WHITE HALL, Ark. – Three young ladies recently put together a lemonade stand to raise support for Arkansas Baptist Disaster Relief (ABDR) and Hurricane Helene victims.
Through their lemonade stand, Ella Blevins of Shannon Road Baptist Church in Pine Bluff and Hattie and Ollie Fenters of First Baptist Church in White Hall raised $84. Ollie said they “wanted to raise money for the hurricane victims.”
“We just wanted to help people because we knew their houses got destroyed and we wanted to help them,” Hattie said.
“Every little bit counts, and these girls are helping make sure that the Gospel is shared while caring for the needs of others after Helene,” White Hall Children’s Minister Jennifer Weaver shared in an email.
On Sept. 26, Hurricane Helene made landfall in the Big Bend area of Florida just southwest of Perry as a dangerous Category 4 hurricane with wind speeds of 140 mph, life-threatening storm surge, and torrential rains.
The storm was a fast-moving storm that tracked northward rapidly with impacts in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Southwest Virginia. It has caused historic rainfall flooding, wind damage, and generated some tornado activity.
ABDR immediately deployed teams to Georgia in response to the widespread damage with teams in Valdosta and Vidalia. More than 100 Arkansans are on the ground in Georgia.
The deployment is expected to be long-term. The cost associated with the deployment is an estimated $3,000 to $5,000 per week per team.
As of Oct. 9, ABDR reported 20 professions of faith, 3,483 volunteer hours and 17 completed job requests with 811 job requests remaining. More ABDR teams are preparing to deploy to Valdosta.
Pray for those impacted by the storm and those who are meeting and preparing to meet needs.
To support ABDR’s efforts and stay informed, visit www.abscdisasterrelief.org.