1,000 volunteers
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PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — Even as other storms formed in the Atlantic, nearly a thousand Church volunteers helped for the third week in a row to clean up after the devastation of Hurricane Charley, said President Douglas B. Carter of the Lake Mary Florida Stake and Orlando Region Welfare chairman.
"I am just amazed," he said. "I am so grateful for the response of the members. I just send out word of the needs and tell them what is required of each these stakes, and they are so responsive and so wonderful to help their fellow brethren."
As Tropical Storm Gaston flooded central Virginia, and another storm, Hurricane Frances, was approaching Category 4 status and threatening Florida this weekend, Sept. 4, volunteers continued their work.
President Carter said some 150-170 workers from five stakes in the Orlando Welfare Region, along with members from the home Lakeland Florida Stake, helped clean up members' homes in the Arcadia and Wauchula branches.
"I went to a double-wide family trailer in Arcadia and we basically tore the trailer down and shoveled out its contents," he said. "It was pretty sobering." He said the mother had prayed for the security of her photos and journals. Those were found in the only corner of the trailer that was not destroyed.
A team of 40 members helped in Wauchula on a Church member's 5-acre lot where many trees were felled. This member had spent the previous two weeks helping members in Port Charlotte.
"It was a wonderful experience in Wauchula for them," said President Carter of the service performed. He said the local stakes were "extremely well prepared" for the volunteer workers.
In Port Charlotte, some 750 members from the Homestead, Miami, Pampano Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Stuart, and Hialeah Gardens stakes in the Miami area formed a caravan to the Port Charlotte area, said Karen Workman, South Florida multi-stake public affairs representative. Another nearly 200 members of the Gainesville Florida Stake also participated, said Ruby P. Puckett, stake public affairs director.
At one of the clean-up sites in Port Charlotte, said Sister Workman, workers under Scott Richards from the Plantation and Davie wards were faced with removing a several-ton tree from a roof where it had remained for eight days.
"Our makeshift crews comprised of office professionals, several dental students and a musician didn't know how they were going to accomplish this massive task, but they knew they had to do it," said Sister Workman.
"With a little ingenuity and a lot of hard work the men stripped the branches, roped the tree and ultimately pulled it off of the roof, shaking the earth like an earthquake," she said. "They needed to patch only a small place on the roof to waterproof the house."
Stake members from Gainesville included parents and youth, said Sister Puckett.
"It was very hot and humid as folks worked to cut trees, remove limbs and just clean up the area," she said. "The members went down on Friday night so they could begin work early Saturday morning."
One of their assignments was to clear the parking lot of an Assembly of God church, and then the yards of nine families from that congregation.
President Stephen E. Thompson of the Fort Meyers Florida Stake, which includes Port Charlotte, said a volunteer crew of 15 Presbyterians joined the LDS volunteers, handling four work orders to remove trees. They also delivered a food order to an elderly woman.
"There have been missionary experiences, interaction with less-active members, and general impressions left with communities that will not be forgotten," said President Thompson.
He compared the efforts of the volunteers with the 1856 rescue of the handcart companies trapped in Wyoming winter snows.
"Your members and leaders have been true to the heritage left to us by the rescuers of the handcart pioneers," he told stake leaders. "Our ties of love and brotherhood in the service of our Lord Jesus Christ have grown stronger through this experience, and we expect that, in spite of all the adversity of this event, when it is looked back on by our members and yours in coming years, it will be recognized as a wonderful blessing to the Church and the community."
