By Jennifer Johnson
Several Christian churches in Colorado have been key in helping victims of the floods that damaged more than 18,000 homes and left many other residents without power and running water.
“ยข LifeBridge Christian Church (Longmont, CO) has served as one of the primary evacuation centers since last Thursday, assisting thousands of people and working with city and county officials as well as leaders from relief organizations.
LBCC says it doesn”t need any immediate donations of food, water, or clothing, but will probably need more as rescue turns to recovery.
“The LifeBridge site was almost a study in abundance,”ย said an article in the Longmont Times-Call. “As bus after bus brought people in, car after car streamed to the church to bring supplies. So many, in fact, that by early afternoon the church had to politely say “หno more.” . . . Visitors from the governor’s cabinet along with State Sen. Matt Jones and State Rep. Jonathan Singer were impressed with the response as they toured the church.”ย
LifeBridge is accepting monetary donations on its website; click here to give online.
“ยข Journey Christian Church (Greeley, CO) is the regional distribution point for clothing and other essentials for all of the relief agencies in its community, says lead minister Arron Chambers.
“We aren’t a shelter,”ย he says, “but we’re doing everything else. We have also become the key supplier for the local elementary schools (each one has approximately 200 displaced families). We have assisted several thousand people since Saturday.”ย
(Journey has worked with the schools on several projects”โclick here for more on that story!)
“A woman in our church has taken over the clothing aspect of our outreach,”ย Chambers says. “Words can’t express the impact she has made in the last two days. She created an ordering system that is currently backlogged with orders. Displaced people can request specific articles and sizes of clothing and get those orders filled and delivered to them. Countless others are just coming by and loading up. Just yesterday alone, Trista’s team delivered over 100 bags of clothing to displaced families where they are staying.”ย
Many others are benefiting from the services Journey is providing in its building. “An elderly couple walked into our services Sunday night soaking wet,”ย Chambers writes. “They had been stuck in a flooded area and realized no one was coming to get them. They walked through chest-deep water, raw sewage, and the bloated carcasses of dead livestock to get out . . . and immediately came to church. We were able to give them a whole new wardrobe, hot meal, hot shower, and everything else they needed for the next few days.”ย
Like LifeBridge, Journey has received many supplies but is accepting monetary donations; click here to give online.
“ยข Rocky Mountain Christian Church (Niwot, CO) is “a home base for Samaritan”s Purse,”ย says Shan Moyers, lead pastor. “The base includes a tractor-trailer ready to roll at a moment”s notice and stocked with tools and equipment for disaster relief efforts.”ย
The church also shared that one of its members, Nick Statley, was able to save a life as the floodwaters rose. Before leaving his neighborhood with a few belongings, Statley made one final sweep, running from house to house, ringing doorbells and opening garage doors.
“At one house he discovered an elderly woman in a wheelchair in her basement, aware of the rain but ignorant of the impending peril,”ย the church writes. “Nick carried her up the stairs and out of the house. [At] most of the houses in Nick”s subdivision, basements were flooded all the way to the top of the stairs. If it had not been for Nick, the elderly woman would likely have died.”ย
Rocky Mountain is accepting monetary donations on its website; click here to give online.
This is for all the churches that are helping the flood victims of Colorada. My name is Sharon and I am from Pittsburgh Pennsylvani we live in a small community called Etna and on October 5, 2013 the areas five churches will be holding it’s annual Unity in the Community picnic. We are hoping that on this day that everyone attends will be so kind and donate to one of the churches that are helping the flood victims of Colorado. so could someone get back to me and let me know where we can send our donations to. before next Tuesday. My son who is eleven years old who also serves on this commity came up with the idea to start a collection for the flood victims. thank you and God Bless. sharon
If you will click on the links in each of the articles above, you will find a way to donate online. Alternatively, look up their addresses at the individual web sites and you’ll see where to send them a check. I’m sure these three churches will really appreciate your help!