Hurricane Helene Response – Episcopal Diocese of Georgia

We have received a number of inquiries from outside of the Diocese about where to send donations for Disaster relief. The first way to do this is to donate directly to the Bishop’s Fund for Disaster Relief. This money will go directly to helping our parishes and Honey Creek in meeting their deductibles as they repair damages to their properties, which is a needed type of aid that is not covered by other grants. Once those initial costs are covered, any leftover donated funds will be used for additional assistance as needed.

*The damaged sanctuary of St. Bartholomew’s in Savannah.*

Donations can be sent by check to the diocesan office(18 E 34th Street, Savannah, GA 31401) or by texting “EDOG Relief” to 73256 or by clicking this link for the Realm giving portal: https://onrealm.org/EpiscopalDioces91807/-/form/give/relief

The second way to provide aid across the Diocese is to give to Episcopal Relief and Development. ERD provides grants to dioceses to help them send direct aid to the most vulnerable in their communities impacted by this disaster. Donations can be sent to ERD’s Hurricane Relief fund by clicking this link: https://www.episcopalrelief.org/what-you-can-do/give/donate-now/individual-donation/

We are not alone. Please consider assisting other dioceses as well:

Diocese of Western NC: Select “Partners in Mission” from the drop-down menu, and add “Hurricane Helene” in the memo box.
Diocese of East Tennessee: Give to the 2024 Flooding Relief fund as directed on the page.
Diocese of Florida: Click the button to “Make a Gift” and select “Other” from the dropdown menu and include “Hurricane Helene” in the memo line.
Diocese of Central Gulf Coast: Give to the Hurricane Helene Response/Recovery/Relief efforts.
Diocese of Central Florida: Give to the Disaster Relief Fund
Diocese of Southwest Florida: Simply give to the “Hurricane Helene Relief Fund.”

Assessing Our Damage and Assisting Neighbors

Across the many towns heavily impacted by Hurricane Helene, we know of significant damage to four churches and a heavy clean up needed at Honey Creek. Beyond this, many of the communities of the Diocese of Georgia are overwhelmed by the scale of the damage to homes, businesses, and infrastructure. The recovery will be a long one in towns including Valdosta, Douglas, Vidalia, Louisville, Swainsboro, and the Augusta area.

The photo shows a downed tree at Christ Church in Augusta, where the building was spared and the Byllesby Center is continuing to serve the community.

Damaged Church Buildings

The churches at Christ the King in Valdosta, St. Andrew’s in Douglas, St. Bartholomew’s in Savannah, and the parish hall at Good Shepherd in Swainsboro all suffered in the storm. This is in addition to minor damage to many other church buildings as well as so many trees that need to be cut up and removed from church property.

While the insurance will cover much of the cost of the repairs, the deductible in a “named storm” like Helene, is 2% of the value of each of the buildings with a loss. This leaves the congregations with $8-10,000 deductibles or more instead of the usual $1,000. This is a heavy burden the Diocese will lighten. Some of the funds given to our disaster response will assist with this need.

This photo shows one of the two pine trees that crashed through the roof of the parish hall at Good Shepherd in Swainsboro.

Honey Creek Update

Our retreat center was largely spared damage to the buildings. The exceptions are roof damage to the Dock Study building and a pine tree that fell on Jonnard Cottage, leaving minor damage to the roof. But there are a lot of trees down all over the property. Thanks to the Episcopal Camps and Conference Centers network, we will have 20 volunteers from the Diocese of South Carolina’s Camp St. Christopher working on the grounds on Thursday and Friday. If you would like to join their efforts, there is plenty of work to go around. Let our Executive Director, Dade Brantley, know you will be there (dade@honeycreek.org).

The photo shows the pine tree that landed on the corner of the roof at Jonnard Cottage, without breaking through the ceiling.

Assisting Neighbors

There are so many efforts underway, that we can’t report on them all, but across the Diocese, congregations are offering assistance to their communities. This includes the Byllesby Center in Augusta providing daily hot meals. yesterday they fed more than 150 people, while also offering lots of water as the county has a boil water advisory and many are not able to do so without power. Saint Paul’s in downtown Augusta has been opening the church to provide electricity and wifi in a rare Augusta building with air conditioning. They have also offered a meal, with chicken chalupas and ham gumbo served yesterday.

Photo of volunteers stacking up bottled water for distribution at the Byllesby Center.

An Episcopal Relief and Development Grant

Bishop Logue has secured a grant from Episcopal Relief and Development, which will assist in our congregations providing direct assistance to our neighbors in the greatest need. Additional grant funds are available from ERD if we use up this grant and are still responding to individuals and families whose lives are impacted by Hurricane Helene.

If your congregation is prepared to assess the needs and distribute money in the form of gift cards to those with a verified need, please contact Canon Loren Lasch (llasch@gaepiscopal.org). The money may also be used to purchase items like bottled water for distribution or food to be cooked for community meals.

This crumpled roof covering an aged flat roof is over Christ the King in Valdosta.