On Wednesday, April 27th, Pastor Bob Fetterhoff e-mailed me about ideas to encourage people to respond to the disaster in the South. I came out with six or more specific responses. I didn’t realize then that I was actually making up a “to-do” list (for myself!). On Thursday Pastor Bob came into my office and told me that he was going to mention all those ideas in the sermon and put some of them on the response card.
On Sunday, May 1, Pastors Bob and Steve preached and many people responded. Several indicated they were interested in helping. Someone told me they were willing to help us put a drive together. Another person had a contact with the owner of Wooster Motor Ways (WMW) and he offered a trailer, truck and a driver to take stuff down, provided we could contribute to help pay for the fuel on the way there.
On Tuesday, May 3, I made a decision to go ahead with the drive, during lunch, with much encouragement from Pastor Bob, as enjoyed some Chipotle’s food. The moment I said, “Yes, let’s do it,” I realized I shouldn’t have said it – my assistant was getting ready to leave town, the Outreach Coordinator was out of town, and we were getting ready for “Second Saturdays.” What was I thinking?
I called our contact to WMW and he spoke to his friend there. I immediately put together a list of potential volunteers and critical tasks that needed to be accomplished. I had to make sure that we had a connection in Alabama, a trailer on the church parking lot the next day, enough volunteers to receive, sort, pack and load the stuff into the truck, and a myriad of other small and big tasks. I spent quite a bit of time phoning people that day and “phoning” the Almighty. He was easier to get a hold of…
On Wednesday morning, May 4th, I set up the the little white tent, with the help of Sarah Martin, who owned the tent and was kind enough to let us borrow it. It was a heavy duty tent that is set up and supported by heavy weights. That same afternoon the trailer was brought and parked on our parking lot. By now we had changed the church sign, ordered a huge banner, designed by Sorg Sign, advertised all over Facebook, the website, via press release to the media and even radio stations in the area. On Friday morning I actually did a live interview on the radio.
On Thursday, May 5th, Craig Winey showed up to volunteer and brought a brand new chain saw. He said that when the owner of Smith Dairy heard about what we were doing, not only did he authorize for a flyer to be made and circulated around the company, he also gave Craig a credit card and told him to go a buy a new chainsaw to send along. That piece of equipment alone was over $300.00.
By Friday, May 6th, the donated items began to trickle in but by Friday afternoon one gush of strong winds toppled and broke our tent. That was bad news not only because we would have to replace it but also because they were calling for rain over the weekend. Well, contrary to prediction, that was the last time through the remainder of the weekend that it rained. We were kept dry through the end of the project, except, maybe, for a few sprinkles on Saturday afternoon...
At the end of that day Tim Thorpe gave me a total for the money which had been specifically donated for the relief fund so far and on that same night Tim and Jeana Harley and their family went shopping at Sam’s Club. They made quite an impression on the clerks at the store. The main lady helping them said that it was the largest order she ever processed. They spent over $3,700.00 that night, primarily on baby diapers, wipes, food, formula, various juices and paper goods. Harley Drilling also made a generous contribution toward the purchases that night.
On Saturday, May 7th, Rob Miller showed up with a huge Smith Dairy trailer filled with 1,920 gallons of water, and he helped us load it onto the WMW trailer. The money for the water was provided by the InterAct and the Fidelis ABF’s.
I was by the trailer most of the day on Saturday but very thankful for the volunteers who came. We had a grill going and offered free burgers and hot dogs to people who brought stuff. It was wonderful to serve those who were serving and even "Pontius Pilate" showed up to help!
On Sunday, May 8th, I was in church by 7:00 a.m. Prayer meeting at 7:30 and a meeting with visiting missionaries, Rob and Nicole Plaster, just opened the door of what ended up being a memorable day. Steve Crisafully showed up to volunteer at 8:00. He was supposed to help until 10:00 but he ended up staying until 7:30 p.m., mostly inside the truck loading boxes.
Steve's wife, Nancy, came around noon with pizza and coffee, then she joined the crew and worked until the end. At one point, as I was thanking her for helping and letting her husband stay for the whole day on Mother’s Day, she said, “Oh no, this was the best Mother’s Day of my whole life.”
Nancy helped Jeana shop for goods at Wal-Mart and a couple of other stores in town. Yes, people came to the trailer area and handed me checks. Based on that I gave Jeana the green light to spend another $1,500.00, which she did, again with the help of the younger member of her household, Zac, who stayed with her through the end and did a great job. And though the size of the bill on the picture is substantial, this is not really the whole story. This here is the size of the bill, 40 feet and all between Wal-Mart and Sam's Club...
The preaching on Sunday morning got a lot of people motivated to donate. Some people actually stopped by on their way out of the church either to give a check or ask what we still needed and how long we were planning to be there. Some made two trips to the store because they wanted us to fill the trailer as much as possible.
One lady went back home and brought back several teddy bears, which we packed with much care in one box. A couple of ladies from the Smithville Brethren Church brought about 25 new blankets they make as part of their ministry in the church. They were nice, large, warm, and comfortable handmade blankets. They said, “We decided we wanted to share some with those in need.”
As we sat by the trailer waiting for the ladies to finish shopping, Bruce Imhoff called his boss at Wayne Health and somehow got them to donate a trailer full of stuff – wheel chairs, walkers, canes, mattresses, adult pads, etc. We gladly helped him unload that stuff and put it inside the trailer.
On Monday I called the owner of Wooster Motor Ways and he sent a driver over who picked up the trailer. Pastor Matt Carter and I stood around the driver and prayed for him and for the load to be delivered safely and to be a source of encouragement to many people. Then we watched the truck slowly leave the parking lot and hit 83 heading south, carrying 28,000 pounds of generosity.
What a blessing to see all of this come together in such a short period of time. Let’s pray that each item finds a need family, a lonely child, a grieving mother, and brings them some relief, at least for a while in this time of tremendous sadness in their lives. I go to sleep tonight knowing that Jesus approves of this. Thank you all 30 plus volunteers who made this a huge success. May God reward you for your efforts.
Pastor Ivanildo C. Trindade
Associate Pastor of Outreach
itrindade@woostergrace.org
PS.: As I finished writing this. I received a nice e-mail from the driver saying that all of our stuff was delivered safely to a very good Christian ministry which is doing an outstanding work helping people affected by this disaster. He was very impressed by the operation and people expressed their thankfulness and amazement at how much we had sent. More on this later.
