LUMBERTON — Those still suffering from Hurricane Matthew started lining up at West Lumberton Baptist Church at 7 a.m. on Saturday, three hours before the gates opened, to collect free food, clothing, dishes, toys, furniture and household items.
“It’s a great need. The need in this community is just as great seven months after the storm as it was days after the storm,” said Rick Foreman, pastor of the church that also suffered during and after the Oct. 8 hurricane.
The church has been helping the community even as its own members were displaced, a longtime member died in the floodwaters and while it was dealing with damage to its buildings. West Lumberton Baptist sits a few yards below an Interstate 95 overpass where flood waters dumped tons of sand, mostly behind the church and its other buildings, two of which have now been demolished.
The sanctuary is still being repaired.
On Saturday dozens of tents and tables with items to gave color to the the parking lot and empty space where those buildings had stood.
Foreman said he wasn’t surprised at the turnout because the church had a big response two months ago when it held a similar event. Foreman expected as many as 2,000 people would be served during the day.
“For these folks, nothing’s changed,” Foreman said. “There’s probably 75 or 80 homes right here in this neighborhood, only seven people are back in their homes.”
West Lumberton Baptist Partnering partnered Balm in Gilead from Fayetteville, which brought in six tractor-trailer loads of supplies and provided volunteers.
“As people come back to their homes, they don’t have any furniture, they don’t have any household items,” Foreman said. That’s what we’re trying to focus on here — just to try to give them the basics to establish homes.”
Foreman said his hope is that the church can continue to host these giveaway events for the next year.
“We want to give them hope and encouragement and to let them know that we love them and the Lord loves them,” Foreman said. “We’re going to get through this together.”
Tranesa Williams was among the many on the receiving end of the giveaway. She was resting on a couch in the furniture tent, waiting for a friend to help her haul away it and another couch. She said she lost everything in the flood.
“It was devastating. I’d never been through anything like this. I lost everything. I lost beds. My kids lost clothes,” Williams said.
Williams said she found almost everything she needed at the giveaway.
“It’s a blessing to everybody,” she said.
She is not back in her West Lumberton house, but she did recently find a place to live. Now she has what she needs to furnish it.
Brian Ebert was among volunteers from Balm of Gilead who was working on Saturday. He and J.C. Basnight were putting stuffed animals on display. A first-time volunteer for the group’s visit to Lumberton, Ebert said he was surprised at the need.
“Out of sight, out of mind. You don’t think about it. Then when you see it, you see there is a need,” Ebert said.
Basnight was making his second trip here.
“We believe in being doers of the word, and not hearers only,” Basnight said.
The event was personal for Barbara Mullis, who lost her father, Charles Ivey, in the flood. Her parents’ house sits across the street from the church and Ivey drowned while trying to escape rising flood waters. The family has set up a fund in memory of her father to purchase new equipment for the church playground. She is a member of West Lumberton Baptist.
Between losing her father and providing care to her mother, whose health declined after the flood, Mullis said she didn’t get a chance to help with the efforts before.
“I’m just here to do whatever I can to help. There’s been other people from our church helping out throughout the whole process and I just wanted to help out,” Mullis said.
