Almost immediately following Hurricane Harvey making landfall in Texas, Caring Partners International (CPI) was contacted by church partners requesting assistance. The call for help was broadcast to CPI's individual, corporate and church partners across the country, and as a result, product donations began to pour into the ministry warehouse in Franklin, Ohio.
In less than one week, CPI had processed more than 10,000 pounds of medical supplies, linens, water and personal care products, and loaded these donations on a rental truck, bound for Texas. CPI missionaries Andrew Wienhoff and Wesley Highley made the 1,000 mile trip in 21 hours, delivering the donations directly to two churches desperate for donations.
The first delivery was to a church in Pasadena, Texas. The church family was extremely organized, bringing the CPI donations directly into one door of the church lobby, and almost immediately picking them back up and loading the donations into needy families' vehicles.
The second delivery was to be to Channelview, Texas, but the Lord had other plans. The pastor at the Channelview church told Andrew & Wesley of a church in Galveston, Texas which had received almost no supplies, but had folks with desperate needs. As a result, Andrew & Wesley hopped back in the truck, and continued their drive south to Galveston.
Upon arriving to the church in Galveston, they noticed a large group of people waiting in the parking lot. As soon as they opened up the door of the truck, a cheer went up throughout the crowd.
Pastor Grady Sanders approached Andrew & Wesley with several specific needs, and by God's grace, the items were provided! One elderly woman shyly approached the Pastor & Wesley, asking if CPI had brought some adult diapers, size small. What a blessing for CPI & the church to meet this sweet lady's needs! Another elderly man had a stroke a few months before the hurricane, and lost his walker in the storm. Again, by God's grace, the perfect walker was provided - to God be the glory!
Pastor Grady was thrilled to receive the support his church needed to reach out to his community, in Jesus' Name. Here's an excerpt of a text he sent to Andrew two days following CPI's delivery:
"Each morning we open up, we continue to have lines of people around the building. We estimate that 1500 to 1700 people have came through. One of the great blessings is that those people who came for donations, have returned to help. This is turning into a real blessing for the church and the community.
Many of these people are lower income, and have no network or other resources to get these much-needed supplies. And for the most part have been overshadowed by the needs of Houston.
We continue to have people pouring in, and as a result have been able to lead 12 people to Christ. The more supplies we are able to give them, the more opportunities we will have to share the only real hope in such a hopeless situation - the love of Christ."
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| Photos, Top to Bottom: 1) Andrew Wienhoff & a local pastor surveying homes in metro Houston devastated by Hurricane Harvey 2) the parking lot filled with people at the church in Galveston, Texas |
