Last week, our community braced for the worst as Hurricane Matthew was seemingly heading straight toward us. While we are extremely fortunate and grateful that, for the most part, the hurricane caused little damage in Orlando, we recognize that it has had a great impact on several local families. If you are one of those families, please reach out to us and let us know if there are any ways we can be helpful to you.
The storm has had devastating effects on the Caribbean, especially in Haiti, and we want to be able to provide information for those of you who are looking for ways you can make a positive impact in the recovery. Lead Pastor, John Parker, suggested a handful of great organizations in our post-storm update that are still in need of financial assistance. There are also a couple local organizations that are providing hands-on opportunities to serve those affected by the storm.
World Relief does relief work throughout the world, often mobilizing through local churches. Summit works closely with World Relief in Malawi and we have great confidence in them. World Relief specializes in disaster response and is our top recommendation for donations.
Learn More >Children of the Nations (COTN) is a longtime partner of ours. They work in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, and though they were not at the epicenter of the hurricane, there are many local families who were impacted and who COTN will be working with to provide basic needs in rebuilding.
Learn More >New Missions is headquartered here in Orlando (they are a frequent niceSERVE partner of ours) and has done church planting and missions in Haiti for decades. Their bases of operations in Haiti suffered no major damage, but they will be working to provide relief.
Learn More >Clean the World is a local organization that collects and recycles soap and hygiene products and distributes them to impoverished people, preventing millions of hygiene-related deaths each year. With the flooding and lack of infrastructure for sanitation after the storm Cholera is a likely deadly addition to the storm damage. This organization is accepting soap products and volunteers throughout the week to package and sort soap for recycling.
Learn More >In times of disaster, Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida and its network of 550 agency partners represent a vital emergency food supply for the community. The food bank stands ready to provide extended relief service to storm victims and is in need of donations and volunteers willing to help assemble disaster relief boxes.
Learn More >
This is an important opportunity for our church to show up and provide tangible assistance to those in need both locally and globally. If you have any questions, please let us know!