

  1. Will you evacuate or shelter in place if a disaster strikes?
  2. In the event of evacuation, do you have a place to go where you could stay for several weeks if needed?  Do you know your evacuation route?  Johns Island will be one of the first areas asked to evacuate in a hurricane situation.
  3. Many times in disasters, food, water and fuel supplies may be limited and hard to find.  Do you have emergency supplies available including fresh batteries, drinking water or canned goods?
  4. Do you have special needs or medical situations that will affect your ability to cope?  Do you have adequate medical supplies and medication?  Do you require electricity to maintain medical equipment needed?  The American Red Cross maintains shelters for individuals with special needs.  To learn more, click here.

If you have questions or special needs you need help with, please let us know now before the disaster comes.  Carl Bergren ((313)433-8222, cdrcarl@gmail.com) is our parish disaster coordinator and Stephen Haynsworth ((843)-870-6860, haynsworthsa@gmail.com) works as our diocesan disaster coordinator.

To learn more about how to prepare for hurricanes click here.