Fund Aids North Carolina Hurricane Relief
MB Foundation has established the Eastern District Relief Fund to help meet urgent needs in North Carolina, where two Mennonite Brethren church buildings have sustained flooding in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
Helene made landfall in Florida Sept. 26 and moved north over a path of 800 miles affecting six states. Western North Carolina was hit especially hard due to rainfall-triggered flooding in mountain communities. The storm caused roads to wash out and left people without power, making it difficult to assess the damage initially.
Beech Bottom MB Church in Newland, N.C., and Boone MB Church in Boone, N.C., both in the mountains, have reported flooding in their facilities.
Currently, the efforts are geared toward meeting immediate needs. Michael Mathes, pastor of Boone MB Church reports temperatures are now dropping below freezing in the mountains at night, and people need heaters, generators and fuel.
According to USMB Leadership Board member Amy Jackson-Kincaid, a member of Boone MB, four members of her congregation have been displaced from their homes, and members of both congregations have lost possessions.
The Beech Bottom congregation is assisting with feeding meals to 300 people daily. Churches in Lenoir, N.C., have mobilized several trucks of supplies to provide aid to hurting communities.
Jackson-Kincaid says that while the churches are receiving donated supplies, displaced people have nowhere to put them, making monetary donations for specific needs more helpful.
Donations to the Eastern District Relief Fund will assist MB churches in North Carolina.
“When we hear of an urgent need in our MB family, we want to help mobilize our family of churches to unleash generosity for the benefit of others, our plenty can supply what they need,” says Jon C. Wiebe, MB Foundation President and CEO. “It is our privilege to be the conduit and steward of that generosity.”
Any funds received beyond what is needed for hurricane relief will be available for general ministry support of the Eastern District Conference.